A JOINT program between the horticulture industry and a local school has helped push Year 12 completions to 93 per cent at Renmark High, a 10pc jump since the new South Australian Certificate of Education was introduced in 2010.
Producers in the region have also benefited by being able to attract keen and experienced employees who are enthusiastic about their future in the horticulture industry.
Renmark High School pathways coordinator Marina Pater said the retention rate had climbed rapidly since vocational education training was included at the school. The school, which has one of the biggest horticulture programs in the state as part of its farm management centre, is part of a regional VET program, with high schools up to 80 kilometres away working together to ensure students have greater opportunities.
This year, 270 students from four different high schools - Renmark, Glossop, Loxton and Waikerie -spent one day a week working through their VET requirements, with subjects such as doorways to construction, animal care and husbandry, electronics, business, technical engineering, children's services and cookery offered.
"It's quite a complex set-up," Ms Pater said.
"The Year 11s and Year 12s can finish a Tafe Certificate Two and Tafe Certificate Three in their chosen subjects by the end of Year 12, which is industry-recognised and means it will be easier for them to gain employment."
Ms Pater said the student retention rate had climbed rapidly.
"A lot of the students are moving into apprenticeships," she said. "It has really helped the students get into the right pathways."
Quality Fruit Marketing chairman Michael Trautwein said the RHS program was an important interaction between industry and schools. "Why as an industry are we interested in a school-based activity? It goes right back to the mid-1990s," he said.
"Industry had identified we were struggling to attract good, quality people in horticulture.
"We were sick of the bad news stories, of the moaning and groaning. We knew we were going to battle to tell people that there were exciting careers in horticulture. Part of the problem was, in this region if you ended up in horticulture that was the job you took while you were waiting for another.
"Very few people, other than the sons of fruitgrowers, wanted to work in horticulture."
* Full report in Stock Journal, June 12, 2014 issue.
Miranda Kenny
Editor of Stock Journal.
Editor of Stock Journal.
