Aboriginal Education and

Employment Partnerships

Jamie Sampson

Amanda Spalding

I would like to respectfully acknowledge the Wiradjuri people as the

Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet.

I would like to pay my respects to the Elders past and present,

and I would like to extend my respect to any Aboriginal people who

are present here today.

0

10

20

30

40

50

EmployedUnemployedYear 12Year 94th/5th quintile (lowest)

1st quintile (lowest)

Income Education Employment

Per

cen

t

Indigenous Australians, Australia, 2012-13

Source: ABS 2012-13 AATSIHS

High psychological distress

39

17

34

26

42

22

Labour force status of Indigenous Australians aged 15-64 years

Indigenous employment – national

44 4554

48

7 7

1113

49 4836 40

0

20

40

60

80

100

2001 2004–05 2008 2012–13

Per

cen

t

Employed Unemployed Not in the labour force

Source: ABS 2001 NHS, ABS 2004-05 NATSIHS, ABS 2008 NATSISS, ABS 2012-13 AATSIHS

Labour force status of Indigenous Australians aged 15–64 years

Employment

Source: ABS 2012–13 AATSIHS

45 49 51 46 45 51

70

44 48

1311

1414 13

11

10

513

43 40 3541 41 38

25

4640

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas ACT NT Aust

Employed Unemployed Not in Labour force

0

400

800

1,200

1,600

2,000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Nu

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r 1

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Non-Indigenous Australians

Age-standardised rate, by Indigenous status, 2004 to 2014

Imprisonment – national

Source: ABS Prison Census

Closing the Gap

• Education is correlated with numerous measures of wellbeing including economic participation, income, health outcomes and determinants such as health risk behaviours and preventative service use, social participation, crime and justice.

• Aboriginal people with higher levels of educational attainment are more likelyto be in the workforce

– 18% below year 10

– 51% Year 12 or vocational qualification

– 63% Bachelor degree or higher

• Only 46% of the Indigenous working age population are in jobs today

• The gap in employment has widened by 6.9% from 2008 - 2013

What does the AES aim to achieve?

• TAFE Western employs 1,529 people

• 41 or 2.7% are Aboriginal

• Average Aboriginal population across the footprint 11%

• Aims for workforce to reflect the population served across all levels of TAFE Western

• Employ more Aboriginal people to be more welcoming and culturally safe places for Aboriginal students

• Implemented over 3 years 2015–2018

The Aboriginal Employment Strategy GroupThe Aboriginal Employment Strategy Ltd Group Professional Recruitment Company provides

a holistic approach to the recruitment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“A career opportunity for every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander”

Servicing the community and business the AES Group has a presence in NSW, QLD and NT

operating across 12 sites achieving key business drivers inclusive of:

• Business Development

• Recruitment Services

• Career Preparatory Program

• Spearhead Careers

Partnership Memorandum of Action

• Focus Area 1 – Relationship building between TAFE Western and AES

• Focus Area 2 – Educational and career pathway development

• Focus Area 3 – Student engagement

• Focus Area 4 – Business development

• Focus Area 5 - Promotion

OCHRE Dubbo Opportunity Hub

– develop career aspirations

– maximise retention and completion to year 12 and equivalent

– provide clear pathways to enable successful transitions to sustainable employment and/or further education and training

• Broker, coordinate and provide local opportunities, mentoring programs and resources and identify secure job placements and match opportunities to Aboriginal students’ career aspirations

• Assist Aboriginal young people years 5 - 12 to:

OCHRE Dubbo Opportunity Hub

• Connect Aboriginal students and their families to tertiary education, training and potential career opportunities early on

• Support students through individualised career planning, mentoring and support services and the engagement of family and community members, and

• Monitor and track Aboriginal students and their transition pathways for one year through and following the completion of secondary school

• Deliver and run relevant workshops and events for Aboriginal students and their families

IPROWD – A community driven

proactive program

The Aboriginal community provided the initial impetus for the development of the IPROWD program, because of:

• concerns in the late 1990’s about the number of Aboriginal people dying in police custody,

• poor relationships existing between police and the community and

• the appalling over representation of Aboriginal youth in juvenile justice.

IPROWD – How was it achieved?

• NSW Police teach on the course

• Designed to build the skills of the Aboriginal students to maximise success in a university environment at the NSW Police Academy in Goulburn

• A holistic student support model was developed that incorporated mentoring, individual barrier reduction, tutorial support and

proactive problem solving

• The focus was employment in the NSW Police Force and students were screened by police, and TAFE, literacy assessments and mentor interviews

IPROWD – Key Outcomes

• 560 Students commenced IPROWD since 2008

• 85% Certificate III completion rates

• 70 students NSW Police as Frontline Police, Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers or the Administrative areas of Police Stations

• 5 students currently at the NSW Police Academy

IPROWD – Key Outcomes

• 44 currently being processed by NSW Police Recruitment Branch

• Over 200 have taken up employment in other industries including ADF, Education, Health, Security, Retail & Hospitality

• Over 50 have gone on to further study including Teaching, Nursing, Justice, Law and Forensic Science

Vocational Training and

Employment Centre (VTEC)

• The VTEC initiative is funded by the Australian Government and is based on the GenerationOne employment model

• TAFE Western operates one of the 29 VTEC contracts across the New England and Riverina locations with the main aim of creating employment opportunities for Aboriginal people to gain the skills and confidence to gain sustainable employment.

• We have formed strong partnerships with local service providers to create a “VTEC Army” between:

Aboriginal Communities, Job Active Providers, Australian Apprenticeship Support Network providers, Registered Training Organisations, and Group Training Organisations

VTEC – Key Outcomes

• 186 VTEC Participants since December 2014

• 94 Employment Outcomes into employment

• 26 confirmed employment outcomes of 26 weeks or greater

• 20 Assisted industry/pre-employment Training provided

• 10 Assisted Participants barriers to equipment to fulfil their employment

• Creating linkages with industries such as mining in the New England region in developing job opportunities