Commenting on the occasion the Minister for Vocational and Further Education, the Hon Andrew Robb AO MP, said “The Australian Technical College – Central Coast will provide hundreds of students in that area with the opportunity to gain their HSC while undertaking a trade at the same time.”

“The Australian Technical College programme is a 2004 Howard Government initiative in response to the greatest mistake made in education over the last 20 to 30 years; the closure of dedicated technical schools,” Mr Robb added.

The Central Coast bid was proposed by the Central Coast Manufacturers’ Association with CEO, Ray Atkinson, leading a consortium of local industry leaders, education and community groups which successfully bid for the college.

Mr Atkinson said, “first and foremost it will be a centre of excellence for learning traditional trade based skills in a collaborative and safe environment. The aim of the College will be to enable students to maximize their learning potential, gain valuable on the job experience whilst earning an income through the apprenticeship programme with participating industries.”

“This College will be unique in a number of ways,” said Mr Atkinson.

“We will be trying to create an industrial work environment as opposed to the school environment. In this way we will be preparing students to enter the workforce as they study.

As part of this the College will be a collaborate learning environment where teachers and students will be more like colleagues rather than the traditional teacher/student relationship.

The College will operate from 7.30 am until 9.00 pm to accommodate the needs of students.

To reduce the drop out rate, which is very high among apprentices, we will introduce a mentoring system using experienced tradespeople to help and advise students during their trade training years.

The College will negotiate with Central Coast companies to engage the students as apprentices within 3 months of them entering the college.

Under a schoolbased apprenticeship scheme students will actually be paid for time spent in the workplace.”

Mr Atkinson said the College will be dedicated to meeting the needs of students and industry in the Central Coast region specifically.

“One of the great features of the College is that industry will have a major input into the trade curriculum to ensure the students are being taught present day industry practices. This will be a major change in the way students are being educated,” he said.

Also commenting on new College was Federal Member for Robertson, Jim Lloyd who said, “when students in these technical schools finish Year 12 they will be one-third of the way through an apprenticeship, they will have their HSC, they will have worked on state-of-the-art equipment and had two years of real experience in the workplace, while earning as they learn. This will reduce their apprenticeship period by a year.”

The College will offer Certificate III in the trades of automotive, engineering, building and construction, electro-technology and commercial cookery.

“Many local students will benefit from the Australian Technical College on the Central Coast. This new technical school will follow the success of the 21 colleges already operating around Australia,” Mr Lloyd said. “These colleges have restored the links with industry and restored the pride and prestige in technical training, so that a high quality technical education is as prized as a university degree.

“The signing of this Funding Agreement is an excellent demonstration of a partnership between industry, educators and training providers to ensure that young people in the Central Coast region are given training relevant to local business needs.”

The College directors are:

Chairman: Ray Atkinson (Central Coast Manufacturers’ Association)
Deputy Chairman: John Harris (ADC Krone)
John Rayner (Stevens Construction)
Jane Koch (Central Coast Community College)
Col Adams (Harris & Adams Smash Repairs)
David Bark (Crowne Plaza Terrigal)

Commenting on the achievement of gaining the College for the Central Coast, Ken Ticehurst, Federal Member for Dobell said, “these people have all lent their valuable support to achieve this fantastic result.”