By Alison Noonan
MERINDA Park Community Centre is helping to get young people out of the unemployment rut and back into the workforce.
The centre has joined forces with a number of local community organisations to offer the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) program to Cranbourne teenagers.
The program targets 15 to 19-year-old early school leavers who are said to have become ‘disengaged’ from learning and employment opportunities.
VCAL is a recognised secondary school qualification with a strong vocational focus.
Participants are formally enrolled in a local secondary college but complete the program off campus with work placement undertaken one day a week.
Learning elements in the program include literacy, numeracy, personal skills development and work related skills.
The Cranbourne program will be targeted specifically at young women and single parents.
Completion of VCAL can lead to employment, further training or return to mainstream schooling.
The program is a partnership project involving the South East Local Learning and Employment Network, LINK Employment and Training, Keysborough Learning Centre, Lyndale Secondary College and the Department of Education and Training.
For more information contact Jan Gilchrist at Merinda Park Learning and Community Centre on 5996 9056 or Paul Di-Masi at SELLEN on 9794 6921.
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