Construction Skills Queensland

Girl's Interest Sparked in Electrical Trade

An initiative to encourage more women to enter the traditionally male-dominated electrical trade was launched in Cairns in April by Parlimentary Secretary to the Minister for Education and Training, Bonny Barry.

(from left to right) Donna-Maree O'Connor (TNQIT A/Institute Director), Tom O'Leary (BCITF), and Bonny Barry with some of the participants of Girls with Spark at the launch

Girls with Spark is a joint initiative of Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE (TNQIT) and local employers to give 14 women with training at TAFE and work with local host employers.

The Building and Construction Industry Training Fund (BCITF) is also supporting the initiative by contributing $5000 to each host employer and $1000 per apprentice to TNQIT to help cover training and administration costs.
The project is the first of its kind in Queensland and demonstrates what can be achieved when Government and industry work together.

Girls with Spark is part of TAFE's aim to work with local employers to help attract more female workers to crucial trades.  It also supports the Queensland Government's $1 billion Queensland Skills Plan to help address skills shortages in identified areas, while helping launch a fulfilling career for the participating women.

Project participants underwent 13 weeks of pre-vocational training in a women-only group to boost their skills and confidence, before starting work with their employers.  As a measure of the project's success, 10 of the women now have apprenticeships in the electrical trade industry.

The Far North region is leading the way in encouraging women to take up trades, with more women than ever before enrolled in TNQIT's trade training pre-vocational programs this year.

In total, 21 women are enrolled across automotive, construction, electrical, refrigeration and metal fabrication pre-vocational programs.

For more information about Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE, click on the website below.

http://www.tnqit.tafe.qld.gov.au/