Western Australia has once again topped the list of the nation’s highest unemployment rates. Numbers are the highest they’ve been in 16 years.
For young people, there are significant challenges to be overcome. The workforce is becoming increasingly casualised, the labour market remains non-buoyant, apprenticeship/traineeship programs are highly under-attended and personal barriers continue to disrupt success.
Though unemployment is not experienced equally by all young people, extended periods of unemployment for any young person can bring about an ongoing cycle of disadvantage. On a wider scale, the economic costs are significant.
At-risk cohorts, in particular, require tailored support that considers the range of barriers they may be experiencing – To achieve this, Australia as a nation must work to drive systemic change and build the right community infrastructures to support them.
At this stage, it’s critical that we collaborate to end the cycle of unemployment and disadvantage. The 6th Future of Youth Employment forum offers a unique opportunity to engage with cross-sector experts working to tackle youth unemployment across the board. Featuring a number of engaging presentations and panels, this event is a platform for transparent, inspiring and results-driven discussions about the future of our young people in Australia.
Download this document to view: The most up to date agenda, confirmed speakers for 2019 and testimonials.
Year 12 Student, National WorldSkills Competition Gold Medal Winner
St Norbert College
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Year 12 Student, National WorldSkills Competition Gold Medal Winner
St Norbert College
View8:00 Registration opens
8:50 Opening remarks from the Chair
9:00 The evolving WA youth employment landscape
Jeff Dzodz, State Manager WA, Department of Jobs & Small Business
9:40 Tomorrow’s workforce: What does the future hold?
Marc Stoitis, Manager, Industry & Careers Development, Curtin University
10:20 Morning refreshments
10:50 Employment First Aid - Helping young people stay in work
Paea Ruka, General Manager – Employment Services, Impact Community Services
11:30 Youth case study
My journey to winning Gold at the National WorldSkills Competition
Michael McLevie, Year 12 Student, National WorldSkills Competition Gold Medal Winner, St Norbert College
12:10 Networking luncheon
1:10 Improving academic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
Mervyn Eades, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ngalla Maya Aboriginal Corporation
Collaborating to deliver widespread change
1:50 Creating a successful industry partnership
Maureen Johnson, VET and Career Coordinator, Ursula Frayne Catholic College
2:30 Afternoon refreshments
3:00 Case study
Providing opportunities for youth entrepreneurship: The City of Canning and St Norbert College partnership
Michael Openshaw, Head of Careers and VET, St Norbert College
3:40 Working with your village to raise a child
Bev Johnson, Manager and Career Advocate, In Focus Careers
4:20 Closing remarks from the Chair
4:30 End of conference day one
8:00 Registration opens
8:50 Opening remarks from the Chairperson
9:00 The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA insight: Securing skills of the future through apprenticeships and traineeships
Chris Rodwell, Chief Executive Officer, Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA
9:20 Youth disability and meaningful employment: Changing perceptions
Glenn Bird, Education, Training and Transition Manager, Focussed Supports
10:10 Why mental health should not be a barrier to achieving academic or vocational potential
Chris Harris, General Manager Community Engagement, Youth Focus
10:50 Morning refreshments
11:20 Providing a brighter future for young people through direction, development, and opportunity
David Van Ooran, Chief Executive Officer, PCYC WA
12:00 Being an agent of change for at-risk youth communities
Mike Dixon, State Manager WA, Whitelion
12:40 Networking luncheon
1:40 From ‘uni-talk’ to ‘industry-walk’: A conversation guide to promoting graduate access
Shelley Kinash, Director, Advancement of Learning & Teaching, University of Southern Queensland
2:20 The story of ‘Epicurate’: Enriching the VET in schools experience
Dr David M Williams AM, Chief Executive Officer, MWLP
3:00 Afternoon refreshments
3:20 The Education, Employment and Training (EET) Programme At Parkerville
Mark Nolan, Manager EET, Parkerville Children and Youth Care
4:00 Closing remarks from the Chair and end of forum
9:00AM-12:00PM | Workshop A
A masterclass to create and share our personal employability brand
Professor Shelley Kinash (Masterclass Instructor) was awarded two national grants through the Australian government to lead research into student experience and employability. The research took place between 2014 and 2018. In all, over 1200 people (across all states and territories) participated in the research, including in-depth interviews with employers, students, graduates, educators and careeradvisors. The main research finding was that identity is the golden key to employability. Graduates applying for jobs need to be confident. They need to be able to describe the knowledge, skills and attributes they gained through their studies. They need to stand out from the crowd, creating and communicating a distinctive value-proposition and personal brand.
Participants will leave this Masterclass with:
Shelley Kinash, Director, Advancement of Learning & Teaching, University of Southern Queensland
12:00PM-1:00PM | Networking luncheon
General Manager Community Engagement
Youth Focus
Chris Harris is the General Manager Community Engagement at Youth Focus, a youth suicide prevention and early intervention service based in Western Australia. Trained as a psychologist, Chris has 25 years’ experience in the mental health sector. His career has progressed through clinical, management, directorial and executive roles across the government and not for profit sector. Areas of specialty include eating disorders (17 years) peri natal mental health (10 years) and youth suicide (5 years). Chris has presented nationally and internationally and has been a co-author on peer review journal publications. He recently returned to Youth Focus following a 12 month appointment as the first U.K. Mental Health Advisor to HRH The Prince of Wales, Prince’s Trust.
Manager, Industry & Careers Development
Curtin University
Marc is currently the Manager of Industry and Career Development in the Faculty of Business and Law at Curtin University. His role predominately focus on the participation, careers development and careers connectedness of the business faculties student cohort through intra and extracurricular work integrated learning activities.
The Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA) is the Australia’s largest cross-sectoral community of career development practitioners, with members in every state and territory and across all sectors of the profession. Our vision is a career development profession recognised for excellence and valued by all Australians. We support our members by leading, building, and growing the career development profession. https://www.cdaa.org.au/
APO is a not-for-profit, open access knowledge and evidence base for you to discover, share and manage public policy and practice resources. http://apo.org.au/
Published since 1991, Campus Review is Australia’s leading independent tertiary education print and digital content provider. Our widely respected journalists engage an audience of more than 120,000 people every month, delivering over 50,000 leads a year in an industry worth about $84 billion per annum. We are widely read by VCs, academia, researchers, professors, technical staff, heads of faculties and support staff. IBIS reports: “Through 2017–18, the education sector’s revenue is forecast to expand by 3.5% per annum, to a total of $121 billion.
The Institute of Managers and Leaders (IML) is a non-profit Membership organisation and the peak body for managers and leaders. IML assesses and awards the globally-recognised Chartered Manager (CMgr), the professional designation that sets the standard for management and leadership excellence.
For more than 75 years, we have been supporting professionals on their leadership journey. Representing 350,000 individuals – from multinationals to small local businesses, from interns to CEOs – IML is driven by its vision, “creating better managers and leaders for a better society”.
Government News is Australia’s independent online publication reporting on government in Australia.
We provide independent coverage of local, state and federal government and their administration of programs and initiatives.
We’re a trusted source of news and analysis for government and public sector professionals, including senior managers and key decision-makers at all levels, as well as elected representatives.
Widely read and respected, Government News covers news and management issues, in-depth analysis, innovation and best practice examples from around the world in all aspects of government operations.
View more information: https://www.governmentnews.com.au/
The Association of Independent Schools was established in 1962 as a non-profit organisation to support, represent and promote the interests of Independent Schools. AISWA is incorporated under the Industrial Relations Act.
AISWA's constituent members include over one hundred and fifty-five Independent Schools. Its member schools educate over 75,000 students accounting for just over 16% of Western Australian school enrolments. These schools employ over 5,500 teaching and over 3,500 non-teaching staff.
View more information: https://www.ais.wa.edu.au/
PS News is an online newspaper packed with news and other information designed to inform, entertain and challenge the professional staff of public sector organisations around the nation.
PS News is totally independent of Government, union or political influence and is compiled and updated by journalists in Canberra and other capital cities.
Its editorial policy is to be unashamedly pro-PS, a philosophy shared by its contributors, associates and generous advertisers whose preference for doing business with public servants and the Public Service prompts them to pay the PS News bills. God bless ‘em!
The Australian Community Workers Association (ACWA) is the national body for over 500,000 hard working community work practitioners in Australia. ACWA's role is to support community workers in every sphere of their work. We exist to advance the profession of community work and to set, strengthen and promote the educational, professional and ethical standards essential for exemplary community work practice.
ACWA encourages young people, and older workers considering a change, to consider a career in this essential occupation. Above all we believe that community workers, no matter what job title they work under or who they work with, deserve the support of a professional association to advocate for their interests.
ACWA is a membership organisation and we encourage you to join us to receive the benefits and support that will assist you in your chosen profession.
View more information: http://www.acwa.org.au/
