A formerly eastern NSW based program has made its way to the rest of the state, connecting students with employers to assist in building alternative pathways for students to access their ambitions. 

Across the Western Plains, the program will be implemented in Collarenebri, Goodooga, and Lightning Ridge Central Schools, where more isolated students will be able to access employers further afield. 

Goodooga Central School principal Malcolm Banks said that for the sixteen students in Years 7 to 10 at Goodooga, assistance with alternative options could make a real difference to the students' futures. 

“This program is starting to get students thinking about their career opportunities in Year Seven,” Mr Banks said. 

While local employers and trade opportunities may be limited in Goodooga, Mr Banks said that students are encouraged to go as far as Dubbo to seek out traineeships, others to Coonamble. 

“It depends on what the student has aspirations to do. There’s no point sending students to do farming or learn about management if they’re not interested in it because it’s not going to work,” Mr Banks said. 

The approach isn’t completely new to the school, who already run an extensive work experience program within the school from as early as Year 8, with students starting traineeships in term two of Year Ten. 

Whether the students stay local or go further afield is their own choice. 

“It just depends on what the student is interested in…It could be business, it could be management, automotive, or education. My students are doing all those trades at the moment,” he said. 

The biggest change for the school, however, is access to support, resources, and funding that they haven’t had before. 

“Teachers and career advisors are very busy in schools. This gives them another support mechanism where these officers are going to be there to support each particular student teacher in the schools,” Mr Banks said. 

The pathway program will operate under a try-before-you-buy process, offering fee-free apprenticeships and pre-traineeships that allow students to ‘test-drive’ different vocations and training courses. 

Despite the program being offered across NSW, Far West NSW has seemingly missed out on the opportunity, with no schools making the expanded list of schools. Western NSW isn’t far behind, with only three schools in the region being included. 

Meanwhile, 25 schools on the list are from the Newcastle Upper Hunter area alone. 

It is unclear whether this is from a limited number of schools able to be involved, or a lack of application from local schools. 

According to a spokesperson for the program, there will be opportunity for further expansion depending on the program’s success. 

Minister for Skills and Training Alister Henskens said the program’s pilot phase over the past two years saw thousands of students to different training and career pathways. 

“The program has already seen the tripling of the number of students across the 24 pilot schools enrolling in school-based apprenticeships and traineeships,” Mr Henskens said. 

The Educational Pathways Program commenced this term following a $16.5 million investment into its expansion.