Education, training and career services for Koories

These services, organisations and resources can assist Koorie people and others working with Koorie young people to tap into the networks, support and opportunities to enhance career and educational pathway planning whilst at school and beyond. It can help turn the aspirations and dreams of Koorie youth across Victoria into reality.

Careers and transition

Effective careers and transition programs are a vital component of school strategies to improve student engagement and increase school completion. 

Schools should have in place careers and transitions programs that provide every young person with career advice to support them to make informed and effective course and career decisions, so that students can have every opportunity to succeed, and lead fulfilling and productive lives.

Career Action Plans assist schools with making a successful transition through the senior secondary years of education to further education, training or full-time employment.

Engaging Parents in Career Conversations (EPICC) Framework is an online resource that career practitioners can use to engage parents in the career development of young people.

Useful job information and skill shortages can assist Koorie young people their families and schools, to explore career prospects.

Exploring career resources

Work Experience and structured workplace learning are part of school career programs and VCE Vocational Education and Training (VET), Vocational Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) and school-based apprenticeships and traineeships (SBA and SBT).

Find out about these industry experiences arranged whilst at school and the fantastic opportunity to get first hand, on the job experience or training.

Leaving school early: If you are planning to leave school before Year 12, there is information about the best career options available to you that can help you choose your future.

Career pathways after school can be confusing and overwhelming when thinking about work and life after secondary school, but there is support available to help young people explore and choose a career pathway. Choices include starting an apprenticeship or traineeship, continuing with further study, finding work, starting a business or even taking a gap year.

Career Websites is the Department of Education and Training comprehensive list of all relevant career information, career planning and pathways information, training, industry and skill shortage information, web links to all TAFE, Universities, Tertiary education information for students and parents and careers associations.

Myfuture is a major career website that provides information about industries, occupations, study choices, scholarships, education and training providers, regional employment trends and lots of resources.

Youth Central Hub is an Australian government website to gives young people information about Health, Education and Work, Community, Culture, Environment and Finance. Youth.gov.au website gives students and families access to key career information, work, training, further study, scholarships, support, initiatives and Indigenous programs available for young people. 

Returning to study and job seekers

Embrace education is a network of students, volunteers and teachers organised by Monash University offering tutoring support to Koorie young people for Homework clubs, individual tutoring and in-school tutoring

Exploring pathways

Further Study – University and TAFE

Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) for information about courses and institutions.

The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA)is an organisation dedicated to the development and training of Indigenous performing artists.

Training

The Victorian Skills Gateway is a one-stop shop for Victorian vocational education and training to help find the best option for you. It has been developed by the Victorian Department of Education and Training.  

My Skills is an Australian Directory of Training, a website is the national directory of vocational education and training (VET) organisations and courses. It is a federal government initiative to enable consumers to search for and compare, VET courses and training providers.

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) are contracted as providers of Victorian government-subsidised training to students. Check the list of registered training providers funded to provide training through the Victorian Training Guarantee Program.

Group Training Australia (GTA) is the national association representing group training organisations (GTOs), Australia’s largest employer network of apprentices and trainees.

Apprenticeships, traineeships and cadetships

Victorian school-based apprenticeships and traineeships are available to students whilst still at school. Information about beginning or continuing an apprenticeship is available through the Department of Education and Training and Victorian Skill Gateway- Apprenticeships and Traineeships.

ANZ Indigenous school-based traineeships encourage Year 10 Indigenous School Based Traineeship Program across Australia to apply for a position with ANZs whilst undertaking Year 11 and 12 at school. The two-year program has recruited more than 400 Indigenous Trainees in branches across Australia since 2003.  

Students undertake a paid traineeship in an ANZ branch for at least one day a week and complete a Certificate II qualification in Business at TAFE whilst finishing their secondary education. To find out more about the ANZ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander School Based Traineeships, watch "The Start of Something Big" video.

MacKillop Family Services offers Koorie Youth Traineeships in Community Relations (marketing, communications and fundraising), Finance, IT Support, Training/Learning and Development, Quality and Innovation and property and Facilities Management. 

Enquire if aged 18 to 26 years and of Aboriginal background or Torres Strait Islander descent, for a Koorie Youth Traineeship with MacKillop Family Services and the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA).

Indigenous Cadetship Program is the Commonwealth Department of Human Services Indigenous Cadetship program supports the education and professional development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. As cadets complete their studies they are offered a position with the department.

Indigenous peak bodies

Indigenous.gov.auis a key website of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet covering Indigenous matters for Australia and also including Children and Schooling

Australian Indigenous Education Foundation is a private sector-led, non-profit organisation focused on empowering Indigenous children in financial need to build a brighter future for themselves and the nation.

Australian Department of Human Services Indigenous Australians covers a wide range of important government support, news and programs for all Indigenous families.

Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc. (VAEAI) is a community-based organisation established to ensure the involvement of Victorian Koorie community members in decision making regarding education and training provisions for Koorie students. Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Groups (LAECGs) can provide important links between Koorie communities and educational institutions.

Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA)is a state-wide Aboriginal community controlled and operated service established by our community in 1977. 

VACCA was given the responsibility by our community to promote, advocate and achieve positive changes in the lives of Aboriginal children, young people, their families and their community premised on human rights, self-determination, cultural respect and safety. 

Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) represents the collective of all Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations around Victoria. Each of its members is an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation: most are multi-functional community organisations with health as a key part of their responsibility and some come from groups offering full health services. 

For further information; see: Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation

Stolen Generations Victoria (SGV) supports and addresses the needs of people affected by practices and policies of removing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from family, community, country and culture.

Native Title Service Victoria (NTS Vic)exists to deliver sustainable Native Title outcomes to Aboriginal people in Victoria that will respect, protect and transmit Aboriginal culture and identity for present and future generations.

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) Victoria's vision is for a community that realises justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, values their diverse cultures and recognises their inherent rights to self-determination, land and heritage. For further information; see: Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR)

Wurreker strategy is the central strategy for Indigenous vocational education and training policy development and service delivery in Victoria. Wurreker both informs and responds to National and State strategies that relate to Indigenous post-compulsory education and training. For updated information about Wurreker, refer to the VAEAI website News section.

Aboriginal Studies Press (ASP) is the publishing arm of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), the world’s premier research and collecting institute of Australian Indigenous studies.

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) is an institution for information and research about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Institute undertakes and encourages scholarly, ethical community-based research; holds a priceless collection of films, photographs, video and audio recordings and the world’s largest collections of printed and other resource materials for Indigenous Studies; and has its own publishing house.

Its activities affirm and raise awareness among all Australians, and people of other nations, of the richness and diversity of Australian Indigenous cultures and histories.

World Indigenous education and careers services

Careers Services Rapuara is the New Zealand government careers service that has lots of information to help Maori students and adults with jobs, training and career decision making.

Waitangi Tribunal was established in New Zealand in 1975; the Tribunal is a permanent commission of inquiry making recommendations on claims brought by Maori relating to actions or omissions of the Crown that breach the promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi. There is a resource section with information for schools.

Aboriginal Links are a worldwide Indigenous people's links.

World Wide Web Virtual Library: Indigenous Studies is the  Centre for World Indigenous Studies (CWIS) and the Chief George Manuel Library support and contribute to the development and maintenance of the World Wide Web Virtual Library. 

This site is maintained in conjunction with the Australian National University's Aboriginal Studies WWW Virtual Library, containing links to Australian Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander resources, and the Circumpolar WWW Virtual Library containing links to Circumpolar Indigenous resources.

Best Practices On Indigenous Knowledge is a database including a definition of Indigenous knowledge, and a Registry of best practices that gives numerous detailed summaries of projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America that have sought to improve conditions and alleviate poverty through successful employment of Indigenous knowledge.

Centre for World Indigenous Studies is a US-based research and education organisation, that provides access to Indigenous people’s knowledge and ideas, and conflict resolution and protects the rights of Indigenous peoples.

More information

Dust Echoes - A collection of twelve aboriginal Dreamtime stories collected from the Wugularr (Beswick) Community in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Recorded as audio and then interpreted as short animated movies, these stories are designed to educate and entertain young people to instil a respect and thirst for the wealth of indigenous culture and stories on our doorstep. 

The accompanying Study Guide features a range of upper-primary and lower-secondary educational materials for teachers and students, including classroom activities that explore themes such as the diverse landscape of the Northern Territory, the Aboriginal moiety and kinship systems, Indigenous spiritual beliefs, power and responsibility in the community, safety and survival in the bush, and Indigenous ceremonies and traditional art and craft techniques.

Indigenous heritage - Indigenous issues relevant under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, with an overview and links to laws relevant to Indigenous heritage.

Aboriginal Literature - Books and other resources by Aboriginal authors, particularly those from Western Australia.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library and Information Resource Network (ATSILIRN) - A support and information network for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people working in libraries and for those people servicing the information needs of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples.

AIATSIS–Native Title Research Unit Collections - Information about the native title resources held in the Library and the Audio-visual Archives.

National Native Title Tribunal Home - The tribunal works with people to develop an understanding of the native title and reach enduring native title and related outcomes that recognise everyone's rights and interests in land and waters.

CERN/ANU Aboriginal Studies - A list with links to Aboriginal Studies on the Net.

Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation - The ILCS assists Indigenous Australians to acquire land and manage Indigenous-held land sustainably, to provide cultural, social, economic or environmental benefits for themselves and future generations.

Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) - The Australian National University Centre’s mission is to contribute to better outcomes for Indigenous Australians by informing constructive academic and public debates based on innovative research; analysing changes in Indigenous socioeconomic status; and informing and influencing policy formation.

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet - A web resource that makes knowledge and information on Indigenous health easily accessible to inform practice and policy.

CSIRO - information about Indigenous engagement in and perspectives on science initiatives