Through the Compass project, they have gathered a very engaged group of people including representatives from DEWR and state government, a local employer, headspace, TAFE, and employment services.
The Compass tool covers the Mid-west region of Western Australia.
The region faces challenges that are specific to that distance. For example:
– Young people often have very disjointed educational experiences due to the prevalence of FIFO workers being on 5-week contracts. This is more acute in more rural communities than in Geraldton, but the Compass covers a huge area with about 45 tiny schools scattered across the Mid-West (that is also maybe something to note – this Compass covers a HUGE regional scope that others don’t).
– Young people face significant barriers to education post-school, in both university and VET contexts. There are no university campuses in the area (thought there is a ‘uni hub’ with facilities so people can get a qualification remotely and stay in their community) and local training organisations often struggle to fill lecturer/trainer roles meaning many courses are unavailable.
Phase 5 will focus on contextualising the data with more local insights.