The student becomes the advocate

Building student Jivan Silva has become an advocate for Vocational Education and Training (VET) and the impact it can have on Queenslanders’ lives. Travelling from site to site with the TAFE Queensland Coffee Trailer, Jivan joins the existing initiative which promotes to workers around South-East Queensland the education options available to them, many at little to no cost.

Jivan is currently completing a Diploma of Building and Construction (Building) (CPC50220) at TAFE Queensland as well as gaining Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for a Certificate III in Carpentry (CPC30220). His Diploma has been funded by Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ), who offer help to Queensland construction workers looking to upskill and move their career forward.

Speaking to a group of around 80 peers at a large commercial construction site in Carindale, Jivan implored the workers to look into funding and training opportunities available to them, saying he had experienced firsthand the life-changing effects that can be achieved though the VET sector.

“Being eligible for RPL has changed my life, it gave me self-worth in realising that the skills and experience I had built over my career are worth something and are recognised by TAFE Queensland,” Jivan said.

“To have my experience recognised and then have CSQ fund my diploma so I can really take the next step and contract my own work is amazing, it has completely changed the work I can do and the career I can have.”

Jivan is undertaking his diploma at TAFE Queensland’s Eagle Farm campus which heads up the Advanced Building training available in the Greater Brisbane area. The course is funded by CSQ and has allowed him to make a career pivot after completing a Bachelor of Mining and Geotechnical Engineering.

Jivan said he had realised his true passions and looked for a course that enabled him to act on them, “I have come to understand I am very much a visionary and enjoy understanding people, so my passion isn’t so much the work side of things, but the development, management and orchestrating of the moving parts.”

Always committed to furthering his learning and expanding his abilities, Jivan says he plans to enrol shortly in an Advanced Diploma of Building and Construction (CPC60220).

The TAFE Queensland Coffee Trailer visits more than 200 sites yearly, most of which are commercial construction sites but the head of the initiative, Bill Alexion, says bookings are open to all trades workers in the Greater Brisbane area.

“We drop in to sites and provide workers with a free smoko and coffee and crucial information about the upskill opportunities available to them through TAFE Queensland. We cater to sites from 10 people up to more than 200, and we can visit construction, automotive, engineering, and other sites,” Mr Alexion said.

“By coming to visit workers on site, we can give them help that they might not have the time outside of work to get. I have personally enrolled many, many workers in courses that have changed their career trajectories while visiting them with the Coffee Trailer.”

“The best feeling I get is when I visit a site and see a familiar face, maybe somebody I helped gain RPL for a trade, or helped enrol in a higher level course, and they are now running the site.”

“We also have a number of industry partners that support us on our visits and provide invaluable advice to these workers as well, without our industry partners we would not have nearly the same impact and span that we do,” he said.

Any trade businesses, large or small, with an interest in booking a visit from the TAFE Queensland Coffee Trailer can find more information and book a visit on the TAFE Queensland website.