OBJECTIVE 5
Providing opportunities for FURTHER
EDUCATION and TRAINING
With ever-increasing rates of change and new challenges, the ability to imagine, creatively problem-solve and innovate are all key to how well a community adapts and grows. Fostering a climate of analysis, inquiry and creative exploration allows for greater flexibility in how society at large sees itself and meets the demands of modern life.
Beyond simply enriching individual intellectual development, the exchange of new ideas and skills helps to establish a more informed and creative populace that’s versatile and better equipped for quick and effective responses to change.
GOALS
Council’s commitment to lifelong learning in the LGA seeks to ensure that all members of the community have access to education and training opportunities - both formal and non-formal - by which to increase their knowledge and skills.
Further education in the arts is currently accessed via University, TAFE and private institutions. These formal places of education may not meet the needs of every individual in the community. Barriers to undertaking tertiary education, such as expense and the requirement of long-term commitment, present as very real obstacles. Research shows that, for instance:
• Macarthur youth leave school earlier than many other school districts in NSW;
• Macarthur has higher proportions of residents enrolled in part-time TAFE, but lower enrolled in fulltime TAFE in comparison with the rest of Sydney; and
• Macarthur’s young people are significantly less likely to be attending University, slightly more likely to be attending TAFE and substantially less likely to be attending any educational institution at all than other young people across NSW or Australia generally (Youth Strategy).
Consultations indicate that Camden’s youth population - beyond the school environment - would benefit from alternative forms of education, such as Outreach programs through youth services.