Students, teachers, schools and employers were winners in this year's Applied Learning Awards.  Berendale School received the '2011 Regional Champion School Award' and Apprenticeship and Traineeship Employment Partners (ATEP) the '2011 Regional Champion Employer Award'.  Both were recognised for contributing most in terms of applied learning (sometimes referred to as vocational learning) for our community's young people. 

The Awards are a partnership initiative of the Bayside Glen Eira Kingston Local Learning and Employment Network (BGK LLEN) and Youth Connect, and align with each organisation's commitment to building a community where all education pathways are equally valued. 

Nearly 300 attendees saw 37 Awards and 26 Nomination Certificates presented to secondary students, teachers, employers and schools at the ceremony held on October 18th.  The Applied Learning Awards recognise the outstanding efforts of students undertaking the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), VET in Schools (VETiS) certificates and School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships (SBATs). 

Emma Jackson, from the LEEP Community VCAL Program in Mordialloc, won for outstanding achievements as part of her hospitality School Based Apprenticeship.  Sean Campitelli, from St Bede's College in Mentone, was recognised for successful workplace participation as part of his VCAL program and building and construction course at TAFE.  Rebecca Rosenfeld, from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College in Bentleigh, was awarded for accomplishments during her VCE and Community Services TAFE program. Many more students also won awards across 19 different industry areas.

The Awards also recognised those organisations that make applied learning possible; the secondary schools that offer applied learning courses and the businesses that provide students with workplace experiences. For the first year since the awards were launched, teachers were also acknowledged.  Rochelle Travitz from the SkillsPlus Community VCAL Program and Ben Pisani from Sandringham College were the inaugural teaching winners.  Both were selected by the Judging Panel "for providing outstanding training, mentoring and leadership in the field of applied learning".

ATEP, winner of the '2011 Regional Employer Champion Award', has been providing School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships for over a decade.  In addition, ATEP provide advice to schools, participate in career presentations and support unemployed young people to enter the workforce.  "The range and depth of ATEP's applied learning commitment made this Group Training Organisation a worthy winner of this prestigious award" said Danny Schwarz, Chief Executive Officer of Youth Connect.

Berendale School, which provides secondary education for students with a mild to moderate intellectual disability, won the 'School Champion Award'.  Berendale School was recognised as providing a high quality VCAL program, delivering a wide range of accredited industry programs and giving their students access to genuine work placement opportunities. The Judging Panel also recognised that Berendale School "is very outwardly focused and has developed long-standing partnerships with a range of community organisations, businesses and other schools; leveraging these to enhance the applied learning available to their students".

Schools are not required to offer vocational programs and, in fact, don't even have to offer VCAL.  Offering these programs does add to the workload of a school, but schools that do so ensure that their students get access to a full suite of senior school studies.  Applied learning assists in engaging students, builds school-business partnerships and contributes to reducing industry skills shortages.

These schools, and the 2011 Applied Learning Awards, recognise that students have different needs. Louisa Ellum, Executive Officer of the BGK LLEN, said "that by offering a wide array of choices students are more likely to get access to programs that meet their individual learning and career development needs, and ultimately the community is better off for it".

The Applied Learning Awards were also fetured in the November 2nd edition of the Moorabbin Leader Newspaper