AN INTERNAL review into the use of the Ballarat Learning Exchange (BLX) facility is under way as youth programs based out of the facility shut their doors, while others deal with huge funding cuts as a result of the May federal budget.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The facility was showcased as a “new era of education” when it officially opened in 2005, but officials are now looking for new ways to use the central business district building.
The internal review, undertaken by the Department of Education and Childhood Development, will not be released to the public and is not yet complete.
With educational safety net Youth Connections and the careers hub both shut down, and Highlands LLEN operating on reduced funding, the facility is shaping up for a very different 2015.
Buninyong MP Geoff Howard was instrumental in the implementation and construction of the facility, but he said he was concerned by the news of a review.
“Because a review often means a cut to funding, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is bad but it could be,” he said.
“It is certainly high on my agenda to talk to all the providers that use that facility to work out the best use for it.
“It absolutely worries me. I am relieved we have been elected to government because we understand why the BLX was established; it stops students from falling through cracks in education.”
Bayden Furness, 18, has been one of the biggest users of the facility.
Mr Furness has taken part in a number of programs run out of the facility leading on to full-time employment.
He was angered to learn of budget cuts to many of the programs, which have added strain on the facility.
“Now there is no support for kids like that, the careers hub is gone, I just used to walk in and print off some resumes, and do some job hunting,” he said.
“It was so easy and now no one can.
“It is just going to make it a lot harder. It was hard enough for me, I got the support but now there is a lot less of the support.”
Mr Furness used the facility to send off around 120 resumes over a four month period in his hunt for a job.
YOUTH Connections will cease to operate this week.
The program’s funding was cut in the last federal budget, which will leave a number of youth caseworkers out of a job and many more of Ballarat’s youth with less options for assistance when they hit hard times.
The program was designed to act as an education safety net for the city’s youth providing case by case management to help keep young people involved with education or enter the workforce.
The Courier visited the BLX facility as staff were packing up their offices and preparing to leave even while a number of Ballarat’s youth were still calling the office seeking assistance.
Youth caseworker Chris Lang said this change had been like no other.
“Governments are prone to coming in and changing up programs – that has been happening for a long time – but what is different about this one is that there is nothing to replace this,” he said.
“Governments might change it, rejig it, rebadge it, but this is different.
“There is usually something to replace what is there but this time there is just nothing. It is a whole range of services for young people that just don’t exist anymore.”
Those who work within the program, which is operated by Ballarat Group Training, have been searching for a way to save it since they discovered in May that no more funding would be provided.
“It has been horrible, we have known this has been coming for quite some time but it has still been a rollercoaster none the less,” Mr Lang said.
“There are a number of our clients that have positive aspirations for the future but they are the ones that will make it through no matter what.
“One of the biggest things for us is battling hope; a lot of those kids just can’t see a pathway forward.
“Maybe that has come from generational unemployment – it can be a number of things – but these kids can’t see a path forward.
“It is those ones I worry for the most. Without those services, they are not the kind of kids to go out seeking that help because they can’t see the pathway and if they can’t see the pathway they don’t know where to turn to get help.”
BALLARAT Secondary College’s Link-Up is one program which is still going strong in the BLX facility.
New principal David Stuchbery said a number of families were still approaching the school to gain access to the program.
“In the mainstream system, there can be some disengagement for some students,” he said.
“If you are in year 9, they might say ‘OK everyone is doing this level of math’, whereas here, after some testing we can put you in maths at years 7 and English at year 11 level.”
However, Mr Stuchbery said there was an internal review under way to help people understand how the program works .
“I suppose any sort of educational program requires the understanding and support of everyone in education,” he said.
“I suppose part of the review we are currently going through is to firstly clarify what we are so we can communicate to others what we are.”
THE Highlands Local Learning and Employment Network will be very different in 2015.
Unlike other programs, the network was thrown a lifeline by the new state government when it pledged $32 million over four years to fund the initiative across the state.
However, once divided across the state, the network will be forced to operate with a budget that is 43 per cent less than it had been when it was funded by the federal government.
Executive officer Jannine Bennett said it would result in the network no longer being able to afford two full-time staff members.
Some part-time staff members will also lose their positions.
Further to the cuts already experienced, the careers hub located in the BLX was forced to shut despite Ms Bennett saying Highlands LLEN used funding reserves to keep the facility open longer than expected.
“They have nowhere to go. They don’t have Youth Connections any longer, they can’t come into the career hub to get help with resumes or interview skills or finding out about courses – that won’t be available to them,” she said.
Ms Bennett said it was diffi cult to guess what the impact of the cuts would be on the BLX facility.
“It is certainly not meeting its real potential. Who knows what this place will end up being,” she said.
Ms Bennett said the lasting impacts of the cuts might not be felt immediately, and it was difficult to predict what would happen.
“I don’t know about unemployment but I think what we are likely to see, it will take a little time to come through, but you will begin to see kids drifting into places you don’t want them to drift into, like the justice system for example,” he said.
“I think we will see a lot more kids on the street because they don’t know where to go and who will help them.
“They are dropping out of school, there is no doubt about that, and some of our schools have become academically focused in Ballarat.
“Some of our kids are just not suited to that environment and they are looking for alternatives.
“If those alternatives are not there and they haven’t got someone like Youth Connections to steer them into the right direction, they are just not going to find those places.”
In some ways, Ms Bennett said she felt as if the community and government were giving up on a large portion of young people.
“It feels that way,” she said.
“What I am feeling is there is just not enough of an understanding of those kids that really struggle with fitting into the mainstream.
“There has to be alternatives because many kids are doing really well, they will go to school, get to their destination (and) they will be fine,” she said.
“But there are some that will not and if we don’t rescue them at the beginning, they will be lost to the community for good.”
Ms Bennett said a list of all alternative education and training programs would be available on the Highlands LLEN website.
matthew.dixon@fairfaxmedia.com.au