Female students at Federation University are taking up trade and vocational education programs in record numbers following the introduction of free TAFE programs.
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Amber Bumpstead is one of five female pre-apprenticeship Painting and Decorating students who will be one of the first free TAFE students to finish their course.
The course is delivered as part of the Building and Construction pre-apprenticeship program which has seen female participation double from seven students in 2018 to 14 in 2019.
Ms Bumpstead transferred into Painting and Decorating at the start of the year from a nursing course after enjoying an experience painting her bedroom at home.
"I have really enjoyed the course. I love to develop new skills," she said.
"Now I am heading towards the end of my course I have learnt there is more to painting that slapping paint on a wall - there is a colour theory, colour matching, surface preparation and wallpapering."
Ms Bumpstead will finish her pre-apprenticeship course in the next few months and is hoping to secure an apprenticeship with a painter.
She said her strength as a female painter was attention to detail, a characteristic she believes will drive more females into traditional trades.
"Every trade has male dominance, so when I was starting the course I prepared myself to be surrounded by males," she said.
"I think over time there will be a lot more females that come into trades. I think it is just getting rid of the stereotype that trade is only for males."
Female enrollments at Federation TAFE almost doubled after the introduction of free TAFE, from 351 in 2018 to 685 this year.
Federation TAFE has around 800 students undertaking 23 free TAFE programs, around 500 of them are female students.
Furniture making, horticulture, electrotechnology, agriculture, and individual support are the top five free TAFE courses that have seen the biggest rise in female student numbers this year.
Data shows the Diploma of Nursing is the most popular free TAFE course for female students.
Federation TAFE executive director Barry Wright said he had seen a strong take up of free TAFE by many females who had experienced barriers to entry into TAFE in the past.
Government subsidies for 40 priority TAFE courses and 20 pre-apprenticeship courses have been offered under Free TAFE since it began in January 2019.
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