Secondary school students in Bendigo have been able to work with industry experts in Melbourne as part of a virtual work experience program at Bendigo Tech School.
Bendigo Tech School is one of the first schools to have the pilot program where, this week, six students have picked the brains of research and development experts for a project.
"If the program proves successful, we hope to grow it and offer it to more student," Bendigo Tech School director Graeme Wiggins said.
"It's hugely beneficial and you don't have to be in year 10 when you would usually have work experience.
"People may have disabilities or other reasons why the can't attend an ordinary (work experience) program. This program lets students get a full experience with industry experts."
This week the students worked on developing bicycle enhancements that could effectively marketed.
"We looked at number of different research and development clients and identified one for the students," Mr Wiggins said.
"The students are looking at things like enhancements that can be customised for bikes to carry more equipment."
Mr Wiggins said the new work experience program would be valuable to students in regional areas.
"We think it is important because young people in regional settings don't always have a great insight to career pathways," he said.
"While career practitioners and schools do good job, work experience (also) depends on what a company can offer and there are varying degrees of success."
The technical advancements in the past 20 years have meant students are aspiring to new types of careers.
"From a technical perspective, there has been a huge digital disruption in the last 20 years to almost every industry sector, to demise of some industry like graphic design," Mr Wiggins said.
"The other thing about digital disruption is as we can't predict what opportunities there may be in the future because (industries can) evolve so quickly.
"So we are trying to educate students for careers that don't exist, which means we need a flexible set of capabilities for students."
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Chris Pedler
Chris has been with the Bendigo Advertiser for more than 10 years. He has great passion for the performing arts and is very supportive of the Bendigo live music scene. Outside of the news world Chris plays golf and, regardless of the result, loves watching St Kilda play in the AFL. He loves community theatre and has performed on stage with the Bendigo Theatre Company and worked with Baldrick himself, Tony Robinson. Story tips: chris.pedler@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Chris has been with the Bendigo Advertiser for more than 10 years. He has great passion for the performing arts and is very supportive of the Bendigo live music scene. Outside of the news world Chris plays golf and, regardless of the result, loves watching St Kilda play in the AFL. He loves community theatre and has performed on stage with the Bendigo Theatre Company and worked with Baldrick himself, Tony Robinson. Story tips: chris.pedler@austcommunitymedia.com.au
