Women are infiltrating the often male-dominated trade sphere of painting, with a record number of female TasTAFE students enrolled in Painting and Decorating.
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In Northern Tasmania, the Alanvale TasTAFE campus has three women enrolled in Certificate II Painting and Decorating. The South also has three enrolments, taking the total number to six for 2018.
There are about 110 painting and decorating students statewide.
Students Maddison Hill and Tayla Parker said they decided to look into vocational education and training because they were looking for a practical way to get them to their new careers.
“I was always more of a hands-on person,” Miss Hill said.
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Miss Parker said she was aiming to become an interior designer and thought an apprenticeship in painting and decorating could be a way to get her there and give her a qualification.
“Getting an apprenticeship is a step further down the road to where I want to be,” she said.
The Examiner is highlighting vocational education in its campaign Pick up the Tools.
Pick up the Tools aims to secure the future of VET education in Tasmania and support the public provider TasTAFE.
Painting and Decorating teacher Scott Dalton said painting offered a secure career that could suit women because of its flexibility.
“It really does offer a flexible option, you can pick up a paintbrush and do it anywhere,” he said.
Painting was also a trade that was easy to travel, so it would be suitable for those looking to take their trade on a working holiday or work overseas.
Miss Hill and Miss Parker said they had not really known much about painting and decorating as a career option when they were at high school and college.
“I didn’t know much about VET studies, the guys were the ones mostly doing those classes, we were doing cooking and drama and those types,” Miss Hill said.
Mr Dalton said more could be done to break down those long-standing stereotypes at school level to encourage more women into typically male-dominated trades.
He said female students brought a different dynamic into the classroom.
“They are very studious and do their homework so it challenges some of the others,” he said.
“But they can hold their own...no one treats them any differently so that’s good to see.”
He said the younger generation was accepting of women coming into male dominated areas.
Painting and Decorating is a four-week course run across the state at TasTAFE. In Launceston, the certificate is run at Alanvale.