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Learning and Youth
Jobs
Report Card
2021–2022
Brimbank City Council supports a range
of activities that foster better learning and employment outcomes
for the community.
The
Brimbank Lifelong Learning Strategy 2018-2023
provides a long-term approach
to improving social and economic outcomes and recognizes that learning is a driver for
positive change.
The global pandemic heavily influenced the way Brimbank has supported the
community, with a concentrated effort on young learners whose school year was
disrupted, young people and adults who faced unemployment in an uncertain time,
and supporting students to access services as they transition from school to work.
The
Brimbank Youth Jobs Strategy 2018-2023
was developed by local young people
for local young people. Brimbank Learning Futures (BLF) is a supportive environment
for locals to learn and get support on employment, through innovative outreach
engagement and responsive programming that connects young people and adults
to learning and pathways to employment.

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Partnerships to enhance Lifelong
Learning and Employment outcomes
Strategic partners were re-engaged between Brimbank
Learning Futures, and council units with Jobs Victoria,
Victoria University Skills and Jobs Centre, Victoria
University, Department of Education and Training,
HeadSpace, Orygen Youth Mental Health, MiCare,
Jesuits Community College, Brotherhood of
St. Laurence, IPC Health, Smith Family, Future Connect,
Equal Ed and many more. Council works with these and
other partners and stakeholders to add value to each
other’s programs for enhanced learning and education
and to offer better learning and career pathways
outcomes for our community.
Brimbank Lifelong Learning Strategy
2018 – 2023 Baseline Measures
Baseline measures were developed for each life stage.
These measures support Council and its partners
to monitor specific priorities and trends to inform a
framework for future work and to understand whether
or not there has been a positive shift in intended
outcomes or measures identified in the Brimbank
Lifelong Learning Strategy 2018-2023.
Measures that can be reported on to date:
55.7 per cent of people in Brimbank have
completed Year 12 schooling or equivalent, an
increase of 3.7 per cent since 2016 (Australian
Bureau of Statistics 2022)
The percentage of Year 9 students who were at or
above the NAPLAN national minimum standard for
literacy in Brimbank has risen from 88% in 2016 to
89.9% (Naplan, 2021)
Learning outcomes by life stage
Early Years
Learning-rich programs for pre-school children met
through 31,243 attendances at 2,695 early years
pre-literacy and children’s literacy programs in
Libraries, Neighborhood Houses, including Brimbank
Smalltalk Supported Playgroups.
Small Talk Playgroups launched an outreach ‘Bulk
Loan Picture Books’ borrowing program to support
increased early years language, literacy and
numeracy development.
Parents supported in their roles in children’s lives
through the promotion of language, literacy and
the value of home languages, through the
establishment of a Burmese and English
bilingual story time program.
Funding was secured to deliver the Raising Readers
campaign. The program equipped 200 of Brimbank’s
most vulnerable young families with early literacy
and numeracy resources to help empower parents
and carers in their role as their child’s first teacher.
School Years and Young People
School aged children were supported through the
biannual Schools Exchange Network program,
a partnership between Brimbank Council,
Good Shepherd, Melbourne City Mission and
representatives from the Department of Education
and Training and local schools. Two sessions were
delivered. The first session focused on equipping
education providers with the tools needed to be
inclusive leaders in classrooms, through exploring
LGBTQIA+ identity and pronouns and was attended
by 54 teachers and service providers. In the second
session, educators were trained in re-engagement
strategies to support the integration back to face-to
face learning and practical resources to improve the
wellbeing, connectedness and social interaction of
young people, post lockdown.
A school outreach online engagement portal was
developed to enable easier access for schools in
Brimbank to book library incursions based on current
curriculum topics to enhance classroom learning and
provide real life experiences and connections
Studiosity is a no charge online tutoring program
which provides study help to all students and
community members through subject matter experts
who are available 24/7. The service also supports job
seekers by providing feedback on their resume and
cover letter and assists with job search skills. Usage
has increased by 54 per cent.
A range of school holiday programming was
delivered across Brimbank’s community centres and
libraries that supported learning, including STEAM
based activities, events based on classic children’s
literature, learning about the local environment
and endangered native species, recycling and re
purposing, and indigenous culture.

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Homework and learning support was delivered
through 32 programs to 320 primary and secondary
students to support continued engagement in
learning during and post the pandemic.
In partnership with Equal Ed, 116 online homework
support sessions to primary and secondary students
were held at no cost to students. These sessions
were attended by 137 students and provided critical
education support.
Annual update of Homework and Study Clubs in
Brimbank listing.
Council granted $30,000 to the Western Chances
Scholarship program to enable more Brimbank
students to stay at school and continue to tertiary
education through practical assistance such as
transportation costs, IT, text books and stationery.
Adults and Later Life Learning
Piloted
iPad Learning,
an interactive group for seniors
with limited digital literacy skills. The program ran
for six weeks with a different topic covered each
week. Participants took home an iPad with data
to consolidate their learning between classes. By
providing the data and hardware, it removed the
barrier to participation by seniors in the digital space.
As part of a broader Social Prescribing initiative,
Council partnered with IPC Health and their clients to
co-design, pilot and implement a series of programs
designed to assist isolated community members to
connect with others and improve their overall health
and wellbeing.
Annual update of English Language programs in
Brimbank listing.
Quarterly
Celebrating Learning
newsletter
distributed online, sharing local projects, good
news stories, information and resources relating to
learning in all its forms.
101,494 page views on Discover Learning in Brimbank,
an online directory of no charge and low cost activities,
courses and programs available in Brimbank through
Council and community service providers.
A combined total of over 4,735 learning programs
to support all life stages were delivered through
Libraries and Neighborhood Houses.
Learning and Employment innovation
In partnership with Learn West and VU Jobs and
Skills Centre, the
2022 Learning for Earning
Festival
was held in May. Four hundred and
seventy-six people registered to attend three
employment forums across two days that focused
on employment opportunities in the west enabling
the community to connect with employers,
industry leaders & employment services. These
included representatives from Amazon, Westgate
Tunnel project, Victoria University, The Footscray
Connectivity Centre - Multiplex, Western Health
and Rail Projects Victoria who discussed upcoming
recruitment and roles.
In addition to the three main events of the
2022
Learning for Earning Festival
, satellite events were
run at public libraries and community houses in the
week of the festival, including sessions on creating
your résumé, social media for small business, and
turning your hobby into a business. Of the 22
additional events by six Local Government Areas, 13
were delivered by Brimbank Council
Delivered multiple Parents as Career Transitions
Support (PACTS) programs, in partnership with
Department of Education and Training. PACTS
supports parents of young people to engage with
stakeholders to transition successfully from school
to the workforce. The sessions built the capacity of
parents to act as career supports for their children.
One session was delivered in Vietnamese and English.
Three hundred and nineteen registrants for the
Workability
program. Multiple sessions were held to
support families with young adults with disabilities
to be engaged in and transition to meaningful work.
This was followed by a
Connecting Communities
seminar that brought together representatives from
service providers that could assist parents directly
with finding inclusive and diverse abilities friendly
employers. Presenters included the Department of
Education and Training, Brotherhood of St Laurence,
Western Bulldogs and Headspace.
Supported and mentored a final year education student
from Victoria University with practical experience of
working in informal learning spaces, specifically with a
research project, strategy analysis and presenting at a
Schools Exchange Network webinar.
Young Innovators Program
provided opportunities
for 24 young people to develop innovative solutions
to important problems in the community, and provide
the opportunity to access seed funding to implement
their ideas. The Young Innovators Program provides
a unique opportunity for Mentors to make a positive
impact by working on real-world projects with
young innovators.

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Brimbank Learning Futures (BLF)
Drop in Careers Counselling Sessions held weekly in
partnership with Victoria University Skills and Jobs
Centre who provided a careers counsellor, assisting
job-seekers with job readiness including resume,
cover letters, and online job applications virtually
during COVID-19 lockdowns. The service resumed
face to face in 2022.
More than 100 students participated in 15 workshops
in collaboration with local schools on career pathways
with secondary and primary schools, polytechnics
and special needs schools in Brimbank.
Supported the delivery of targeted career workshops
co-designed by young people for young people
and delivered across four schools (Keilor Downs,
Brookside, Braybrook and Sunshine College),
reaching over 300 students between years 8 and 11.
Four career pathways workshops for Braybrook
College and Jackson School Senior students. Students
were engaged in various activities to encourage
them to think about their preferred future careers,
the pathways required and the services available
locally which can assist them.
Council’s Victorian Job Advocates (JVAs) conducted
outreach at various locations on 300 occasions
across Brimbank and Metropolitan Melbourne
including shopping centres, libraries, markets,
festivals and events, engaging and supporting 800
job seekers between 2021 and 2022.
Engaged with workers with close ties to cultural
groups and other cohorts. Increased connection with
a Bilingual community worker to streamline referrals
directly to the Jobs Victoria Advocates service.
Delivered Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
sessions for recently arrived refuges in partnership
with Westgate Community Initiative Group and
Australia Security Risk Management. Training
supported Afghani job seekers with job readiness,
with 30+ job seekers participating in the RPL
training, all of which went on to complete
Certificate 2 in Security Studies.
Collaborated with local Afghani women, to co-design
community group workshops to facilitate social
engagement, build awareness of support networks
including external organisations who can assist with
social, psychological, financial and health issues,
provide guidance in educational and upskilling
pursuits and create a trusted information and social
support touch point.
Hospitality Skills Mentoring project launched in April
2022. The program is designed to upskill Brimbank
residents and prepare them for jobs in the Hospitality
sector. The program delivered in partnership with
Jesuits Community College ,which offers pre
accredited and accredited training in hospitality. Job
readiness activities such as interview practice and
resume support were provided. Relationships have
been established with local business owners with job
ready graduates referred to them for job placements
and trials. So far 40 members of the community have
completed the pilot training program.
What’s NExpo, the inaugural careers expo was held
during National Careers Week 15-21 May 2022. This
fun and relaxed event was designed to make local
community members feel comfortable to connect
to job network providers, employers and education
institutions. It also provided the opportunity for BLF
staff to engage with a wider audience and inform
people on how BLF can assist them in their education
and employment journey. More than 150 local
Brimbank residents attended.
Brimbank Learning Futures
80B Harvester Road, Sunshine, VIC 3020
Phone: 9249 4116
learning@brimbank.vic.gov.au
www.brimbanklibraries.vic.gov.au
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343 - 0922
Brimbank City Council
Telephone
9249 4000
Email
info@brimbank.vic.gov.au
Post
PO Box 70, Sunshine, VIC 3020
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