A TRIP overseas has given Jennifer Polk some fresh ideas to help young people in the Central West increase their employability.
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Ms Polk, the head teacher of the Bathurst, Cowra and Grenfell Career Pathways and Employability Skills faculty, has just returned to work after five weeks abroad.
The trip, which took her to Iceland, Finland and Denmark, was made possible after she won the prestigious Premier's Teacher Scholarship last year.
The purpose of the trip was for Ms Polk to expand her research into lowering youth unemployment and re-engaging people classified as NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) by seeing how other countries achieve positive outcomes.
Ms Polk said her trip was an "amazing" experience.
"Speaking non-work-wise, travel alone can be quite eye opening, but I think every place I visited, the generosity that was shown to me was really impressive," she said.
"Everyone was willing to spend time with me and share their materials and resources with me.
"It was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had."
Ms Polk said her days were kept busy, with many of her contacts from her research connecting her with new people who could assist her.
There were a few lessons she learnt from her trip, among the most significant being how those countries look beyond a qualification by "really focusing on job readiness".
Ms Polk said students participated in mock interviews, left their vocational training with updated resumes and, most importantly, completed work experience.
"I saw that in all three countries I went to, the importance of work experience," she said.
While many TAFE courses do require work experience, Ms Polk said she would like to see how work experience could be incorporated into the others.
"[Work experience] is really important, because if you look at the data, more and more young people are finding it difficult to get their foot in the door within employment," she said.
"So it allows them the opportunity to just experience work, learn some of those skills in terms of communication skills and personal presentation skills, and it may be in an area they didn't even know they were interested in."
Now that Ms Polk is back at work, she will speak to her colleagues to develop and implement her new knowledge.
"I will do what I can to start making small changes to what we do here within my section, but also just inform my peers on campus about what might be possible in the future," she said.
She has also scheduled meetings at a state level and plans to take her knowledge to the TAFE head office.
For those interested in further education, TAFE NSW enrolments for semester two intake will open on May 15.
Among those that will be available are the Certificate II in Career Preparation and a Certificate I in Preparation for Work Training (for Women).
For more information, visit TAFE's website or phone 131 601.
