Twelve young jobseekers were the first to participate in the learner driver training, each attended daily through a combination of face to face assistance delivered by our R4W facilitator and on-line practice assessments via QLD Department of Transport. Some of these participants are experiencing barriers such as LL&N and motivation, so to see this group attend each and every day exceeded all of our expectations.
A second group of jobseekers requiring their provisional licence were pooled together to assess their hours logged and licencing readiness. Most of these participants have held their learners for some time and struggled to obtain enough hours required before sitting for their licencing test, or just lacked confidence. Jobfind arranged for a driving school to visit our Kuranda office to conduct one hour driving lessons. This fast became popular as normally these services are not available in Kuranda, log book hours are also worth double when signed off by the instructor.
Finally a third group of jobseekers requiring P2’s were contacted and combined with the other two groups on the Friday to attend the Mareeba Department of Transport via our Jobfind bus plus an additional car. The Dept. of Transport was very accommodating; fortunately they were pre-warned of the instant influx of people about to walk in their door.
The outcome was fantastic; over 15% of our participants requiring licencing assistance achieved their goals. Those who did not pass were still commended for their outstanding efforts by Jobfind staff and their peers. Everyone who participated in the training was rewarded by a well-deserved sausage sizzle once they returned from Mareeba.
This program proved to be highly successful, we are looking to implement learner driver training on a regular basis and invite The Learning Workshop to identify and assist with LL&N barriers as we strive to reduce jobseeker barriers and into their pathway to employment.
