Kildare Catholic College VET coordinator Penny MacKay took home the NSW VET Trainer/Teacher of the Year award. Photo: Skills NSW.
A Kildare Catholic College teacher has been named NSW Vocational Educational Training (VET) Teacher/Trainer of the Year in Hospitality and Business at the NSW Training Awards for her work in ensuring students can explore VET while getting their HSC.
When Penny MacKay left school at 16, she didn’t realise there were a range of VET options for her to choose from.
The 32-year-old enjoyed working in the hospitality industry, but found out her passion for training other people outweighed her love for hospitality. Now she’s committed to giving her students the necessary tools to make informed decisions as a VET coordinator teaching hospitality and business services.
She wishes she had the opportunity to explore VET without needing to leave school, and now that has become a “massive driving force to build the options around students so that no-one had to leave school” to do so.
“It wasn’t a pathway that was very open and celebrated; it was kind of like the backup option if you were having trouble [in school],” she said.
“But you get to try out different industries [in VET] and sometimes establish what they like and don’t like quite early on.
“They can make more informed decisions when they leave.”
Based on how the school is set up, Ms MacKay noticed that VET can sometimes be “quite separate” from the rest of the school. That’s something she hopes to change by introducing new courses that foster an engaging and inclusive environment.
“I think there was just such a big part of me that wanted to get into our schools and do something that I hadn’t had [at the time],” she said.
“It’s a win if [kids] go on work placement and establish what they don’t like,” she said. “Then we can narrow down what they might like to explore.
“Otherwise, I think it’s a real missed opportunity to not let students at that critical age start to explore skill development.”
While Ms MacKay’s experience working in hospitality gave her a leg up when she did her degree at Charles Sturt University, she believes it is more beneficial for students to explore their interests in a school environment so that they are not “missing out” on the “few years to keep growing as a person”.
“I think it happens to a lot of students – whilst you’re having success in your trade, everything else keeps moving,” she said.
“School, your friendship groups … and I think that’s a really heavy loss at times.”
As an educator, she loves seeing students gradually come out of their shell as they go through different VET courses.
Sometimes she’ll see a student who’s really quiet develop their confidence and communication skills throughout the VET program at the Kildare Catholic College Cafe.
“I love seeing the transformation of my students and seeing [what] they all become by the end of their HSC,” she said.
“You have students from different friendship groups and different backgrounds.
“So you end up having a little community within the school who all want each other to succeed. They all become a family, and they all celebrate together.”
While the big smoke has its draws for most people, Ms MacKay’s passion for nurturing the next generation has kept her in her hometown.
“The most important thing, is that every young person is seen, valued and provided with what they want and need to be able to move forward and succeed,” she said.
“I was so committed to making sure that [VET and school weren’t] two separate things.
“That goal still hasn’t been completely reached. It’s still something that we are continuing to work on but I wanted to be in a school where we could at least work towards it.”
