IF enrolments at agricultural colleges are anything to go by, the agriculture industry is well and truly in a boom.
All of WA’s six agricultural colleges at Cunderdin, Denmark, Harvey, Morawa, Narrogin and Bindoon are at capacity for residential places with strong selection pressure for students wishing to attend any of the agricultural colleges.
This year has also seen a significant increase in female students attending the colleges.
For the WA College of Agriculture, Denmark, 2017 is the first year that the number of female students outnumber male students.
This year there are 66 female students compared to 64 males, which principal Kevin Osborne said came from a concerted effort by the school to increase the ratio of female students.
“While there isn’t much in it, if you go back six or seven years girls would have made up 20 per cent of numbers at the college and one of our priorities back then was to boost the number of female students, so we have done pretty well with that,” he said.
He said the boost in female numbers could be attributed to the introduction of a formalised equine program, a strong Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) program and the school’s reputation for a safe residential college.
“This is against the backdrop of the wider social change that is going on with more girls moving into roles that 20-30 years ago they would not have been considered for,” he said.
WA College of Agriculture, Cunderdin, deputy principal Travis Hooper said the number of female students at Cunderdin had doubled since 2015.
“I think over time the number of women in the agricultural industry will hopefully be more reflective of what’s happening in the ag colleges,” he said.
“I think as long as there are girls who want jobs in the agricultural industry and see it as a viable option, I’d love to see the numbers increasing.
“In the meantime we have a lot of girls that come here and end up being very successful in the agricultural industry so that’s our end game.”
NARROGIN
THE WA College of Agriculture, Narrogin, has seen an eight per cent increase in student numbers overall and a significant increase in year 11 students.
This year the school has 127 students, with the most northerly student from Kununurra, the most southern from Esperance and the most eastern student from Mundrabilla station on the Nullarbor Plain.
All but 19 of the students board at the school, with the ones that don’t coming from nearby regions of Narrogin, Boddington and Williams.
Female students make up approximately a third of enrolments.
Principal Stephen Watt said there has been “strong selection pressure”, ensuring there was a high calibre of students attending the school.
“The students we have we know are suited and dedicated to the course and it is better for everyone when you have a school full of students who want to be there and for the right reasons,” he said.
Mr Watt said the 1400 hectare school farm supported a wide range of programs including a Merino flock, Sufflock stud, a cropping program, a 60-cow beef herd, poultry, horticulture and an equine program.
He said the number of students attending agricultural college had risen overall.
“From my own observation here, we have a stream that allows students to pick an extra day of farming or an extra day of trades a week and this year the great majority are picking the extra farm day,” he said.
“A few years ago, it would have been equal or the reverse that more students would have picked trades because of the mining boom.
“The style of education offered at agriculture colleges is also more hands on, linking theory to practice and some realism so what the kids are learning in class they can see some application in practice.
“Lots of kids need that sort of education and not a lot of schools are in a position to offer that as well as we can.”
MORAWA
FOR the third year in a row, the WA College of Agriculture, Morawa, residential campus is at capacity, says principal Dean Carslake.
The students come from across the State, however the majority are from the Mid West region including towns such as Jurien Bay, Dalwallinu, Geraldton, Northampton, Mullewa and Dongara, with some also being drawn back out of Perth’s private schools.
With a residential capacity of 72 students, this year the school has 20 year 10 students, 31 in year 11 and 22 in year 12 - numbers that Mr Carslake would like to see increased long term.
The college’s distance from regional centres makes the ability to increase day numbers difficult, while longer school days in years 11 and 12 make boarding the only option
“I want to increase that to 120, which will give us 100 students at the college but will also reserve 20 beds for Morawa District High School students so we can offer boarding to kids coming to do ATAR programs in year 11 and 12,” he said.
Mr Carslake said over the past five years the school had focused on building its profile and the change to become an Independent Public School (IPS) in 2011 had given the school flexibility to work with Morawa DHS to offer ATAR courses to a combined class.
“The strengthening and collaboration of the ATAR program has been a big thing. Last year’s year 12 class was the first group of students to graduate from the school having completed four ATAR subjects and our year 10s are being prepped to go into that group,” he said.
While the majority of students graduating will go into the agriculture industry through traineeships and apprenticeships, some would continue on to university, Mr Carslake said.
DENMARK
FOR the first time in history, female students outnumber male students at the WA College of Agriculture, Denmark.
The school has 130 students who work and study on the 560ha farm in a wide number of programs including equine, beef, dairy, sheep, horticulture, viticulture and beekeeping as well as forestry and land conservation and management.
Principal Kevin Osborne said as well as a key focus on boosting the number of female students, the school has also been strengthening its ATAR pathway.
“Agricultural colleges are more renowned for our VET outcomes and that will always be the priority, but with the future of agriculture and the complexity of the industry we need students with higher academic abilities coming into the agricultural sector as well,” he said.
Mr Osborne said this had played a role in boosting the percentage of female number from 20 per cent in 2010 to just over 50pc this year.
“We are the best performing ATAR agricultural college in WA, but overall ATAR programs are giving parents more confidence to send their children who are also pretty strong in the classroom to ag colleges,” he said.
Mr Osborne said an increase in numbers at the school is hindered by the farm size.
The farm is located on the doorstep of the burgeoning coastal town, which means there was pressure to hold on to the resource.
“We’ve decided at the moment not to increase numbers as we are not a big farm and we are flat out trying to hold on to the farmland that we’ve got with our location,” he said.
“We are in a fantastic location but we are also on the doorstep of a town that is growing so we do have some pressure around that.”
BINDOON
BOARDING at the Catholic Agricultural College of Bindoon is at full capacity, with 96 residential students this year.
Boarding is available for years 7 to 12, with students split into five single-gender boarding houses.
A total of 150 students are enrolled at the College in 2017 with a “fair mix” of genders according to the school’s marketing co-ordinator Roslyn Maindok.
As a Registered Training Organisation, Ms Maindok said the advantage of the Bindoon school is that students have a diverse range of options and are well-equipped to leave school with several qualifications.
Year 11 and 12 students are required to complete a minimum of two Certificate II qualifications in the their chosen Vocational Education and Training (VET) areas.
“It’s great because you can get a lot of hands-on experience outside and there are also those options for students that want to go to university,” Ms Maindok said.
“We offer agriculture, equine, hospitality, engineering, automotive certificates and nursing (cert IV) and a new certificate this year is building and construction,
“Equine is probably the main area that attracts our female students, although there are a few more males this year participating.
“For the younger students there are options such as farm, equine, outdoor education, drama, IT, art and cattle club which is done on a rotational basis so all students get to participate in something they may not always choose.”
CUNDERDIN
THE gender ratio is balancing out at the WA College of Agriculture, Cunderdin, with the number of girls enrolled at the school on the rise.
The number of female students at the school has more than doubled over the past two years, and now sits at 35.
The College is home to the greatest number of boarders of all the agricultural schools in WA, with all except one of the 132 enrolled students boarding.
Deputy principal Travis Hooper said there were several reasons for the increase.
“It’s partly cyclical but I think another reason is that we’ve got a pretty strong ATAR program now,” he said.
“This attracts students and particularly girls who might be interested in agriculture, but also want to go to university.
“I think the stigma from even five years ago of women in agriculture is basically dead and buried and there’s a lot of opportunities and there’s a lot of women who are smart enough to take up some of those opportunities that arise.
“We’ve also had a number of past students who’ve gone onto bigger and better things so they’ve acted as role models.”
ATAR was introduced to the Cunderdin school in 2012, and students completing ATAR subjects has since risen.
“Some of the advantages we have with the ATAR program is that some of those kids who want to go into those sorts of mid-level university careers, they can come here and if they’re looking towards more of a trade, they have those options too,” Mr Hooper said.
Year 12 student Chloe King, Mukinbudin, said the school had given her the chance to reach her career goal of becoming a stock agent.
“It’s full of opportunities and so far it’s given me everything that I want to achieve and more,” she said,
“There’s more opportunity for university, which I think more girls are wanting to get into so it’s opening a lot more doors.”
HARVEY
A RECORD number of 156 students have enrolled at the WA College of Agriculture, Harvey, in 2017.
Principal Neale Armstrong said the School’s profile was on the rise.
“We’ve hit an all-time record and we had a significant number of interviews last year and some students couldn’t even fit into the interview schedule so we’ve been very strong for 2017 and it’s looking like it will be fairly strong for 2018 as well,” he said.
Mr Armstrong said he had noticed an increasing trend in the number of female students, with 61 girls at the school this year.
“We’re moving much more to a 50/50 split, that’s another area of growth in recent times so there has been a strong movement here at Harvey,” he said.
The school has 51 day students this year, a number that had risen in the past year according to Mr Armstrong.
He attributed the rise in the school’s profile to several factors, including the addition of an ATAR program for year 11 and 12’s.
For the first time Biology is being offered as an ATAR subject this year, adding to the four ATAR subjects already available.
“I think now that we’re offering the ATAR stream which is stronger each year and of course agriculture is much more of a buzzword these days than other industries,” Mr Armstrong said.
“I think also the economy isn’t as strong as it has been so we haven’t lost children to industries as much.
“I think the fact that we can almost do anything here, and of course when you’re near major population centres and lots of industry keep an eye on our graduates, we’re very lucky that we have such community support.”
