Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) Trainer Moe Pourkarim and RTO Administration Officer Patsy Loynes have been busy working on a six-week program for our CDP participants in Galiwin’ku. The program is designed as a pathway to the Certificate II in Construction Pathways that is being delivered by Charles Darwin University, and to eventual employment with Bukmak Constructions.

Participants will learn about the construction industry, WHS, equipment, materials and waste management, and have practised working with numbers and measurement. Activities are hands-on and include applying numeracy skills on-site as well as building cardboard houses based on the community’s housing plans. Practising skills at the construction site itself is key in upskilling participants and ensuring that the training is engaging.

This program will allow participants to build the literacy and numeracy skills needed to succeed in the Certificate II in Construction Pathways qualification. In order to complete this construction qualification, students need to be confident performing calculations and estimating quantities, as well as working with specialised tools and equipment. The new program is designed to bridge existing skill gaps so that CDP participants feel empowered to take on further training and employment in construction.

LLN Trainer Moe Pourkarim spent one week at the Bukmak construction site in Galiwin’ku to inform his development of the program and worked closely with a construction trainer from Charles Darwin University. “A big challenge is a difference between Western and Yolgnu knowledge systems of numeracy; we tend to work with numbers in different ways. The construction industry is all about accurate measurements, so this was a focus for the program,” says Moe Pourkarim. 

The program will be rolled out in Galiwin’ku in the coming months, and we look forward to seeing our participants’ progress.