Spotlight on Wunan Staff: Darren Perret
1 October 2014
Meet Darren Perrett, Career Advisor in the Wunan Workforce Development Centre at Broome. A qualified teacher, Darren’s been working in the Kimberley on and off for the past 12 years. He is passionate about making a difference in the lives of Aboriginal young people.
Over his career the thing Darren is most proud of is starting a boarding school programme in Perth for Aboriginal students from Balgo, Mulan and Billiluna. He also feels very proud of his involvement in the Luurnpa Catholic School and the Kutjungka Trade Training Centre in Balgo Hills.
At present, Darren is working with a number of different agencies in Broome and the West Kimberley to be able to give young people and their parents all the information they need to make informed choices for their futures.
One of the things he is very passionate about is the West Kimberley cattle station project in which Kimberley Training Institute, Indigenous Land Corporation and Wunan are partnering with stations to offer a career plan starting at certificate one level. The hope is that the disengaged youth that are being targeted for this project will find an interest in the agriculture industry. Similarly the certificate one will also offer to the participants a course in life skills, coaching and mentoring so that they can make informed choices about their futures. “Even if the young people find out that they are interested in a different career, this project will set them up to be able to achieve in many different areas academically, personally and professionally.” says Darren.
Mowanjum Aboriginal Corporation is also partnering in the irrigation project thanks to the West Kimberley Partnership Broker Program. This project will offer to Mowanjum and Derby young people the opportunity to engage in one of the biggest Agriculture projects happening in the West Kimberley. Students at Derby District High School through Kimberley Training Institute will be able to do a VETiS course in Agriculture and use the pastoral land and irrigation project at Mowanjum to do work experience. Darren and his team are also investigating apprenticeships and traineeships (school based) so that students will be able to see that there are many different career pathways they can explore in their own backyard! “THIS IS ALL VERY EXCITING TO BE PART OF!”
“Working in Broome in the small team of Wendy Kelly and Ben Mckenzie has been a pleasure over the past five months. It’s also great to be part of the Wunan Workforce Development Team of Cam, Lina and Ben.” Says Darren.