2011 Australian Training Awards Nominees
Jessica Pendlebury
Award: Australian School-based Apprentice of the Year
Qualification: Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing
Training provider: GOTAFE
Employer: Northern Veterinary Group
School: Assumption College Kilmore
With the cooperation of at GOTAFE and her employer, Northern Veterinary Group, Jessica Pendlebury became the TAFE’s first student to undertake a Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing as an Australian School-based Apprentice. Working hard to both complete her VCE and be a qualified Veterinary Nurse by the end of 2012, Jessica is enjoying the opportunity to work in a nursing environment while completing her studies via flexible delivery. Thanks to the Australian School-based Apprenticeship Program at GOTAFE, Jessica has guaranteed employment with her current employer once she has completed her VCE and is considering her options of either working full-time or working part-time and undertaking further tertiary studies. Jessica has also become a Puppy Pre-school trainer, has mentored and tutored other students in the Certificate II in Animal Studies, and in 2010 was awarded Vocational Education and Training Student of the Year by her school, Assumption College, Kilmore.
Lisette Mill
Award: Vocational Student of the Year
Qualification: Diploma of Conservation and Land Management
Training provider: South West TAFE
Employer: Corangamite Shire Council
Completing a Diploma of Conservation and Land Management with South West Institute of TAFE in 2010 has helped Lisette Mill find a fulfilment her previous sales and marketing career failed to provide. Proactive in seeking volunteering and work experience opportunities in her region, Lisette has monitored southern right whales, searched for rare parrots and orchids and done the hard yards in rubbish and weed removal. Work experience soon led to a contract as an environmental project officer at Corangamite Shire Council. Lisette undertook this role with gusto, initiating and facilitating a number of environmental projects including bushfire recovery, and distribution of green organic kitchen tidy bins and cigarette butt bins. Lisette continues to do volunteer work and intends to complete Certificate IV in Training and Assessment this year.
Stephanie Dalton
Award: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander of the Year
Qualification: Diploma of Children’s Services
Training provider: GippsTAFE
Employer: Gunai Lidge Childcare Centre
Stephanie Dalton is a Gunai woman from Victoria’s Gippsland region. Mother to two young children and caregiver to her one year old niece, Stephanie’s interest in her children’s developmental stages has been the inspiration for a career in childcare. Stephanie enrolled in the Diploma of Children’s Services at GippsTAFE, hoping that the knowledge gained would not only improve her parenting but also be something she could pass on to help other young Koorie mothers to assist in their children’s development. In 2010, Stephanie was named GippsTAFE's Outstanding Koorie Student and plans to use her skills to ensure that Koorie children’s behaviours and cultural ways are understood. She is now enrolled in a Bachelor in Early Childhood at Deakin University.
Amanda Divola
Award: Australian Apprentice (Trainee) of the Year Award
Qualification: Certificate III in Retail
Training provider: Bendigo TAFE
In 2010, while still completing a Certificate III in Retail at BendiGOTAFE, Amanda Divola realised her goal of opening her own business, Sweets and Treats Café in Wedderburn, Victoria. One year later, her training is complete and her business is booming. Initially worried that study would be too difficult for her, Amanda thrived in the course and says it has given her self-confidence, independence and a great deal of pride. Training has not only enabled Amanda to grow and improve her business, it has given her the ability to train four employees (one being a trainee) and share her knowledge to continually develop their skills. Amanda recently won BendiGOTAFE’s Student of the Year Award in the traineeship category and also won both the Food, Wine and Hospitality and Young Achiever categories the 2011 Loddon Powercor Excellence Awards.
Colin Wilson
Award: Australian Apprentice of the YearQualification: Certificate III in Hospitality (Commercial Cookery)
Training provider: Holmesglen
Employer: Chateau Yering
Aspiring chef Colin Wilson has already worked with culinary masters Gordon Ramsay and Neil Perry and, after winning a coveted prize, travelled to France to work with Michelin star chef Thierry Marx. Colin has made a point of competing in as many individual and team competitions as possible to increase his knowledge and experience. Currently an apprentice with award-winning Eleanor’s Restaurant and Sweetwater Café at the Yarra Valley’s Chateau Yering, Colin has won a number of awards for his work including the 2010 AUSTAFE Culinary Challenge (Best Second-Year Apprentice, Best Overall Apprentice in Australia). He also took out Holmesglen TAFE’s Iron Chef title while completing his Certificate III in Commercial Cookery. Colin says he wakes up every day excited to go to work and cook beautiful food and learn something new and challenging. His future goal is to own and run his own restaurant.
Scott Robinson
Award: VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year
Employer: Victoria University
Victoria University’s Plumbing Department was only using the WebCT system to store student results when plumbing teacher Scott Robinson learned of its extensive capabilities at a Plumbing Training Moderation Group (PMTG) meeting in 2009. Recognising the system’s huge potential for managing and structuring delivery of the Certificate III in Plumbing, Scott developed and implemented a WebCT assessment and learning management system, which has transformed learning and teaching in the Plumbing Department. Scott overcame his lack of familiarity with information and communication technology by spending one day a week at the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) with the permission of his Head of School. As a result of his work the department began delivering the new Certificate III in Plumbing via WebCT in 2010. The new system enables students to work at their own pace, providing students with more control of their learning, and enables a greater number of student assessments at the same time.
Flexible Training Solutions
Award: Small Training Provider of the Year
Specialising in the transport and logistics industry, Flexible Training Solutions (FTS) offers vocational education and training (VET) opportunities in subject areas including human resources, business sales and marketing and transport and logistics. The company delivers customised training packages to respond to individual businesses standard operating procedures and policies, delivering on-site training to high profile clients including Coles Group and Star Track Express.Despite many of its clients having branches in urban, rural and remote settings, FTS offers a consistent training program to all individuals across the country. FTS was nominated as a benchmark provider of VET to the industry during the last strategic national audit of the transport and logistics sector. The company was also a finalist in the 2011 Logistics Training Council Training Provider of the Year Awards.
South West Institute of TAFE
Award: Large Training Provider of the Year
South West Institute of TAFE is the largest vocational education and training provider in south-west Victoria. The Institute offers over 400 nationally accredited qualifications, industry-specific short courses, workshops and training programs, in subject areas ranging from engineering to equine studies. Training is offered in the workplace, on-campus, off-campus and online. Over the past three years, online and blended delivery has increased by 205 per cent. Youth enrolments have also increased significantly, growing 19, 25 and 43 per cent respectively in the three years since 2008. In 2010, the Institute employed the equivalent of 308 full-time staff, received 12,500 enrolments and delivered 2.5 million student contact hours, reflecting a steady growth rate of 15 per cent in student contact hours over the past five years.
SPC Ardmona/AMWU/National Food Institute
Award: Industry Collaboration Award
Traditionally on opposing sides of the bargaining table, SPC Ardmona and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union have collaborated to develop an induction-to-leadership training program for more than 2000 workers in the Goulburn Valley. All employees have had the opportunity to undertake Certificate I through to Certificate III courses, which have lead to nationally recognised qualifications in the areas of food processing and transport competencies. Access to training has given all employees, both permanent and seasonal, the opportunity to develop workplace skills and transportable knowledge linked to national competencies from Certificate I through Certificate III. The two parties have collaborated very successfully, implementing training plans in conjunction with their registered training organisation, the National Food Institute, and with the financial support of government.
Bendigo Senior Secondary College Applied Learning Program
Award: School Pathways to VET Award
Individual student need is a key driver of the Bendigo Senior Secondary College (BSSC) curriculum. As such, BSSC in collaboration with external providers, offers each of its 1650 students access to vocational education and training (VET) qualifications across a broad range of industry areas. Currently, there are 633 students enrolled in 670 courses, through 23 VET programs. Self-selection into one of eight Pathway Communities ensures students receive targeted support to optimise their individual development. The flexible curriculum provides all students with achievable learning options and multiple transition points. Within this framework, its innovative Applied Learning Program allows students (256 in 2011) to combine VET wth a mix of applied learning subjects, academic subjects and workplace learning. This highly successful program has improved the uptake of VET qualifications and student learning outcomes – notably an increased completion of senior certifications, a decrease in early exits and a shift to sustainable post schooling destinations.
Peter Coyne
Award: Leadership in Quality Award
Beginning his career as a teacher in Victorian technical schools, Peter Coyne has always been enthusiastic about building meaningful links between education and careers. In his current role with Crown, a major hospitality employer, he has changed the organisation’s learning and development philosophy from ‘training for a job’ to ‘learning for a career’, creating an exemplary model of vocational education and training (VET) in private enterprise. Peter has been instrumental in developing Crown’s innovative Learning Pathways, which give employees a clear career path that is linked, at each level, to a relevant nationally recognised qualification. Employees progress from Certificate II and III qualifications to Certificate IV and then Diploma qualifications, building their knowledge and skills, as well as their career prospects. He was also a key instigator of Crown’s highly successful Indigenous Employment Program, which provides sustainable employment, support, and professional development to Indigenous Australians. More than happy to share his insights and enthusiasm, Peter is a member of the Victorian Skills Council, where he advises the state government on training, particularly in relation to skill development in the private sector.
Sandybeach Centre Community
Award: Community Pathways to VET Award
The Sandybeach Centre is an independent not-for-profit community co-operative society established in 1982. An adult and community education organisation, the Centre is a registered training organisation, a registered occasional child care centre, a Learn Local Organisation and offers vocational education and training qualifications in language, literacy, numeracy, work readiness, community service, Training and Assessment and Information Technology.The Centre assists its 800 learners, the majority of whom are hard to reach learners, to articulate and attain their vocational and personal goals through the development and monitoring of learner engagement and pathway plans. Key to the Centre’s success is the provision of personalised learning experiences for its clients and maintaining strong relationships with local businesses including local Aged Care Providers, Childcare Centres and retail businesses. These relationships allow the Centre to respond quickly to local business and community needs. Recently, the centre won a national award for Community Based Adult Learning Provider of the Year.