Winning teacher gets boost to help students ‘fast track’
Gary Sewell, inaugural Bakery 2007 Trade Teacher of the Year has recently been granted federal funding worth $50,000 to continue with a project he began with his prize money from The Institute for Trade Skills Excellence.
“There’s no doubt about it, the $5,000 project money received from The Institute was the impetus for this project. With the $5,000 we ran pilot classes, were able to set in place the resources, the framework to roll out the Fast Track Apprenticeship Project," explains Gary.
"Without the prize money from The Institute for Trade Skills Excellence we wouldn’t have been able to approach the government for federal funding.”
The project
Gary’s project, the Fast Track Apprenticeships Framework, delivers training content directly to apprentice bakers Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
Content is available 24/7 where ever they are.
This follows on from Gary’s mantra that an apprentice baker doesn’t need to travel to an RTO to learn how to bake...they don’t need to travel 300km to learn. Gary said this project shows how to be responsive to students' emerging needs.
Currently, Gary is in the final stage of his developmental project and results have exceeded his expectations. One such outcome is the federal funding made available to him to continue. Other solid results include the reduction of a three year certificate III course into one year, building a relationship with industry to deliver content and training to fit industry demands and allowing regional students to get ‘on the job’ experience without the burden of travel.
He is rolling out this project with Bakers Delight, a national bakery chain with over 500 stores, and all content is designed to be 100% relevant and compliant with Bakers Delight training requirements. Many stores may have up to 5 apprentice bakers.
He has also developed a blog spot www.thebakerscrust.blogspot.com. On this site students can create their own blog to document learning, upload photos and share ideas/insight. The students also ‘buddy up’ with apprentice bakers in different parts of NSW to discuss new techniques, what they find difficult about the course work or even to share recipes. The ultimate idea of the buddy system is that the students learn together, this way they are not ‘alone’ in their learning.
In compliance with AQTF the students are required to attend campus for assessment.
Gary is also signing training agreements with Fresh Start (McDonalds), Goodman & Fielder and the University of Ballarat who want to roll out a similar training structure for their employess, apprentices and students.
As for using PDA’s and similar mobile devices, Gary says it is important to use technology to deliver training content in a way that hasn’t been used before. Although he believes this medium will change in time, it’s all about being responsive to students needs. Eventually, students may want content delivered to their laptop, mobile phone or even by fax! All are possibilities and all are viable.