EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Trainee of the month - Cheriece Fry

Cheriece is currently undertaking a traineeship in Business Office Administration at Anyinginyi Congress. She began her traineeship in November 1997, and completed her three months probation in February this year. Cheriece has worked extremely well throughout the probationary period of her traineeship. According to her supervisor Fiona Ward, Cheriece has a strong motivation to achieve, and excellent written communication skills. She can work independently and demonstrates a high level of initiative as a trainee. We would like to congratulate Cheriece on her work performance, and wish her well for the duration of her traineeship.

Traineeships are good for business too

This month Michelle Bailey who works for Julalikari Council as a traineeship Mentor/Co-ordinator explains how traineeships work and who can benefit. She has previously worked for Batchelor College in Tennant Creek as a lecturer in Environmental Health.
Her responsibilities include recruiting and assisting with the establishment of traineeships, particularly in the private sector.
Once traineeships are in place, she then liaises with trainees and their supervisors to ensure that competencies are being achieved, and programs are running smoothly and effectively. Many issues emerge throughout the day-to-day running of traineeship programs. Mentors are a vital link to the overall success of a program.
Another area Michelle is pursuing at present is vocational education and training oppurtunities for High School students. This allows students to gain credit towards their High School Certificate whilst also doing vocational training. It's a great opportunity for students to see what certain jobs are all about, and gain valuable 'hands on experience'.
If you would like to know more about traineeships or would yourself like to be considered for a traineeship give her a call.
Alternatively, if you own a business and are interested in taking on a trainee, please contact me on (89) 622128, or drop in and see me at the Skillshare office on Paterson Street.

What is Batchelor College

by Robin Hardiman

Batchelor College is a specialist institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tertiary education which provides a range of vocational education, training and higher education.
The college offers innovative, culturally relevant programs through its unique, highly successful, mixed mode of community based study and research, work experience and short intensive workshops. Batchelor College programs are underpinned by a both ways philosophy combing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge with Western academic traditions.
The College programs are offered throughout its Batchelor and Alice Springs Campuses, Annexes in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Nhulunbuy and in a number of remote communities.
A range of opportunities are offered here in the Barkly Region, both in vocational education and training and in Higher Education.
The School of Health Studies delivers a course in Environmental Health, the School of General Studies offers an eighteen month course which gives successful students the tools to progress into Diploma courses. A popular course is the Certificate in Art and Craft. The School of Education Studies offers courses in Early Childhood Training and in Teacher Education.
The college is currently engaged in an exciting process which will see it become independent at the beginning of 1999. Batchelor College will become the only tertiary institution in the nation, offering programs from access courses to Postgraduate qualifications, to be governed by Indigenous Australians.

A change is as good as

Tennant Creek High School Principal, Kim Rowe
explains the new education outcomes

A new magazine in the Barkly! Sensational! Every best wish for success to the editors. Something new is always desirable in a region. Things change all the time. That's exactly what is happening at Tennant Creek High School.
What's happened is the major thrust, federally funded for Vocational and Educational Training (VET) in schools. And suddenly money is available to provide a range of nationally accredited programs which students can use to contribute to their Northern Territory Certificate of Education (NTCE) or to contribute to their Certificate qualifications in trades or hospitality or tourism or office skills and so on.
If you read the school's newsletter in the past you might remember that we used to send students over to Anyinginyi Congress where they did Health Worker training - not to Certificate level but along the same lines.
As well, we used to run the highly successful Stockman's course with Malcolm McAskill out at Juno. The same sort of thing, except it nearly sent the school into financial doldrums in order to run it. Now we have the opportunity to actually get funding for these sorts of things.
Because the students are there, with real training needs.
Of any school that genuinely reflects the overall population of a community, only about 30-40% of its population can reasonably expect to go into Universities when they leave.
The rest will go into the other world of training and learning - VET plays an increasingly important role in this training and learning.
The school now can look to providing a range of VET modules which will contribute both to the NTCE or an alternative Certificate. We currently are offering modules in Catering, Automotive Studies, Construction, Tourism and Hospitality. The school is the agent of Centralian College and we soon hope to work very closely with the local Private VET Provider, Julalikari Council.
We'd like to look to the future and try to have on offer the genuine Health Worker modules, Stock and Station modules, Horticulture, Music Studies and Sport Studies.
And if we are able to identify the students at an early age, find out what they might like to do in the future, find out their interest areas, we can begin to provide work during the junior years of secondary education which will make them familiar with the ideas, the hands-on approach of learning necessary in VET programs and the general background needed for those subjects.
There are two guiding principles in operation at this school.
First, curriculum is context - that is, you emphasise the curriculum that the students and the school community demands and;
Second, the school must be all things to all people. That is to say, we need to make sure that all students are catered for and not just a little group.
The new developments are welcome, because they accurately reflect the needs of all students - at last, with a VET strand running parallel in the school with the University strand, education at Tennant Creek High School is at last reaching the goals set in the past and not to be realised until now.

Trainee of the month - Cheriece Fry Cheriece is currently undertaking a traineeship in Business Office Administration at Anyinginyi Congress. She began her traineeship in November 1997, and completed her three months probation in February this year. Cheriece has worked extremely well throughout the probationary period of her traineeship. According to her supervisor Fiona Ward, Cheriece has a strong motivation to achieve, and excellent written communication skills. She can work independently and demonstrates a high level of initiative as a trainee. We would like to congratulate Cheriece on her work performance, and wish her well for the duration of her traineeship. Traineeships are good for business too This month Michelle Bailey who works for Julalikari Council as a traineeship Mentor/Co-ordinator explains how traineeships work and who can benefit. She has previously worked for Batchelor College in Tennant Creek as a lecturer in Environmental Health. Her responsibilities include recruiting and assisting with the establishment of traineeships, particularly in the private sector. Once traineeships are in place, she then liaises with trainees and their supervisors to ensure that competencies are being achieved, and programs are running smoothly and effectively. Many issues emerge throughout the day-to-day running of traineeship programs. Mentors are a vital link to the overall success of a program. Another area Michelle is pursuing at present is vocational education and training oppurtunities for High School students. This allows students to gain credit towards their High School Certificate whilst also doing vocational training. It's a great opportunity for students to see what certain jobs are all about, and gain valuable 'hands on experience'. If you would like to know more about traineeships or would yourself like to be considered for a traineeship give her a call. Alternatively, if you own a business and are interested in taking on a trainee, please contact me on (89) 622128, or drop in and see me at the Skillshare office on Paterson Street. What is Batchelor College by Robin Hardiman Batchelor College is a specialist institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tertiary education which provides a range of vocational education, training and higher education. The college offers innovative, culturally relevant programs through its unique, highly successful, mixed mode of community based study and research, work experience and short intensive workshops. Batchelor College programs are underpinned by a both ways philosophy combing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge with Western academic traditions. The College programs are offered throughout its Batchelor and Alice Springs Campuses, Annexes in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Nhulunbuy and in a number of remote communities. A range of opportunities are offered here in the Barkly Region, both in vocational education and training and in Higher Education. The School of Health Studies delivers a course in Environmental Health, the School of General Studies offers an eighteen month course which gives successful students the tools to progress into Diploma courses. A popular course is the Certificate in Art and Craft. The School of Education Studies offers courses in Early Childhood Training and in Teacher Education. The college is currently engaged in an exciting process which will see it become independent at the beginning of 1999. Batchelor College will become the only tertiary institution in the nation, offering programs from access courses to Postgraduate qualifications, to be governed by Indigenous Australians. A change is as good as Tennant Creek High School Principal, Kim Rowe explains the new education outcomes A new magazine in the Barkly! Sensational! Every best wish for success to the editors. Something new is always desirable in a region. Things change all the time. That's exactly what is happening at Tennant Creek High School. What's happened is the major thrust, federally funded for Vocational and Educational Training (VET) in schools. And suddenly money is available to provide a range of nationally accredited programs which students can use to contribute to their Northern Territory Certificate of Education (NTCE) or to contribute to their Certificate qualifications in trades or hospitality or tourism or office skills and so on. If you read the school's newsletter in the past you might remember that we used to send students over to Anyinginyi Congress where they did Health Worker training - not to Certificate level but along the same lines. As well, we used to run the highly successful Stockman's course with Malcolm McAskill out at Juno. The same sort of thing, except it nearly sent the school into financial doldrums in order to run it. Now we have the opportunity to actually get funding for these sorts of things. Because the students are there, with real training needs. Of any school that genuinely reflects the overall population of a community, only about 30-40% of its population can reasonably expect to go into Universities when they leave. The rest will go into the other world of training and learning - VET plays an increasingly important role in this training and learning. The school now can look to providing a range of VET modules which will contribute both to the NTCE or an alternative Certificate. We currently are offering modules in Catering, Automotive Studies, Construction, Tourism and Hospitality. The school is the agent of Centralian College and we soon hope to work very closely with the local Private VET Provider, Julalikari Council. We'd like to look to the future and try to have on offer the genuine Health Worker modules, Stock and Station modules, Horticulture, Music Studies and Sport Studies. And if we are able to identify the students at an early age, find out what they might like to do in the future, find out their interest areas, we can begin to provide work during the junior years of secondary education which will make them familiar with the ideas, the hands-on approach of learning necessary in VET programs and the general background needed for those subjects. There are two guiding principles in operation at this school. First, curriculum is context - that is, you emphasise the curriculum that the students and the school community demands and; Second, the school must be all things to all people. That is to say, we need to make sure that all students are catered for and not just a little group. The new developments are welcome, because they accurately reflect the needs of all students - at last, with a VET strand running parallel in the school with the University strand, education at Tennant Creek High School is at last reaching the goals set in the past and not to be realised until now.		Michelle Bailey (left) with Trainee of the Month Cheriece Fry.