A local government, education, business and community inititative ...
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A learning region...
Conceptually the process is summarised as:
At a surface level, the Gwydir Learning Region is an example
of what public and private organisations and committed
individuals can achieve through goodwill, passion and
determination in an economically depressed, socially
disadvantaged and remote area of NSW.
At a deeper level, as highlighted in the recent independent
review of the GLR by Dr John Mitchell’s Report,
sophisticated concepts underpin the GLR, including
concepts of innovation and collective creativity, lifelong
learning, personalised learning, learning ommunities,
inclusive leadership, social capital, social harmony,
social infrastructure, social justice, ecological community
development and sustainable rural development.
The GLR aims to be recognised as a ‘model region
for learning’ that has enriched the lives, well-being and
prosperity of its communities, making it an attractive region
to live in and enabling the region to thrive in the global
economy. The GLR enables individuals and communities
to regain control of their futures, to build confidence and
maintain a sense of pride and achievement. Across the Shire this is evidenced by the desire of individual
communities to ‘create’ their future through the development
of forward plans. These include:
The Gravesend Community Program
The North Star Shines Program
The Cultivate Coolatai Program
The Crooble Community Program
The Grow Croppa Creek Program
The U-Beauty Upper Horton Program
The Warialda Works Program, and
The Bingara Vision 20/20 Plan.
The GLR has allowed these communities to believe that they
can influence their future.
The ‘can-do’ approach of the GLR’s participants allows
the synergy of cooperative effort to assist each community
to achieve its goals. The all-important dialogue between
the community, businesses and the educational providers
creates opportunities to broker suitable courses irrespective of the provider.
The extensive educational opportunities
that are provided for the students of the GLR are based on
the notion of meeting the individual needs of the student,
where a student is anyone of any age who wants to better
themselves through education. It could be a student wanting
to proceed to a trade or university or a local business
wanting to improve its operations.
The towns of Bingara and Warialda have the largest number
of school based trainees and apprentices in the northwest
region and they work in a range of employment including
Retail, Childcare, Hospitality, Horticulture, Tourism, Primary
Industry, Mechanics, Business and Information Technology.
The local businesses are strong advocates for the trainees
and the vocational education program. They support
the traineeships through their mentoring on the job and
involvement in the Gwydir Industry and Education Links
Committee (GIELC).
In addition the schools now have some 80 adult learners undertaking Vocational Education (VocEd) courses.
By enrolling the adults into the school based VocEd
programs the cost of the courses is met by the Board of Vocational Education. What the GLR is finding is that once the adults complete their first TAFE Course they are then reenrolling at their own cost for subsequent courses. The GLR co-ordinates the delivery of these courses and assists the keener learners with the development of the pathways required to go on to further study. The types of courses being offered are very much focused on addressing any skill deficiencies that exist. For example the GLR has facilitated the running of Certificate III courses in Aged Care and Children’s Services, both areas of need within our community.
In 2007 the ‘School Based Apprenticeship’ scheme
commenced. Gwydir Shire is investigating either becoming a Group Training Organisation or at least developing a strong strategic alliance with an existing entity. It is the Council’s intention to seek an alliance with organisations such as Country Energy to offer the on-site training required with the educational training occurring locally. These high need area apprenticeships (electricians, plumbers, builders, etc) are required to address the current skill deficiencies that exist within the Shire. Already, two school based apprentices have been indentured – both are the first in their respective industries (carpentry and commercial cookery) to be signed up in the whole of New South Wales!
The culture of co-operation has allowed the GLR to
undertake some other interesting initiatives that are not solely based upon the development of vocational skills, although some still have this outcome as a pleasant by product.
For example the Council, Warialda High School and New England TAFE have opened a gymnasium to assist our community to become healthier. This initiative is supported by the local General Practitioners and is proving to be financially viable. To support the gymnasium, TAFE is running a Certificate III Course in Fitness through the Warialda High School. Another example is the Heavy Plant and Truck Operators’ School that is being developed with TAFE Moree Campus for operation at Warialda. The Council’s input is providing the land, and training some of our current plant operators up to Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
TAFE will be providing the bunkhouse accommodation
infrastructure, course outlines, administrative support
(advertising, enrolments, etc) and some Heavy Plant and Trucks in conjunction with the Council. This also allows the Council’s existing competent plant operators some teaching experience, to enhance their skill base. These employees were often called upon to train others within the Shire’s workforce, but their skills went largely unrecognised.
© Copyright Gwydir Learning Region.
All rights reserved
an initiative of the Gwydir Shire Council