Two trade teachers from Queensland’s lead TAFE institute in trade and technician training, SkillsTech Australia, were recently acknowledged in industry competitions.
SkillsTech Australia Engineering Teacher Wayne Tierney was given the Manufacturing Skills Queensland Vocational Education and Training (VET) Teacher of the Year award at a recent ceremony. The award recognises Tierney’s outstanding dedication, professionalism and achievements in providing quality manufacturing and engineering related training to students at SkillsTech Australia.
“As a teacher with the Queensland Government for the past 24 years, to be recognised in this way is certainly unexpected and appreciated,” Tierney said. “I am currently working as a Business Manager, Program Delivery and Design on the Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas (PNG LNG) Project for SkillsTech Australia.
“The PNG LNG Project is an integrated development that includes gas production in the Southern Highlands and Western Provinces of Papua New Guinea, in which we have been engaged to provide a range of training services and advice.
“A specific challenge was designing, developing and delivering manufacturing and engineering teaching resources for the PNG Nationals due to lower level numeracy and literacy skills.
“It was necessary to identify the literacy level (equivalent to Grade 5 at Australian primary schools) and develop teaching resources and practical exercises to ensure qualifications were being delivered to Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) standards.”
Barry Wellington (pictured above right), teacher in the Automotive Diesel Fitting area of SkillsTech Australia’s Acacia Ridge Training Centre, was announced as a finalist in the 2011 Queensland Training Awards. Wellington is nominated in the VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year category and has 33 years of service as teacher and assessor at TAFE.