The nursery industry needs the best training and development yet can’t afford staff to be away from work for long. Faced with this dilemma, Nursery and Garden Industry NSW and ACT (NGINA) turned to TAFE NSW – Northern Sydney Institute to help come up with a solution. In response, Northern Sydney Institute set up a flexible learning partnership with NGINA which means apprentices can study while being assessed on the job.
Mike Skegg, Chief Executive Officer, NGINA, said: ‘The nursery industry has had five difficult years prompted by water restrictions. [But] in tough times people spend more time at home and in the garden, [so] we’re now expecting the industry to grow. This means more jobs for apprentices, who will need training.’
However, there was an issue in the industry with access to training which required staff to be away from work.
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Need qualifications but can’t attend face-to-face training? |
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TAFE NSW can help with flexible learning programs. |
‘We saw that there wasn’t an avenue for effective training for our staff,’ said Peter Knox, Managing Director, Alpine Nursery. ‘The traditional model of staff going to study at night or one day a week just wasn’t working – at night our workers were too tired to study. But having them spend a whole day away from the nursery wasn’t working for us either.’
Ross Bolwell, Head Teacher, Environment Management and Horticulture, Northern Sydney Institute, said the Institute had worked closely with NGINA to ensure training was relevant and delivered as flexibly as possible.
‘Some of the TAFE NSW modules have been integrated, allowing students to work through the school holidays and learn through on-site procedures, facilities and plants,’ Mr Bolwell said.
The program included students from Alpine, Swain, Colourwise and Overland nurseries. Twelve participants graduated from the Certificate Level II course.
TAFE NSW developed the online unit from the Certificate II with funding from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. The unit includes on-the-job assessment for practical components, with theory assessed online. This flexibility has helped Alpine Nursery staff fit training in around their work commitments.
‘By them doing half of the training in their time and half in our time it is better for the nursery and for them,’ Mr Knox said. ‘Also the immediate relevance of the training to the workplace is enhanced because they are being trained using our equipment and our processes.’
