40 years of teaching, scholarship, research and learning

Last week, my colleagues put on a surprise morning tea to celebrate 40 years work at my institute. How the time has flown by! I arrived from Wellington in 1980, a week before starting work, still in the process of settling into a flat, found for us by an ex-colleague of my mother. They were the only people we knew in Christchurch. Through them, we gained a ready-made community of support and for that I am eternally grateful.

I started teaching a few days after starting at the institute, at that time, probably only 1/5 or less in size. Everyone was very welcoming and supportive. My initial teaching sessions were often challenging but my students were forgiving and I could fall back on my trade expertise. So, began 25 years of teaching a trade. Apart from a couple of years off when my kids arrived, I have worked full-time. The changes over the 25 years have been immense in terms of digital technology enhanced teaching and learning, the shift in focus from teaching to student centred learning and various changes in how qualifications are structured.

From early in my teaching I found the lack of easily accessible resources to inform vocational education to be a challenge. To try attain a better understanding of how ‘learning a trade’ occurred and could be supported meant engaging with formal education in teaching and learning. Starting in the mid 80s with a Diploma in Tertiary Teaching and culminating a decade ago with a PhD, the journey into scholarship and research has been personally enriching. Of importance was not only the attainment of a qualification and title, but the application of learning to practice and the gradual transition into research.

So where to next? ROVE affords opportunities, through collaboration across the entire ITP sector in NZ, to actually truly attain the mantra of ‘the student is at the heart of learning’. Learners should have access to the combined expertise and resources across the country. Large numbers in each cohort, especially for trades apprentices, will bring economies of scale and allow for personal learning environments (PLEs) to be availed to each learner. Shared resources will also provide for well designed, pedagogically effective and engaging supporting learning resources, whether digital, virtual or f2f, to be developed and deployed. I am hopeful that the larger organisation will not be bogged down in red tape! If it is, it will be time to retire ☹ If not, the expertise, will, enthusiasm and tools are there for the taking. Let’s see what the next few years hold 😊