Local Wollongbar TAFE Automotive teacher, Graham Armstrong, was one of forty-five individuals from the Department of Education and Communities to receive a Director-General’s Award for Excellent Service to Public Education and Training recently.

The Director-General, Dr Michele Bruniges, says that “All 45 recipients for 2011 embody the commitment to excellence that is recognised by the Awards,” Dr Bruniges said.

“It is these individuals’ dedication and commitment that makes our education system world-class,” Dr Bruniges said.

“It is often the case that those who best exemplify excellence in commitment and practice are the least likely to make their work known, so it is doubly important that we take the opportunity to recognise their contribution publicly.”

Graham has been a part time teacher of Automotive Mechanics at Wollongbar Campus for the past five years. He is well known and respected throughout the local Automotive Industry as an outstanding tradesman and teacher.

Graham was nominated after winning a 2010 North Coast TAFE Staff Achievement Award for a number of initiatives and especially for his innovative teaching program for students in remote areas and his mentoring of other teachers in his faculty to develop online learning programs for their students.

The outdoor power equipment course at Woodenbong Central School initially presented a number of challenges for Graham.  He was able to overcome the less than ideal teaching conditions and ongoing difficulties involved in obtaining resources and problems of vandalism. The workshop classes were conducted in an agricultural storage shed with theory being taught in the original Woodenbong School, some distance away from the existing school buildings.

After several weeks of delivering the program, Graham received community support in the form of donations of equipment and machinery in need of repair. It wasn’t long before students who did not attend regularly, either for part or full days, were now enthusiastic in both their attendance and actually completing units of competence in a trade course.

North Coast TAFE, TVET Coordinator Ros Hand says, “The results are encouraging for the school, community and the students, and other schools in the Northern Rivers area are now requesting similar programs at their locations.”

North Coast TAFE Director, Ms Elizabeth McGregor was present at the Awards and says she is particularly proud of the calibre of teacher that is employed by North Coast TAFE which Graham exemplifies.
Ms McGregor said “Innovative learning strategies, including old fashioned encouragement, and capturing the interest of the students and engaging with them are the true secrets of successful teaching.”