When Joel Crawford first became a stu-dent at TAFE NSW, little did he know that within a decade he would be using the skills he learnt there to teach the automo-tive workers of the future.
The 31-year-old is both a light vehicle me-chanic and an auto electrician, having achieved Certificate IIIs in both trades.
He has coupled these qualifications with a Certificate II in Automotive Air Conditioning Technology, a Statement of Attainment in Introduction to Welding and has also quali-fied as a Roads and Maritime Services exam-iner for light vehicles.
Joel’s most recent qualification gained at TAFE NSW was a Certificate IV in Train-ing and Assessment where he assisted a teacher to coach current automotive students.
Employed as an automotive worker at Glencore’s CSA Mine, Joel regularly re-ceives job offers for other positions in the automotive industry where there is high de-mand for suitably qualified staff.
However, Joel said his interest was piqued last year when his wife saw an advertisement seeking people who wanted to train as poten-tial TAFE NSW teachers.
“I’d always been interested in teaching and I was able to tap into a scholarship that meant I could work in the classroom while completing my own qualification,” Joel said.
“Auto electricians and mechanics are high-ly sought after, so it is great to be able to bring my knowledge and skills to help train other people who can work in this field.”
Working a seven-day-on, seven-day-off roster at the mine, Joel was able to combine his regular work with his teaching duties, presenting classes during the weeks he was ros-tered off.
TAFE teacher Jamie Andrews assisted Joel to complete the practical component of the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
“Joel is a great example of how for-mer TAFE NSW students can work in indus-try and then bring that knowledge and current industry experience back as teachers who help to upskill a new generation of workers,” Mr Andrews said.
For more information about courses at TAFE NSW, visit www.tafensw.edu.au.
