By Sahar Foladi
Chisholm Institute has joined forces with Wodonga Tafe and a consortium to deliver technical trades training to Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel.
Chisholm is part of the National Technical Education Network (NTEN), led by Wodonga TAFE, which was the successful tenderer of the Joint Technical Trades Training Services contract.
The contract, valued at approximately $300 million over the next 5 years, will support the employment of up to 250 dedicated staff across the program.
Currently, Chisholm is going through its recruitment phase, looking out to recruit locally for 70 educators and 14 support roles.
Chief executive, Stephen Varty, said that Chisholm was proud to join together with strategically aligned a consortium of registered training organisations (RTO’s) to deliver this important training.
“We are very excited to be a part of this successful tender and to play a critical role in supporting the courageous personnel of the Australian Defence Force.
“Chisholm’s role will predominantly be to deliver all of the technical trade training to Navy personnel based at HMAS Cerberus in Hastings.”
The work will focus on apprenticeship training in specialised fields such as electrical fitting and fabrication.
The deal will be re-assessed for a further three years followed by a potential two year extension, totalling 10 years.
“It’s a tremendous endorsement for the quality of training delivered by our hard-working and passionate educators at Chisholm and we cannot wait to begin this work from November this year,” Mr Varty said.
This adds to Chisholm’s previous initiatives such as their collaboration with Jobs Victoria, supporting females, CALD individuals and middle-age women on Jobseeker, in male-dominated fields such as engineering and manufacturing.
Chisholm’s first female educational manager for the engineering faculty, Avril Switalla, encourages females to take part in these sorts of initiatives.
“I would certainly encourage women to take part in the project if interested in welding as machine operator or fabrication.”
Other members of the NTEN include TAFE QLD, University of New England Partnerships, National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA), Kangan Institute, Charles Darwin University, Kinetic IT, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and South Metropolitan TAFE.
“This announcement shows the enormous confidence that exists in the Victorian and Australian TAFE networks, and we look forward to working closely with our education partners to deliver this vital training,” Mr Varty said.
