Customising delivery to meet learners’ individual needs in childcare
TAFE NSW VET Pedagogy Project, Part C of Phase 1
WORKPLACE LEARNING - ASSESSMENT CASE STUDIES | Debby Barnes, Head Teacher Children’s Services TAFE NSW – Illawarra Institute
People enjoy being able to earn an income while they train.
Debby Barnes
Training Packages
Community Services (CHC02)
Learning Environment
Children’s Services Certificate and Diploma level courses offered through flexible delivery using a combination of paper-based resources, workplace visits and monthly face-to-face workshops.
Teaching Approach
Debby Barnes and her team have developed a range of programs in children’s services capable of being customised to meet individual learner requirements. These programs are very flexible and include options for Saturday workshops, written modules, workplace visits and telephone contact, and are able to be adapted to suit each learner’s preferred pace.
Most modules include a workplace component and in these situations the module facilitator provides support to the learner and workplace through the provision of written documentation on the learning outcomes and other course expectations. This is followed-up via a workplace assessor visiting the workplace on a monthly basis.
Debby feels that they have developed a 'recipe' that is effective in getting trained workers into the industry; this includes personal support and telephone contact, making students feel that they are in a community of learning, together with oral assessment and assessing tasks holistically to remove duplication within learning outcomes and course modules.
Evaluation Methods
The success of the teaching approach is attested by:
- high completion rates of mature-age women who haven’t studied for a very long time, and
- significant numbers of requests from employers seeking graduates.
Feedback is sought regularly from students at the end of each monthly workshop and this is integrated into continuous program improvement.
Positive Difference to Learning
The high level of personal contact with a largely mature-age student cohort is seen as making a positive difference, as Debby says:
'…it’s the relationship with the teacher that gets them through the hard times as seen in the high completion rates.'
Further, the quality of staff and regular industry workshops help to ensure that the programs continue to reflect the high standard of delivery respected, and now expected, by the industry.
See Also
Case
Studies Innovative and Excellent Practices in VET Teaching and
Learning 2003 (426 Kb) are also available as one
downloadable file.
