Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE

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Hands on TEC day provides insight into careers

The Shepparton TEC along with GOTAFE Surveying, Civil Engineering, Agriculture, Equine and Dairy staff, ran a successful Careers Day for secondary schools at William Orr campus in Shepparton recently.

TEC Coordinator Vaughan Patullock says the day was a real chance to show young people the sorts of work tasks involved in these two fields. "The Shepparton TEC is keen to establish classes in both programs at the Certificate II level and this was a great way to engage with the region's young people," he said.

"The William Orr farm campus is ideal to tailor our classes with practical, real agriculture experience."

Students started the day on 'soils' with Agriculture trainer, Brendan Ley then learned some skills on irrigation before being given OHS training. This allowed them each a short ride on the quad bikes to put their skills to test in a riding skills challenge.

Last activity for the day was learning the skills of tractor driving and tractor safety. At the completion of their safety training the students had the opportunity for a short drive on a tractor to test their new skills.

'A Day in the Life of a Surveyor' was assisted by current Certificate IV in Surveying students who supervised a number of activities including a number of leveling exercises, using a Trimble GPS rover and some hand held GPS units, measuring the external dimensions and creating field sketches of the homestead and then using AutoCAD software to produce a final drawing.

Senior Project Manager from SKM, Simon Nazaretian, gave a presentation of the roles of Surveyors and Operations Manager from Planright, David Barraclough, discussed how his Civil Engineering career has taken him around the world.

The Certificate IV Surveying students, who are all currently employed in the Surveying industry, also spoke of their work experiences and job roles.

For more information on courses at GOTAFE or the NCDEA please contact the Customer Service Centre on 1300 GOTAFE (1300 468 233).