TAFE helps Kempsey Shire Council enhance management team
Thursday 8 November 2007
A unique four-year-long collaborative learning program between Kempsey Shire Council, TAFE NSW-North Coast Institute and Charles Sturt University has led to several employees from Kempsey Shire Council gaining university qualifications in management.
The graduating employees are Melanie Booth, Edwina Brown, David Carroll, Debbie Mills, DeAnna O’Neil and Toni Shannon, and their success was recognised at a special graduation dinner held at Rockpool Motor Inn, South West Rocks on 6 November.
Kempsey Shire Council staff member and employee Toni Shannon gave a vote of thanks on the night and said that they were very grateful to Council for being 100% behind them and were proud to be part of the organisation.
“We showed immediate return on their investment, because we made immediate improvements to work practice as we learnt”, said Ms Shannon.
She also thanked all of the TAFE teachers, who she said were “fantastic” and Charles Sturt University for their excellent support in distance education, particularly in “providing comprehensive and extensive learning resources”.
The main objective of the program was to help Council with its succession planning because of the large proportion of its senior managers retiring in the near future.
Institute Director, Elizabeth McGregor said that in 2002, the North Coast Institute signed an agreement with Council to deliver the program of management education over 2 stages.
“The first stage was the TAFE NSW Diploma of Business Management, which the employees completed part-time over 3 years,” said Ms McGregor.
“Now they’ve just completed stage two, the Graduate Certificate of Management –Professional Practice, which is a Charles Sturt University post-graduate program,” said Ms McGregor.
Kempsey Shire Council supported the program by paying the course fees and scheduling study time for the employees. General Manager, Allan Burgess said that the intention was not only to recognise and support the capabilities and potential of staff, but also to provide professional development to meet the future leadership needs of the growing shire of Kempsey.
“The outcomes have been outstanding both in terms of the learning experience and professional development - many employees have been encouraged to use their new skills to develop improvements in our organisational processes.
North Coast Institute’s Head Teacher, Business Services Garry Macdonald said that the assessments were deliberately workplace based which provided students with a much better understanding of how senior management operates and why certain decisions are made.
“The students were able to mix theoretical and practical requirements by researching a work-place issue - and often coming up with solutions - while completing the required TAFE and University assessment tasks,” said Mr Macdonald.
