RPL paves the way for career change
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Max Roos, a Hervey Bay father of two children is among a growing group of workers using the Wide Bay Institute of TAFE's Recognition of Prior Learning process to smooth the way to a new career.
"I've never regretted moving from hospitality to horticulture but RPL made it a lot easier to start again because I earned credits for my experience," Mr. Roos said.
Max Roos thrived on an outdoor life as a youngster on his family's fruit farm but after leaving school he tried different off-farm jobs, including truck driving and settled to a career in the hospitality industry in his twenties.
"I'm one of those people who needs to put 100% into everything I do to help the employer and to better myself."
He started at the bottom in a bottle-shop and graduated to hotel management but after 13 years, yearned for an outside job and is now a member of the Fraser Coast Regional Council parks and gardens team.
"I'm thrilled to bits with the job; it was the right decision and it was even better when I made a connection with the Wide Bay TAFE teaching staff."
The Institute's Horticulture Teacher at Maryborough campus, Julie Moore initiated moves to have his experience and skills recognised and referred him to the state government training and career information service, Skilling Solutions, to test his eligibility.
Ms Moore said RPL is a competency based system and it helped a lot that Max had kept a diary recording all of his jobs and on-the-job training at the Fraser Coast Council.
"He was used to writing reports in his previous management job and was able to present enough evidence of on-the job training and skills at Fraser Coast Council to demonstrate his competence for the compulsory and elective units in a Horticulture Certificate III," Ms Moore said.
Mr Roos saved a year's coursework and is now enrolled in the Horticulture Certificate IV and well on his way to a Horticulture Diploma.
Ms Moore wants others to know that the RPL process that delivered this result for Max could be tailored to more horticulture workers at the Fraser Coast Regional Council or in fact any horticulture workplace.
"In fact you don't need to be in the workforce right now to be eligible because it's experience and skills that are assessed and they can relate to earlier jobs in any field, not just horticulture," Ms Moore said.