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“After 41 years in the auto body industry, 27 of these as a teacher at the Institute of TAFE Tasmania, Denis Crowden decided it was time to pick up the tools again and undertake a Return to Industry placement at Elite Crash Repairs in Ulverstone.”

Return to Industry is a program for TAFE Tasmania staff that supports them to update their skills and experience first-hand the pressures workers face in their industry sector. Teachers can identify a particular business they would gain valuable experience from working within, or flag specific skills they would like to develop and then TAFE Tas helps find opportunities for that.

It has been one of many strategies available to staff to continually develop their expertise as vocational trainers and educators. A Return to Industry program may be one day a week over a couple of months, or a full week or two. As Denis experienced, quite often teachers find themselves working alongside ex-students.

For some teachers it can be a real challenge to consider workplace delivery or assessment and RTI has been one way of re-establishing teachers’ confidence in their own skills (and sometimes adding a few more!).  Many teachers have taken up the opportunity to do a Return to Industry; it provides a real eye-opener about just how much learning and assessment can and does happen in the workplace.