CI Trades Training Centre looks ahead
The Cook Islands Trades Training Centre (CITTC) has brought up Open Polytechnic tutor Lance Apperley to run their Electrical Service Technician (EST) block courses. Students of the EST program are required to complete theory units as well as workshop – or practical – units. According to the head of the school, Boyd Ellison, the students have completed the required theory units and this week will see many of them complete the practical component.
Ellison says the school thinks this may be the last year they will require a tutor from New Zealand to travel here for the Level 2 qualification. “We’re looking at taking over the level 2 block course, which is the one that [Lance Apperley] is running now. Once that is all done and he’s happy with what we’ve got, then we’ll take over the running of it and the lodging of results.” He added that the school already marks its own level 2 papers, which Open Polytechnic then does moderation on. This means that eventually the entire level 2 EST qualification will be delivered and assessed in-country.
Within the Electrical school, the qualification is broken into two parts: Electrical Service Technician and Cook Islands Wiring Registration. Apperley delivered a block course last week for the Cook Islands Wiring Registration component, which means students completing this level 3 qualification only need one more block course to become fully qualified. Ellison said that the final block course would be run next year, “So we should have guys qualified by halfway through next year.” The final part of the qualification is the completion of workplace log books and a tutor is provided to enable those students not yet employed within an electrical firm to complete this.
The school has a telecommunications program similar to the EST program, and Ellison reported that the three major Cook Island employers of electrical and telecommunications students, Telecom Cook Islands, Te Aponga Uira and Andersons Electrical were happy with CITTCs efforts. “They are quite happy – they can see the value of it.”
In an exciting development, Ellison says CITTC is looking to add a Renewable Energy program into their curriculum. “Next year we are trying to shift into renewable energy. The [Electrical Supply Industry Training Organisation] is providing a course for us to run here - we’re basically the pilot for it! We will be leaders in the field if it comes off and we’re looking forward to it positively.” -Ngariki Ngatae

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