Changes in Professional Development...coming to a TAFE near you?

From Chris Jones at Great Lakes:

Over the past twelve months the North-East Zone has been made increasingly aware of some of the limitiations of existing Certificate IV and Diploma courses in Library Studies.

The Zone is very pleased to announce an exciting new program being offered by the North Coast Institute of TAFE.

In 2010 the NCI-TAFE will be running the Certificate IV and the Diploma in Library/Information Services.

What's so special about these courses. Just about everything! No other library course in Australia can claim all of the following:

1. Flexible online delivery (so the course comes to you)
2. Quality course content developed with major input by public library professionals, ensuring content is relevant to your actual workplace this has been a goal all along - it's not just affordable, it's of high quality)
3. An effective Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) structure. No longer should it be harder to prove you've got the skills than it is to do the unit
4. A phone and email support structure provided by dedicated TAFE staff
5. As cost-effective as possible - including opportunities for Existing Worker Traineeships to make the course zero cost to Council and student

Also, make sure you chat with your Human Resouces department about Existing Worker Traineeships (EWT) and New Traineeships (NT) as the Certificate IV is eligible for both. At present, there are funding option depending on how you do the Diploma that would signifcantly reduce your costs. We are also actively lobbying the Federal Government for even more direct course support for the Diploma.

If you'd like to know more about these courses the following librarians have all been heavily involved with their development and are happy to chat with you:

Enzo Accadia - Coffs Harbour - 6648 4129 - enzo.accadia@chcc.nsw.gov.au
Chris Jones - Great Lakes - 6591 7269 -
chris.jones@greatlakes.nsw.gov.au
Margie Wallis - Greater Taree - 6592 5291 -
margie.wallis@gtcc.nsw.gov.au

The courses will commence on 8 February 2010, with a closing date of 22 January 2010Please note that the sooner TAFE has numbers the better for their planning.

This is your chance to support a course that has been designed with input from your own profession for your own staff. And it's more than just about the content the whole delivery program has been designed to suit the students - not just the course providers. The people that really benefit are the library profession. With your support these courses will become a model for all other library courses in Australia.