Gaye Witney: Finalist in the upcoming 2002 Victorian Training Awards
12 August 2002
Gaye Witney.
Gaye Witney, the Nursing and Aged Care Program Coordinator at Kangan Batman TAFE ‘s Moreland Campus, has been chosen as a finalist in the Outstanding Teacher/Trainer of the Year Award category in the 2002 Victorian Training Awards.
The winner of this category will be announced at a Gala Presentation Dinner on Thursday 22 August at the Palladium, Crown Towers, Southbank.
Gaye was nominated in recognition of her contributions to vocational education within the nursing/aged care industry, as well as to Kangan Batman TAFE and the broader education community over the past eight years. For the same reasons Gaye recently won Kangan Batman TAFEÂ's own Teacher of the Year Award for 2002.
Gaye is an influential and respected facilitator who has been instrumental in promoting the use of flexible delivery and adult learning principles in nursing/aged care education.
According to Gaye: “Students need something to believe in, someone to believe in and someone who believes in them. They may or may not remember what we (teachers) have said or done, but they never forget how we make them feel.”
“The focus is on developing the student as a ‘wholeÂ' person by empowering them to take responsibility for their own learning and increasing their confidence and self-esteem.”
With Kangan Batman TAFEÂ's encouragement, and GayeÂ's professional commitment to nurse education, she has developed a unique approach to Division 2 nurse training based at Kangan Batman TAFEÂ's Moreland Campus Flexible Learning Centre.
The approach embraces ‘fleximodeÂ' delivery, which entails a mix of classroom-based and independent learning in the Flexible Learning Centre, and an educational philosophy called Transformational Facilitation of Learning.
The philosophy fundamentally changes the role of the teacher from the director and centre of class-based learning, to that of learning facilitator. This approach is especially suited to adult learners as it encourages learners to accept responsibility for their own learning and become self-directed learners.
Over the past eight years, Gaye and her team have created industry-renowned training programs in the aged care and nursing area. They are respected for their broad knowledge of and continual efforts to improve education and professional practice in this field.
