TAFE students give school a sporting hand
5 August 2004
Kangan Batman TAFE's sport and recreation students are lending a helping hand with sports activity sessions at Richmond West Primary School enabling the students to experience a wider program than normally available.
The first year Certificate IV in Sport Development students have developed an activity program that benefits the primary school students and also provides TAFE students with a means to apply the skills learnt in class.
"The practical skills they develop from getting out of the class room and into a real life situation are really valuable," says TAFE sport and recreation teacher, Lachlan Tighe. "Most of the students are only 18 years old and to be able to design and conduct a sports program builds their confidence and experience enormously."
"The TAFE students come across different challenges than when they work with sporting organisations or clubs, and it helps them develop a great connection between the primary school children and themselves," says Lachlan.
The program is only into the second week of an eight week schedule but this is the third year that Kangan Batman students have been involved in the program. The feedback from both the TAFE students and Richmond West Primary School has been very positive with both sets of students describing the experience as a lot of fun.
Richmond West principal, Peter Lord said, "We greatly value the program. The organisational and scheduling ability of the TAFE students, and their lesson planning, is excellent. It's also great for our students to see a few more males in teaching roles."
The primary school sports program links directly into a number of Certificate IV competencies and gives the students experience in supervising and conducting sports activities. "It gives them a better feel for the application of their skills, it gives them more than just sports coaching knowledge," said Lachlan.
"Most of the students aim to go onto university courses in sports and physical education of some sort and the Certificate IV gives them credits towards further study. It also provides entry level skills if they want to go straight into employment in the field," said Lachlan.
The students are divided into four teams, each week a new team leader plans and organises the weekly sports program for Richmond West Primary School. The students get to do this twice in the program so they stay refreshed and can improve on their program the next time round.
