Indigenous Learning Centre recognised in VAEAI Awards
7 September 2005
Terry Kildea, Manager of the Koori Programs Unit.
From L to R - Koori Programs Unit Coordinator, Linc Yow Yeh, Terry Kildea, Wayne Clark from VAEAI and Lynette O'Connell from the Koori Programs Unit celebrating their Wurreker award.
Kangan Batman TAFE was recognised for its contribution to Indigenous education and training at the recent Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI) ‘Wurreker’ Awards.
Terry Kildea, Manager of the Koori Programs Unit, accepted the Special Recognition Award in the TAFE Institute category on Friday 26 August at the Aborigines Advancement League in Thornbury.
The award recognised the work of the Koori Programs Unit at the Institute’s Gunung-Willam-Balluk Learning Centre, one of the few purpose built learning facilities for Indigenous Australians.
The annual VAEAI Wurreker awards, held in conjunction with the Department of Education and Training, aim to recognise and celebrate progress under the ‘Wurreker Strategy.’ This strategy encourages the Koori community and the TAFE sector to work in partnership to maximise learning outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
The Institute also had two other finalist entries in the Wurreker Awards. The first entry recognised the VCAL music student and staff’s involvement in ‘Interactive Ochre’, a nationally accredited cultural awareness resource developed by SA TAFE. The TAFE had approached the students to write and record music for the resource, and this year, the students have been asked for more original music.
Kangan Batman TAFE’s entry was for the ‘Yering-Garrine Indigenous Employment and Career Development Strategy’ in the Public Sector Employer Category. This entry involved the Gunung-Willam-Balluk Learning Centre’s innovative traineeship program, which has seen a number of Indigenous youths employed as full-time trainees.
The Gunung-Willam-Balluk Learning Centre, which is based at the Broadmeadows campus, aims to merge the cultural heritage and values of the Indigenous people with contemporary culture and cutting-edge learning technology, to provide improved outcomes and pathways into advanced learning and employment.
‘Our aim to empower the Koori community through the delivery of quality education and training programs,’ said Mr Kildea.
‘We provide Koori students with technology-based, flexible learning options, and many are now thriving in our supportive learning environment.’
Local artist Dorothy Lovett was recently commissioned to paint artwork which embodied the values of the Learning Centre and symbolise it as a place of cultural pride and learning. Entitled ‘Nurrumbungattias’ or ‘sky spirits of the ancestors’, the painting will be a reminder to all students and staff of the right to quality education and respect.
The Gunung-Willam-Balluk Learning Centre conducts a variety of courses for the Koori community which will encourage further education and employment opportunities, ranging from Certificate I to III qualifications. These courses include business administration, IT, music, art and design, and conservation and land management.
For more information on the Gunung-Willam-Balluk Learning Centre, please contact Carmen Rossitto on (03) 9279 2357.
