“This qualification has given me the confidence and knowledge to do a really good job.”
Jock is a Career Fit tutor with EmployNZ who was drawn to teaching. It was a natural progression after years of coaching senior level Rugby League and completing a Sport degree and a post-grad diploma in Business Administration.
He explains that his learners are mainly second-chance youth preparing for employment or further study. They’re studying a NCEA Level 2 accredited sports programme. So, to keep his learners engaged and motivated, it’s mostly practical activities in the gym or at the park.
Jock describes himself as indigenous and recognises that Māori learn a little differently to Pākeha. He uses a combination of techniques and incorporates a lot of kinaesthetic learning as well as encouraging both group work and one-on-one sessions.
Jock says getting individuals at an early age and giving them some confidence to get an education and push on to be a productive member of society is what motivates him. “The biggest thing for me is getting to connect and getting to know the different personalities and how they operate. I need to provide that positive engagement for them to carry on and succeed.”
He continues, “This ATT4 qualification has given me confidence, the reassurance that I’m doing a good job. It’s helped me in the areas of setting up lesson plans, getting feedback, and evaluating. It got me thinking, ‘Why am I in this spot? Why did I jump in and decide to teach?’ The qualification is really, really good. The intellectual property, the knowledge that’s in there, sharing that, that’s priceless.
I really enjoyed the programme. The best part for me was the face-toface. I really enjoyed the networking and hearing other people’s stories and finding out what they did and why they were there. I think the whole programme is good value. I enjoyed the opportunity to network, the tutor was great, the format of the programme was great.”