Vocational Training Team (VTT) Exchange with Canada

One of the important programmes I would like to see re-established in our District is the GSE programme, which has not occurred for the past 2 years due to funding changes for these teams under the Future Vision Pilot Programme.

In 2012/13 we plan a GSE/VTT exchange with District 5370 covering the Alberta B.C, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan areas of Canada.  We are sending a vocational team that will focus on youth education to District 5370 in September while District 5370 will be sending a traditional GSE team to New Zealand in April 2013.

In June final selections were held for Team Leader and Team Members. Both selections were keenly sought after with a high calibre of candidates.    Jan Lockett-Kay from the Rotary Club of Pukekura Breakfast in New Plymouth has been selected as Team Leader.  Jan is Head of the Faculty Humanities at the Western Institute of Technology in Taranaki and she will make an excellent team leader with her interests in education. 

One of the team exercises - the spiders web

Four Team Members have been selected.  Amanda Burgess who is a senior Policy Analyst with NZQA has a strong professional interest in education, specifically in areas around qualifications, policy development and standards based assessment.  Amanda Williams is a primary school teacher at Windley School in Porirua East who is passionate about raising the literacy achievements in schools.  Aroha Darroch from St Pius School in Titahi Bay is also a primary school teacher in a small school and has an interest in politics in education.  The fourth member Lani Evans is involved in many service projects and is currently Regeneration Trust Co-convenor.  Lani plans to gain experiences that she can bring back to the Trust.

The final team sec election day with GSE chair
Andy Watson, Janand DGE Graeme.

Over the next few months the team will be preparing for their month long exchange in Canada where they will be hosted by local Rotary clubs and will have the opportunity to visit organisations specialising in their chosen professions.

We would like to wish the team well and look forward to hearing of their experiences when they return to New Zealand.