The welding of a brotherhood

Helen Goltz

Local welding student Daniel Edwards will be facing some intense competition when he heads to Sydney later this year for the National WorldSkills competition.

Daniel is part of the team representing this state, and to prepare competitors for the challenge ahead, TAFE Illawarra Institute’s Shellharbour Campus recently hosted the 2008 Skills Development Program in welding.

Michael Pitt, who teaches welding at the Illawarra Institute, said he expected the TAFE NSW team to perform well at the National WorldSkills titles.

“The team consists of all the regional champions who each came through their regional competitions very strongly,” he said.

“The biggest challenge for our competitors is the intensity of the competition at the National WorldSkills event.

“It is contested by the best students from across Australia and the welding workmanship is intensely scrutinised.”

Mr Pitt said that in the past few years, the development programs have really helped to shape the students for their future trade of metal fabrication and welding.

TAFE NSW institutes from across the state were represented at the Shellharbour training event; they included Illawarra, Hunter, North Coast, New England, North Coast, Sydney and Western.

Jai Waters, the relieving director of the Illawarra Institute, said the development program had been designed to suit each student’s training requirements.

“It is designed to simulate the level of competition they are required to prepare for in the WorldSkills Competition,” Ms Waters said.

Since 1996, NSW has led the way in preparing WorldSkills competitors, from regional to national and then international competitions. No other state currently conducts similar development programs.

WorldSkills Australia is a not-for- profit organisation that runs skill and trade competitions for the youth of Australia.