Dr Adam Bignold has won the Australian VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year Award held in Canberra on Friday 6 December.

The Australian Training Awards are the peak national awards that showcase best practice in vocational education and training (VET). The Awards recognise and celebrate excellence and are an important mechanism for promoting the benefits of VET.

Winners from each state and territory training awards compete for a national award title. VDC is the proud sponsor of the Teacher/Trainer of the Year Award at the Annual Victorian Training Awards, a sponsorship that VDC has been involved in since the mid-2000s.

Dr Adam Bignold, from Federation TAFE Victoria, delivers a Certificate IV in Cyber Security, and a Certificate III in Information Technology. While teaching simultaneously at university and in VET, Adam noticed a stark contrast between theory-based higher education and hands-on VET. Subsequently VET became his preferred path to share the wonders and infinite possibilities of STEM and technologies where Adam’s students at Federation TAFE are now well prepared for the modern workplace being trained in real life scenarios such as hacking and other practical applications.

Adam was also concerned with the low levels of female participation and challenges for neurodiverse students, so he developed an adaptive, practical curriculum specifically for – diverse learners, English as a second language students, and females. This resulted in doubling female enrolments, a three-fold increase in learner engagement, and a two-fold increase in neurodiverse attendance.

Congratulations also to Teacher/Trainer of the Year Award Finalists:

Winner

Runner-up

Finalist