Kevin's Middle Eastern adventure
Taking on a stint teaching in Iran might seem like a risky proposition, but for Kevin Jackson, Program Co-ordinator: Automotive Technology, the opportunity to train a group of VET equivalent teachers in Tehran was an extremely rewarding experience.
Approached by the Japanese International Cooperating Agency (JICA) to help up-skill automotive teachers within Iran’s Technical Vocational Training Organisation (TVTO),
Kevin put the idea to Chisholm. “We were able to put together a package that suited all parties, so I went across as a Chisholm employee working for this JICA project,” Kevin explained.
With Iran running a fairly advanced automotive industry, two local manufacturers are aligned to Peugeot, Nissan and Kia.
Producing around two million vehicles a year, the local industry, however, had a lack of trust in the technical training system and trained staff in-house.
“With no accreditation system in Iran, we needed to promote a tangible and portable qualification for people to move around inside the industry,” says Kevin.
Setting up a pilot program of competency based training for the burgeoning light vehicle industry was the first step towards achieving this outcome.
“During my first eight week visit in June we looked at the competencies, trained and up-skilled their teachers and prepared for the pilot program,” Kevin explained.
Returning in September until December, the program was then delivered to 14 students while Kevin evaluated, provided technical support and acted as a mentor to the local teachers.
“Once we got over the language, cultural and limited infrastructure obstacles, the program worked very well,” he says. “We set up an industry reference group and as they saw the merits of our proposals their support improved greatly.”
Coping with dense pollution and temperatures hovering around 50º in a city of 16 million wasn’t easy. On the other hand, Kevin and his wife were made welcome at all times and found the Iranians caring, generous and hospitable people.
“Despite what you hear in the news, we never felt personally unsafe during our stay in Iran and we were able to move about freely at all times.”
“At this stage that’s the end of the program, but with the Iranians expressing interest in setting up further projects, we’re hoping Chisholm will be part of that.”
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