The specialist certificate and diploma vocational educator near Balclutha has been caught up in a perfect storm of the Lincoln restructuring, changes to contestable funding for level three and four qualifications and a Tertiary Education Commission investigation into other groups delivering courses on behalf of Telford.
All that came at a time when agriculture was crying out for trained staff, something Telford did well with most of the about 100 graduates a year getting jobs immediately and others continuing their education.
Head of programmes Roy Gawn said it was unsettling for the 40-plus staff and publicity about Lincoln and TEC funding changes had prompted some prospective students to ask if Telford would be open next year.
Gawn said it was business as usual with staff acutely aware of the crucial role Telford played in providing people to work on the nation’s farms.
“New Zealand agriculture needs places like Telford, which fills a need and provides opportunities for students who otherwise miss out or the school leaver who can’t go into agriculture because they don’t have the skills or contacts.
“We provide a set of skills any employer can mould to fit their business.”
Lincoln was reviewing all aspects of its business, including the role of Telford, which became a division of the university in 2010.
This year the Government introduced contestable funding for institutions delivering certificate and diploma level training in agriculture, horticulture and viticulture.
The aim was to improve the quality of training and to find ways to encourage students into higher-level education.
Gawn was confident Telford’s tender would be successful though it would not know the outcome until October or November.
Telford met TEC criteria for course and qualification completion, transition to higher education and graduates getting jobs.
“Tick, tick, tick and tick. We tick all of those boxes,” he said.
“We provide a set of skills any employer can mould to fit their business.”
Roy Gawn
Telford
Telford can have up to 110 students on campus and this year had 58 studying for a certificate in agriculture, 15 a certificate in equine, 15 doing Lincoln’s diploma in agriculture and 12 a diploma in rural vet technology.
Telford also operated distance learning programmes throughout NZ including for Northland College’s dairy farm, Smedley Station, Coleridge Downs, horticulture, FarmSafe, apiary and arboriculture.
Telford was established in 1964 by a group of local farmers who wanted a farm training facility in the area.
The land was made available by the Telford family and was administered by the Telford Farm Board of Management. Lincoln was responsible for the academic programme.
It covered three farms totalling nearly 1000ha – a 224ha dairy farm milking 580 cows, a 350ha sheep farm running 3000 ewes and 870 hoggets and an 85ha deer farm running 100 hinds.
Gawn said a typical Telford student left school at the end of year 12 keen to pursue a more practical education. Half came from the North Island and half were female.
The 37-week certificate course followed a three week cycle of one week work experience on one of 100 southern farms that assisted Telford, one week in a workshop learning skills such as fencing, carpentry, welding and shearing and one week in the classroom.
They all spent time on the sheep and beef and dairy farms.
Telford also encouraged and assisted students to buy and train working dogs, something many employers required in staff but training and caring for dogs also taught responsibility and discipline and was extremely popular with students.
Telford also taught students how to saddle and ride a farm horse, again something some hill and high-country employers required.
Bayley Coates of Maungaturoto was studying for a diploma in agriculture and said she enjoyed the mix of working with livestock and dogs while she studied.
“It’s better than working in an office.”
She had a simple philosophy on why she wanted to work in agriculture. “How else are we going to put food on the table?”
Others enjoyed hands-on learning, working with dogs and the abundance of jobs once they graduated.
Jessica Crosbie from Tokanui, also studying a DipAg, said the regular onfarm work experience was rewarding and allowed her to meet lots of people and to gain experience and work references.
Mason Jones was born and raised in Auckland but said the lure of practical work outdoors drew him to farming and he has a job next year on a farm at Te Anau.
“There’s plenty of jobs,” he said.
