Graeme Harris – Trade Teacher in Cotton Farming

Trade Teacher Spotlight

Graeme Harris is an agriculture teacher at Farrer Memorial High School, in Tamworth. He has recently piloted a Cotton training program for schools – the only one of it’s kind. He chats about what it’s like to teach on the land about the land – and the charms that come with it.

Graeme studied Agricultural Science at UNE, and was appointed to Farrer High School as an Ag Teacher. “I told myself I’d leave when I got bored. I’ve been here 29 years and I haven’t gotten bored – I’m always challenging myself.”

“I’ve been able to present myself with challenges and change because of the industry of VET education, with the changes of syllables in courses. Agriculture is really dynamic!”

He tells us about how he became involved in the Cotton Industry, “I usually teach agriculture. I also teach VET Primary Industries, which covers a whole site of different enterprises. I didn’t have much to do with the cotton industry.”

“I had some negative perceptions about [the industry to do with] chemicals and water use. But a lot of the parents come from cotton areas. Since we ran a grain course – I thought that we may as well try to meet the needs of some of the students a bit better. With exposure to the industry – I realised there were loads of changed in the past 25 years. Chemical use had dropped by 80% due to GM, water use had dropped by 80% - and now I see it’s a really dynamic industry that’s attacking a lot of these issues. It’s really effective at it!”

This course is 95% hands on, and 5% is in class. The school has a 189 hectre school farm. “We spend a lot of time outside, doing the various jobs that have to be done. We’ve got the wrong climate for cotton - so we take students out to properties, where they gain skills at harvest and sowing.”

The program is effective at targeting a different style of learning than they traditionally gain in schools. “A lot of boys like concrete learning. When you’re in the paddock, that’s when you talk about the OH+S and communication issues, as that’s when it has real meaning for them.”

“As the school is a boarding and day school – it meant that day school students who might not have moved into the cotton industry have now done so. And boarders can now consider cotton as a career.” The course has even had surprising results, with some academic students have seen the advantages and shortages within the science area of the industry. “That’s been important the community. Our community is much larger than just the town.”

“The community contacts have been enormous! We’ve been invited to have some students to go to the Cotton Conference on the Gold Coast. One of the kids was offered employment at the Industry dinner that night. It just so happened the people who picked him up won the Innovative Cotton Growing award! At the time, there was a drought, so they couldn’t employ him at that point in time – but contacted him just recently. He’s now working with them full time. He’s on $50,000 a year. In agriculture – that’s nearly double the training rate.”

The practical components in schools requires trust on the part of the partner. “I took ten students out, and the employer said they couldn’t use equipment because of OH+S. Then I’d explained that they’d done their OH+S course. They began with some kids from cotton backgrounds were using the machinery. By the end of lunch, two kids diving tractors, and two kids in a cotton picker. Some students were building cotton modules – using module builders. They were doing a whole range of different things.

“Then there was an employer, his wife, his sister, an employee and me, all supervising the kids. The farmer recognised they had a lot of skills. There was a lot of buddying up with kids who had skills and those didn’t – all peer training.”

“There was a lot of evaluation that took place, with an external organisation to interview students. The kids rated very highly. Year 10 completed Cotton Seeds, which comprised of OH+S, First Aid and some basic skills. “

“Some students opted to continue with their studies in Year 11, they will have completed their Certificate II. In Year 12 they can undertake specialisation units – towards a Certificate III. That’s their pathway here.”

“So how do you measure success?” Graeme asks. “By those that complete the certificate, or those who go into industry? Some are successful, that they get jobs before they get their credentials! Employers realise there are strong people with skills they can develop, and they get snapped up. Those sorts of programs can be really important with matching students and employers.”

According to Graeme, the course is really breaking down [negative] stereotypes of adolescents in the community.

The best part of the job?

It’s great to see kids grow in expertise. They have very little awareness about how to work machinery and how to communicate in group. By the end of the course, they can operate large, expensive machinery, learn a whole load of skills that they didn’t have before.

The hardest part of the job?

Staffing! The biggest problem with vocational work – there is no difference in class sizes. In a senior class I could have 24 students: and one tractor. In remains a problem of keeping both groups of entertained, while supervising those on the tractor. Another problem is resources – some of the equipment is expensive – it’s why we’ve made links with the industry - so they’re working with tractors and cotton pickers worth half a million dollars.

Advice?

For Teachers, it’s challenging but very, very rewarding. The need to just access heir local communities, access local employers. If they have skills, they can spend time in industry, learn further skills and implement in VET courses in other schools. I took a Business in Aquaculture course –getting out in industry is really important.