Ashburton College students Riley Molloy, Todd White, Sophie McMahon-Woods and Blake Farr, members of the school’s ground breaking automotive training course. Photo supplied.For a group of Ashburton College students, school is as much about getting your hands dirty as it is sitting behind a desk.

Those Year 12 students are part of the college’s ground-breaking automotive course that sees them stripping down motors, panel beating bodies and coming up with ways to fix broken and worn out engines.

The course is the brainchild of technology teachers Mike Pearce and Karl Backhouse-Smith.

They wanted to build on the success of the college’s trades academy by creating opportunities for students with a strong automotive interest.

And with the third school term running down, Pearce said the course is being voted a success on every level.

Online resources from the Motor Industry Training Organisation are used, but the programme itself has been designed by the school.

At its heart is the focus on practical, hands-on work and that’s been a winner with students, Pearce said.

“They’re incredibly keen and they’re now doing all sorts of things.

“We’re doing this in a way that hasn’t been done before and they’re absolutely blooming in there.”

The automotive workshop comes complete with a hoist, a new spray booth and a range of tools.

And on the floor at any given time are a number of vehicles in various stages of being stripped down, rebuilt or repaired.

The school funded the initial set-up and the students have raised additional funds by buying vehicles, doing them up and on-selling them.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity, they’ve learned so much in a very short space of time.

“The students are so enthusiastic about this and so are the staff,” Pearce said.

While students spend just four hours each week in the automotive workshop, it has provided an incentive for them to achieve in core subject areas as they’re well aware that for life in the workforce will require more than just practical skills, he said.

Next year Pearce hopes to run the course over Years 12 and 13, but numbers will be limited by the number of teachers and tutors available.

He also hopes to start involving industry to make employers aware of the skills students will be able to take into the workplace.

College principal Ross Preece is hailing the course as one of the school’s big success stories and he’s counting the school as fortunate to have three very large workshop spaces on campus.

While the college course does not follow the MITO model, it has received high praise from the industry organisation.

After a site visit the school received an email from MITO praising it for the diverse range of skills and excellent life skills that every student was learning.

The calibre of training and expertise the tutors were providing was outstanding, MITO said.

The report said the college was to be congratulated on its “innovative, forward-thinking, supportive and trend setting programme that had excellent outcomes”.

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 16 September 2020