Teaching the teachers about wool
Ag teachers from WA became the students in January when they converged on Narrogin for a three-day course to ensure they were up to date in best practice wool harvesting.
AWI shearing and wool handling trainers provide workshops during the year for students at ag colleges across WA. However, to provide the colleges’ ag teachers with the knowledge and confidence to support the training throughout the rest of the year, AWI recently funded a ‘train the trainer’ style course for ag teachers from four of the ag colleges. This is the first time this type of training has been done in WA.
Hosted by the Western Australian College of Agriculture Narrogin, which provided the facilities and sheep, the three-day wool harvesting industry workshop was initiated by AWI’s WA Training Coordinator Valerie Pretzel with support and organisation from the College’s farm manager Steve Madson. The workshop was fully funded by AWI and was supported by the WA Wool Training Advisory (WoolTAG) and the Western Australian Shearing Industry Association (WASIA).
The ag teachers that attended the course are from the Western Australian Colleges of Agriculture at Narrogin, Cunderdin, and Morawa, and the Mount Barker Community College. As well as learning about shed safety and set up, handpiece preparation, shearing, wool handling, and wool classing; the teachers had the opportunity learn about AWI resources for students related to other areas, such as animal health, and career pathways in the wool industry.
AWI’s Learn About Wool kit was also presented. This kit includes real wool fibre, yarn and fabric samples, factsheets and posters, and is available for free to primary and secondary schools across Australia. Schools can order the kit via www.learnaboutwool.com which also hosts lesson plans, resources, and a careers hub.
The ag teachers learnt a range of wool harvesting skills at the AWI-funded workshop.
The course at Narrogin was delivered by experienced and skilled AWI wool harvesting trainers Kevin Gellatly, Mark Stanton and Amanda Davis, along with AWI Industry Relations Officer for WA, Tennille Norrish.
“The AWI-funded workshop aimed to ensure the ag teachers’ knowledge about wool harvesting is up to date and give them extra confidence to teach their students about wool and careers in the industry,” said AWI National Manager, Wool Harvesting Training & Careers Development, Craig French.
“The training was very successful at equipping them with the skills and motivation to engage with their students about wool, and in a language and way that is consistent with the rest of the wool industry. This will hopefully result in more youngsters being attracted into the industry.
“We aim to build on the success of the workshop by expanding it next year to include more colleges and ag staff.”
More information:
www.wool.com/harvestingtraining
This article appeared in the Autumn 2025 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine that was published in March 2025. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.
