After over 20 years working in the education space, including 17 years for TAFE NSW, Claire Bigelow knew that she had some great skills and experience. What was surprising, even for her, was to have that expertise so quickly and independently recognised through our Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process.
In this Churchill Education Graduate story, Claire Bigelow shares her experience of working with our team to get her exceptional skills from her diverse career turned into qualifications that will support her to continue to build her career in developing thriving people and organisations.
Prefer to listen while you drive, walk, cook, stare at the moon? We’ve got you covered!
On the recommendation of career coach Em Pescott from Promotable You, Claire came to us to see our RPL offer. Initially she looked at the BSB50420 Diploma of Leadership and Management but our team of assessors were able to ascertain that Claire was able to produce work samples that entitled her to the BSB80120 Graduate Diploma of Management (Learning).
A career in education
“I worked at TAFE NSW for over 17 years as a teacher, learning, assessment and instructional designer and then in staff capability development where my focus was on statewide programs supporting educator excellence, leadership, management, culture and wellbeing.
Now I work with NSW Health Infrastructure (HI) as the Senior Advisor of Learning and Development (L&D) supporting our people to deliver health infrastructure projects valued at over $10M throughout NSW.
My role at HI oversees mandatory training, cultural and induction programs, our e-learning offers and sourcing or producing other L&D activities. Our people are mostly highly educated with diverse expertise and experience, and their learning needs reflect this.”
Claire was thankful that her years working in various roles for TAFE NSW had prepared her to take on the role with NSW Health and effective in the facilitation and delivery of various initiatives.
As she said, “If I hadn’t had the hands-on experience of creating and delivering successful programs and resources for thousands of people previously, I wouldn’t have been able to step up into this role.”
The benefit of qualifications that benchmark experience
Claire also shared that having the additional qualifications was an effective “shorthand way of expressing capability that I can get the job done without having to unpack all of the history for someone else.”
Recognition of Prior Learning
Having worked in the vocational education sector for years, Claire understood the RPL process and was impressed with how our assessors at Churchill Education made it a straightforward process.
“The Churchill assessors didn’t ask me to write a story explaining my experiences or do the mapping like I have done previously, but rather I was able to just provide my work samples.
Knowing how to catalogue my samples for assessment, and leaving the mapping to Churchill made the process for me relatively quick.”
Claire’s advice
Claire’s advice is to capture your experience by retaining work samples, documenting your experiences through professional development plans, update your CV regularly, use your calendar to record activity and showcase your work and achievements on platforms like LinkedIn.
“Keeping a record of your work activity and achievements really helps when it comes to applying for roles or for RPL. Being able to quickly draw on a range of different work samples when you are embarking on a new project is easier too.”
What’s next for Claire?
For Claire, this stage of her career is about creating large scale change and having a positive influence on those involved on the way through.
“I care about people and the quality of our work environments. With my background in education and positive psychology I have seen time and again that having quality systems and positive, respectful relationships is critical to business and organisational success.
I want to influence the systems, leadership and cultures in workplaces to promote both wellbeing and commercial success.”
Claire’s career has always been about growing and developing her capabilities and supporting others to reach their goals. Now she has the additional qualifications to back it up and is making sure that more people know about Recognition of Prior Learning through Churchill Education.
Thank you Claire, and above all, congratulations on your outstanding achievements.
Curious to know what you could be eligible for? Apply for a free RPL appraisal below:
