Staff Spotlight - Greg Doriean
Passionate teachers and cutting-edge facilities laying the foundations for apprentice success.
Greg Doriean has been working hard to strengthen the apprenticeship pathways at GOTAFE in order to set his students up for success.
The lead educator in Building and Construction, Greg’s passion for carpentry – and nurturing apprentices as they take their first steps in the industry – is clear for all who set foot in GOTAFE’s state-of-the-art Archer Street facility to see.
“It’s one of the nicest bits of being a trainer of carpentry, just about everyone who comes here, they’ve got that desire,” Greg said.
“They don’t have the skills, they don’t have always the ability to be able to do things, but this is their chosen field…and that makes it easy.
“My passion for carpentry, the passion for the students in carpentry is just an extension of that.
“You do the right things by them and they fly, and when you see those lightbulb moments when they start to actually fly and really apply their skills and deepen those skills, it’s as good as building a house.”
Greg spent over two decades in the industry before turning his hand to teaching the next generation of carpenters in 2005, and having recently taken on a lead educator role is fast approaching the milestone of more time off of the tools than on them.
“Probably from day one (as a casual TAFE teacher) I thought, this is pretty good, and by about four weeks in I was sold and this has been my career ever since,” he said.
“There’s that age old argument that this (learning space) should match a workplace, that you should be out in the cold and out in the weather, but you’re never going to get the best out of people if that’s what you’re doing.
“The purpose for it is that we’re training. We’re not trying to make money out of building a house within 60 days. We’re trying to make sure that they’re going away with the skills that they can then further develop and then they can build a house in 60 days.
“That’s a big driver for me and it’s a big driver as well stepping into management sort of roles, almost that natural extension where if I’m direct teaching I’m helping those students to be able to get it.
“(But) if I’m managing teachers which are helping those students, the better I can support them and make sure their structures are right the better their follow on instructions are to students, to people who want to be carpenters.”
Prospective carpenters can work their way up from a Certificate II in Building and Construction pre-apprenticeship (22614VIC) to a Certificate III in Carpentry (CPC30220) and Certificate IV in Building and Construction (CPC40120) with GOTAFE.
Opportunities are also available through the VET Delivered to School Students (VDSS) program.
“The industry (carpentry) I think is a phenomenal one,” Greg said.
“A carpenter goes out there and builds a house and then drives his kids insane for the next 30-40 years telling them ‘I built that house.’
“That is that foundation and that sort of solidness that makes you feel like you are contributing to not just your life but the wider community.”