Having completed his secondary education at Gore High School in 2001, Ryan was employed as an apprentice by Southern Group Training and placed on secondment with Chris King Builder. Ryan had spent the summer holidays working with Chris and gaining an appreciation of the work involved being a carpenter. It also enabled Chris to evaluate Ryan’s suitability for an apprenticeship.

Ryan’s education continued as each year he attended a series of block courses at the Southern Institute of Technology where he was taught the theory components of the Level 4 National Certificate in Carpentry.

Once Ryan had completed the theory assessment for a unit standard he was then able to be assessed in the practical elements, provided that he was able to prove that he was competent in the various tasks. To achieve practical competency Ryan had to be able to complete the required practical tasks consistently well, unsupervised, in a commercial timeframe, using safe work practices.

Ryan needed to maintain a weekly record of all the tasks he completed in a Record of Work folder which was required to be signed off by his supervisor once the supervisor agreed that Ryan had achieved the required competency level. Failure to maintain good records can add considerably to the length of time it takes to complete an apprenticeship.