Scott attended Gore High School for three years during which time he was employed as a builders’ labourer during the weekends and school holidays. This work gave Scott a better idea of what was involved in being a carpenter and he decided that this was the career path for him.

Having left school to get a job Scott was fortunate that he was able to secure a carpentry apprenticeship. Not having done the carpentry pre trade course at the Southern Institute of Technology, Scott is having to complete his off job theory work through a series of block courses held at S.I.T. each year. This requires Scott’s employer to release him for fixed periods of time each year.

Scott has completed his Stage One block courses which included the very necessary unit standard ‘demonstrate knowledge of safe work practice on construction sites’, and has now completed his Stage Two block course.

Scott needs to be assessed as competent in the theory components of his unit standards before he can be assessed as practically competent. Practical competency could be defined as being able to complete a task repetitively well, in a commercial timeframe, unsupervised and using safe work practices.