After completing his secondary schooling at Southland Boys High School Shane successfully applied to undertake the engineering pre apprenticeship course at the Southern Institute of Technology. In late 2007 he was offered an apprenticeship with Southern Group Training on secondment with E-Type Engineering.

As Shane is under 22 years of age he is eligible to be a Modern Apprentice.

Southern Group Training is the Modern Apprenticeship service provider for the engineering industry in Southland and provides a Coordinator/Training Manager who meets with Shane on a regular basis.

Shane’s Coordinator develops an individual Training Plan for him which sets realistic goals and timeframes to achieve them in. These goals are based on the work being done in the workplace the Coordinator specifies particular unit standards for Shane to focus on achieving competency in. Progress is reviewed and once competency is achieved additional units are targeted.