VET Teacher / Trainer of the Year

Sponsored by Territory Technology Solutions.

Winner: David Barker - Charles Darwin University

Baking has been David Barker’s lifelong passion. He has worked in the industry for 25 years, as a baker and business owner and as a lecturer in the Commercial Cookery and Bakery team at CDU.

Becoming involved in teaching seemed like a natural progression for David, motivated to share his passion for baking and new trends in the industry. He has a diverse student base, including Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal school students (VET in Schools), apprentices and trainees, international students and mature aged students. He provides students with additional educational and learning support, uses innovative and flexible teaching methods and provides plenty of personal encouragement to achieve good learning outcomes.

David has been recognised with many training and baking industry awards. He constantly searches out new methods of delivering training and developing innovative resources. He enjoys the challenges of delivering baking skills to students in remote communities in particular. David uses Facebook to link remote students with the baking industry and experts on a national and international level. He uses platforms such as YouTube to encourage and generate his student’s interest in different baking approaches and techniques.

David has also negotiated with the industry to donate equipment towards a portable bakery platform that can be transported to remote communities. This enables training that focuses on utilising traditional skills and ingredients and promotes development of cultural baking skills.

Runner up: Debbie Atkinson - Alana Kaye Training