Two new wool classing tutors have been appointed, easing concerns in the profession that there may no longer be formal training following the retirement of two long-serving tutors.
The Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) has appointed Rebecca Braddick and Emma O’Sullivan to tutor the NZ Certificate in Wool Technology and Classing (Level 4), the country’s only wool classing programme.
They replace Laurie Boniface, who has retired, and Richard Gavigan, who resigned, leading to concerns by the NZ Wool Classers Association that their industry could be left without any formal training.
Asked if the new tutors were each employed at 0.5 full time equivalent, as their predecessors were, SIT declined to answer saying it could not provide details of employment arrangements.
Classers association chair Tracy Paterson said the organisation only learnt of the appointments via the media.
She said the past few months have been disruptive for students with uncertainty whether the course was being held or the profession had a future.
A statement from SIT said Braddick and O’Sullivan found their love of wool growing up on family farms.
Braddick grew up on a North Island sheep and beef farm and has worked as a woolhandler, classer and in education in NZ and Australia.
In 2008 she was the first recipient of a scholarship for a NZ classer mentoring programme designed to encourage young people into the profession.
The scholarship taught her all facets of wool classing and preparation and took her to Australia working with an exporter of superfine Merino fibre that supplied high-end Italian fashion.
The registered NZ and Australian Wool Classer has classed in sheds throughout Central Otago and North Otago and currently classes on Earnscleugh and Olrig Stations near Alexandra and on Lake Hawea Station near Wanaka.
Married with two children, North Island-based Braddick is completing a New Zealand Certificate in Adult and Tertiary Teaching through SIT2LRN.
O’Sullivan was raised on a Marlborough high country farm where she learnt the craft working in woolsheds during school and university holidays.
Currently farming Merino sheep with her husband and three children, O’Sullivan has worked in both blade and machine sheds and has spent more than a decade as an owner classer learning the roles of sorting, grading and classing wool.
She also has a NZ Certificate in Wool Technology and Classing (Level 4) and a Bachelor of Teaching and Learning.
The classing certificate is delivered from SIT’s agricultural Telford campus in South Otago and can be completed part-time over a two year period with five-day block courses available in the South and North Islands.
