Plumbing lecturer enhances tech skills and supports local community thanks to lockdown

Craig loading up his deliveries

School of Trades and Services Plumbing lecturer, Craig Goodhue, found a positive way to manage the  challenges of lockdown and teaching from home by getting out into the community to do  ‘good’ as an essential worker.

With the blessing of his manager, every second day for a few hours, Craig has been out and about  around West Auckland delivering food parcels on behalf of the Salvation Army. As a van driver delivering an essential service, it allowed him to get out of the house legitimately during lockdown and into the community. He says it’s been great to support people in need and the work has been good mental therapy, “…it’s given me a reality check, seeing first-hand how many people needed help.”

Craig says many people he’s delivered food parcels to are contractors – people who don’t usually need this type of help – but with work stopping during lockdown, contract workers are usually the first to be impacted and they generally don’t qualify for the Government subsidy.

Keeping up with teaching hasn’t been a problem as he has time outside of regular teaching hours for prepartion due to the limitations of lockdown, but Craig says using new technology has been challenging. He says he’s actually working more hours now than before, in order to support changing his teaching methods from the more hands-on approach to learning how to use online technology.

…and Craig on the road

He’s grateful for the support of his work colleagues, including lecturers Colin Corkill and Stuart Peden, as well as Academic Programme Manager Jake Curran, to help him through. And while he has missed the ‘hands on’ aspect of teaching plumbing and interacting with his students, he’s proud of the new online tech skills he has developed. But Craig is adamant that in his mind, online will never replace the classroom – he will continue using the technology he has learnt to enhance his teaching – and says they go ‘hand in hand’.

All of Craig’s students are employed, so he is conscious of how many have missed classes as they have been involved in essential services work during lockdown, so his pre-recorded content including online tutorials are going to be a valuable resource for them. Craig says these people have done a lot hard mahi during lockdown and he wants to ensure we give them every opportunity so they don’t fall behind.

Craig joined Unitec in October 2018. It was a big change from his previous job, working for a large commerical plumbing business, but he was ready for a fresh challenge. He is teaching Plumbing Level 4 and says he’s focused on his students’ success and helping get them into employement once qualified. And while there may potentially be less jobs out there due to COVID-19, plumbing is a busy trade, so Craig says ensuring that our students have a range of skills and experience will prepare them for a range of job opportunities.