The Churchill Education Experience

Warren Groves is the General Manager of the Flinders Council, balancing diverse responsibilities in a remote, community-focused role. With 26 years in Victoria Police, Warren’s career has been defined by leadership and resilience.

After a major workplace injury that meant the end of his construction career and almost his leg, Mark made the move to a WHS career. After achieving two Advanced Diplomas through RPL he’s now getting $200K job offers!

Read his story here

After over 20 years working in the education space, Claire Bigelow knew that she had amassed some amazing skills. What was surprising, even for her, was the standard of those skills when viewed through the lens of RPL.

Chief Inspector with Queensland Police, and Leadership Coach, Darren Smith, recently turned 35 years of policing experience into a Graduate Diploma (ranked higher than a Bachelor's Degree).

In the following story, Darren discusses his police career, creating a leadership coaching program for select groups of leaders, turning his experience into a national qualification through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), and passing on his wisdom about crisis management and leading people through his leadership programs.

Read his full story here

Operational Superintendent and Rail Specialist, Brent Kara turned his career experience into two Graduate Diplomas through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) with Churchill Education! In the following story Brent outlines his extensive mining career experience from Sierra Leone to WA, achieving qualifications through RPL and how proud he was to share the news with his family. 

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WHS professional, Caitlin Seaha, discusses 15 years in WHS, setting up her own consultancy, achieving a higher level and unexpected bonus qualification, and her A+ process of gathering work examples for RPL.

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Training Operations Manager and former military medic, Michelle 'Pep' Lambert, achieved a Diploma of Business (Operations) through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

In the following story Pep discusses leaving defence with no civilian qualifications, and wondering how she would explain her military experience to prospective employers. She also talks about being totally 'floored' by the long list of qualifications her defence experience made her eligible for through RPL, and finding a job she loves with a Veteran-run organisation. 

Read her story here

30-year-old Graduate Workplace Health and Safety Officer, Michelle Worth, recently achieved two national qualifications through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) – a Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety (WHS) and a Certificate IV in Project Management Practice.

Read Michelle's full story here

HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment, and Quality) compliance expert and business owner, Symone Mercer, recently turned her extensive career experience into a Diploma of Project Management through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

In this story Symone takes us through her career journey from jillaroo to grain classifier; auditor and compliance expert to business owner. She discusses RPL for consultants, providing sensitive documents, women at work, and encouragement for more women to ‘have a crack’ when it comes to applying for jobs and turning their experience into qualifications.

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In the following story Churchill Education co-founder Tricia Velthuizen shares the career change story of husband and co-founder, Randall Smith. It is a story of PTSD, depression, loss of identity, anger and blame. But more than that, it is a story of forgiveness, growth, compassion, new chapters and better days. We hope it brings some light to your day. Please share it with friends or colleagues who might need a reminder that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

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