AWI wool education programs plummet during COVID but back on track

The AWI annual report for 2021/2022 shows that the organisation failed to meet any of its operating targets for its student education programs, with the impact of COVID-19 blamed, along with a lack of AWI resources due to a combination of restructure and natural attrition.

AWI's Program Manager - Education Extension Kelly McAvoy said programs are on track to meet or exceed key performance indicators this year

"Australian Wool Innovation's student education programs across primary, secondary and tertiary are performing well post the significant disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic," she said.

"With classes resuming in a face-to-face capacity, engagement in our core programs is resuming to pre-pandemic levels."

In the 2021/2022 financial year one goal was to increase participation in the Learn About Wool primary and secondary education program by 2.5 per cent but remote learning between July to December 2021 meant fewer Learn About Wool kits were requested for classrooms.

The return to face-to-face learning in 2022 meant an uptick in orders however, and new lesson plans have been included to support the successful School Wether Challenge, run in NSW, SA and WA, as well additional engagement with agricultural teachers.

While there was a goal to increase global participation in the Wool4School secondary design competition by five per cent across Australia, Hong Kong, UK and Italy, there were only 15,015 registrations in 2021/2022, a decline from previous years. Feedback from schools indicated co-curricular studies were being placed on hold so students could catch up on key learning areas that took a hit during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms McAvoy said The Wool4School Design Competition is currently active in Australia, Italy and the UK.

"This year we have rebranded the competition for greater appeal to the Gen-Z audience," she said.

"The new brief "Wool Reimaged" which is about repair, renew, re-purpose and innovate, is aligned to Gen-Z culture."

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In terms of tertiary education 4605 students participated in programs compared to an annual target of 7583 students

Ms McAvoy said the Woolmark Performance Challenge, a key program for fashion and design students, is in its 6th year and currently has more than 300 universities and 6200 students participating from across 31 countries.

"The competition pushes the boundaries for innovation and design for the sport and outdoor market," she said.

"This year's technical partner is Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, with an internship at the Prada style department for the winner of the competition as well as a Woolmark Company research bursary prize."

The Woolmark Learning Centre digital platform also fell short of its 2021/2022 goal of students completing 2000 courses on the Australian wool industry, with only 1189 courses completed.

Ms McAvoy said in the past year there have been four new courses launched on the platform, including the first woolgrower focussed course, Price Risk Management.

Upgrades have also been made to the platform to improve the user experience and create easier integration with other programs.