Ani Tom Vellarumkunnel

Ani Tom is a VE teacher and Social Worker working for RMIT Youth Work Program since 2018.

Ani has an extensive working experience of 20 years in Vocational Education (VE) and Social Work including Vocational Training, Youth Work, Case Management, Project and Program Development and Migrant and Refugee support. Ani has a Master’s Degree in Social Work, Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Graduate Diploma in Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice and a Cert IV in Training and Assessment.

Ani has been working with RMIT Youth Work program since 2018. Ani has a great passion to empower young people and she believes that education is the most powerful tool to empower young people. As part of Ani's role as a VE Teacher, she undertakes classroom teaching and assessment, develops assessment tools, and create teaching and learning resources for both students and the teaching team. As a senior member of the Youth Work team, Ani also provides support to her sessional colleagues. Ani specializes in providing Work Integrated Learning (WIL) support to her students.

Ani works very hard to provide the best placement/WIL experiences to her students and is able to create project-based placement opportunities both globally and local which enhances the placement experiences for her students. In 2021, Ani led 9 Virtual Placement Projects which provided placement opportunities for around 45 students doing their Diploma and Cert IV in Youth Work. Ani works closely with RMIT Global Experiences and Social Care Placement Team (College of VE) to create and facilitate these placement projects. Ani always has a positive and tireless energy to encourage her students to achieve their goals. Ani is looking forward to developing hybrid placement projects to equip her students with skills which are relevant for the changing world or work.

In her free time, Ani is involved in community and cultural organisations in her local community. Ani also enjoys gardening, cooking, and spending time with her family and friends.

VE Teacher - Community Services programs, Swinburne University

VE Teacher - Community Services and Youth Work Programs, Australian College of Training and Employment

VE Teacher - Chisholm Institute of TATE

Teacher and Welfare support - I Empower, Melbourne

Case Manager - ASRC, Melbourne

Project Planning and Evaluation support - Brothers of St. Gabriel, Thailand.

As part of Ani's Master degree in Social Work, Ani has completed a research project which focus on the Need Assessment practices of Non- Profit welfare Organizations

Need, Need Assessment, Participation, Capacity of Clients, Program Development, Non Profit Organizations, Non Government Organizations