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This study examined the similarities and differences between TAFE students and university students using a learning preferences inventory. Learning preferences were chosen for investigation on the basis of previous theoretical work which suggests that it is preferences that are most influenced by environmental factors. The study shows significant similarity between the learning preferences of the two groups of students. However, there were also significant differences and it is suggested that these differences may be more observable at a preferences level than at an approaches to study level.

This paper reports on an investigation of emergent forms of educational practice arising as globalised processes and neo-liberal reforms confront nation-states and their specific national traditions and systems of education and training. Focusing on Victoria, Australia, the paper reports on the innovative 'capacity-building' educational practices that have developed within a small private training provider. Mainstream research has tended to theorise these capacity-building practices with functionalist research traditions, focusing on the interdependent organisational processes that sustain learning within organisations. Data from the case study provide partial support for this perspective on contemporary educational innovation but there are significant features of the registered training organisation (RTO) that are not adequately addressed within the functionalist framework. Critical social perspectives provide a way of extending the analysis of capacity-building by contextualising innovative educational practices within the wider social relations of contemporary capitalism. This reconceptualisation permits a more political understanding of capacity-building which is well illustrated in the case study.

Field dependence-field independence is a major dimension of cognitive or information processing style that has been researched for some time with various student groups as well as with individuals in the business world. Nevertheless, there appears to be a dearth of published research in this area relevant to vocational education practitioners. In this study, the standardised Group Embedded Figures Test was used to assess field dependence-field independence among groups of vocational education teachers of varied ages and teaching backgrounds. Overall, it was found that this sample was 'moderately' field-independent. There was a significant between-group course effect but none attributable to either gender or to stage of course. The implications of these findings for vocational teaching and learning are discussed.