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This publication sets out the core ideas behind the methodology of appreciative inquiry and provides examples of its use in vocational education and training. Show less

This paper describes how TAFE effectively meets industry needs and government goals, based on five case studies that are set out after the paper, and other related evidence. The paper performs three major functions. First, it links the findings from the five case studies to a body of work by the author over the last six years, to show that the five case studies represent a continuation and refinement of TAFE's ability to flexibly meet industry and government needs. Second, the paper analyses this flexibility in terms of contemporary business research about how progressive service organisations are innovative, value-creating and client-focused. The discussion shows that TAFE institutes have a capacity to redefine their service delivery to meet changing and challenging needs of industry and government. Third, the paper links these qualitative case studies about the advanced capacity of TAFE institutes to a three-year nationwide collection of quantitative data about TAFE staff capability. The quantitative data indicates that staff capability is high, and this finding helps to explain the achievements of TAFE recorded not only in the case studies in this publication but also in over 75 other TAFE-industry case studies prepared by the author in recent years.

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The purpose of this document is to make easily accessible for the vocational education and training (VET) sector, a set of resources on the topic of 'Enterprises enhanced by VET'. The resources consist of a collection of papers that informed the facilitation of the forums as well as a collection of stories from VET practitioners, that can inform the innovative incorporation of effective practices for working with enterprises into Australian registered training organisations (RTOs).

The resources were developed and used at a series of forums, entitled 'Enterprises enhanced by VET', held around Australia in 2008 by Reframing the Future, the national staff development and change management program for skilling Australia's VET workforce to implement the national training system. It is a major workforce development initiative of the Australian and State and Territory Governments. Twenty-two stories about enterprises enhanced by VET are included.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This report consists of 10 case studies of good practice in customer responsiveness, drawn from 10 Institutes of TAFE New South Wales (NSW). The case studies focus on initiatives in the Institutes, with support from central TAFE NSW services provided as needed. This report is a product of a larger project for TAFE NSW, the overall aim of which was to analyse TAFE NSW's key achievements in providing flexible and responsive services to its customers and guide planning to further build capability to improve its customer responsiveness.

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Reframing the Future is the national staff development and change management program that supports the implementation of the National Training Framework (NTF) in Australia. This report summarises the evaluation of projects undertaken in 2001-2002 as part of the sub-program on Strategic Management and Change Management. This sub-program emanated from the research conducted for the report ‘High-skilled, high-performing VET’ (indexed at TD/RTF 95.09) which suggested that the development of a fully integrated national training system needed high-performing vocational education and training (VET) organisations. A pilot of the sub-program was begun in late 2001 and concluded in March 2002 and involved the Institute of TAFE Tasmania, TAFE NSW’s North Sydney College and MEGT. These registered training organisations (RTOs) illustrate examples of good practice in high-performing VET organisations. Their examples are documented in this report. The major findings emphasised the importance of strategy-making in RTOs, customising strategic management to match contextual conditions, customising change management, the benefits of RTOs pursuing high performance, and managers developing strategy-making skills on-the-job. Show less

This report documents multiple examples of best practice in innovation across West Coast Institute of Training [WCIT]. It also identifies the elements of a sustainable model of innovation; a model that is based on the demonstrated attributes and capabilities of the Institute. Section one contains seven case studies which highlight the positive impacts of WCIT innovation for its industries, clients and individual students, and how these benefits achieve government policy aims. Section two of this report contains snapshot descriptions of three innovations at WCIT that are primarily an example of one of the following types of innovation: product, process or organisational innovation. Section three of the report contains four snapshots of innovation that illustrate the skills developed and used by WCIT staff to bring about innovation, including skills used by leaders, managers, teams and practitioners. Fundamentally, staff skills underpin sustainable innovation in the Institute.

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The second World Congress of Colleges and Polytechnics was held in Melbourne, Australia in March 2002. The Congress explored outcomes aligned to themes of accessibility, technology and globalisation, strengthening partnerships and youth as a vocational education and training (VET) customer. This paper was presented under the theme of strengthening partnerships and as part of the workshop on collaborating to succeed. It reports on the findings from an innovative, national program which involved the use of Communities of Practice across a range of different settings. Sixteen Communities of Practice were established in the VET sector in 2001 by Reframing the Future, the national staff development and change management program. The paper describes the 2001 project and its evaluation, focusing on two case studies of partnerships between training providers and industry. The full evaluation report, entitled ‘The potential for Communities of Practice to underpin the National Training Framework’ is indexed at TD/RTF 95.10.

The volume of conference papers is indexed at TD/TNC 71.726; selected papers are indexed from TD/TNC 71.727 to TD/TNC 71.766. Show less

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) undertook this investigation in February-June 2010 into the views and opinions of employers about increasing the apprenticeship pathways for mature age and existing workers. The study examines options that actively encourage the engagement of mature age and existing workers in apprenticeships. Detailed case studies and interviews provide consistent and compelling evidence of the value of mature age and existing worker apprenticeships. The project used a pragmatic, mixed methods approach involving the collection and analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative data. A number of strategic and practical recommendations are made.

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This study asks a number of fresh, critical questions about the methodology of workbased learning in VET: (i) What is workbased learning as practiced in contemporary VET staff development programs? (ii) How appropriate is workbased learning for national staff development programs in the VET sector in the early 21st century? (iii) What can be learnt from an analysis of the use of workbased learning by project teams in the Framing the Future program since 1997? The study examines a number of different settings where workbased learning is used in Australia, as well as concentrating on the major case study, Framing the Future.

The volume of collected papers is indexed at TD/TNC 66.434, individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 66.435 to TD/TNC 66.461 and a collection of Powerpoint presentations from the conference may be found at TD/TNC 66.462. Show less

This set of case studies is part of the project entitled ‘Critical issues in teaching, learning and assessment’. It has two purposes: to illustrate, test and extend a range of the critical issues in teaching, learning and assessment that emerged from the research for this project; and to provide the vocational education and training (VET) sector with models of effective practice. Each case study identifies a critical issue faced by practitioners, describes the context and challenges, summarises the responses of the practitioners, cites the outcomes of the practitioners’ strategies and discusses aspects of the new practice that may be transferable to other settings. The contents are: Introduction; Case studies on what clients want from VET; Case studies on what skills and resources are needed by VET practitioners; Case studies on innovation.

This set of case studies is designed to be read in conjunction with other documents indexed from TD/TNC 83.391 to TD/TNC 83.393 and at TD/TNC 84.435. Show less