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This research explores the potential for developing instruments that assess and acknowledge the wider benefits of learning for adults participating in non-accredited community adult language, literacy and numeracy programs. The research comprised three stages: (1) a review of national and international research; (2) a number of potential assessment instruments that could be used to assess and acknowledge the outcomes of learners in non-accredited adult language, literacy and numeracy programs were identified; and (3) the selected instruments were trialled and evaluated in the field at the partner sites. The instruments tested in the study take account of the diversity of learner needs and motivations. The study found that a range of instruments and approaches would probably be required to assess and acknowledge learning outcomes that are specific to particular learners or cohorts of learners. It highlighted that these assessment methods can bring benefits both to the learner and the tutor, especially when they are completed jointly in ways that inform learning plans and aim at building self-confidence. Show less

This project investigated how best to utilise school students' experiences in paid part-time work to enable them to have a better understanding of post-school pathways, as well as the ability to make wise decisions about these pathways. In this context, paid work experiences are regarded as being more 'authentic' and informative than school-organised work experiences, since paid work entails an employment arrangement, immersion in workplaces and the exercise of the obligations and requirements on the part of both employees and employers. The specific questions addressed by the project were: In what ways can school students' engagement with paid work experiences assist them and their peers to understand work, working life and post-school pathways? What kinds of teaching practices might secure these outcomes? How can schools best organise experiences to inform students about work, working life and post-school options? The study found that it is not clear the degree to which, despite all the interest expressed by school systems and statements about the centrality of vocational education and training (VET) programs, there are adequate resources, support and organisation to ensure successful programs. Some of the difficulties in negotiating classroom-based activities designed to reflect on the students' paid work experiences were a product of the standing and status of vocational programs within the schools. The research provided evidence that a reluctance to recognise the value of paid employment and its rigours placed additional demands upon students. For instance, students engaged in vocational options were often forced to negotiate inflexible arrangements within the academic programs. Hence, for students seeking both pathways, there were impediments that added to the complexity and stress of their study programs. This leads to a question about the capacity of schools to support the full range of post-school options for students through effective vocational education provision. Show less

This paper reports on the views of 20 teachers who were involved in designing and delivering higher education programs in TAFE institutes. It is part of a broader National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation (NVETRE) funded project that examined the growth of, and implications for, higher education in TAFE. The aim of the project was to understand the purposes of such programs, how they have been developed and implemented, the impact they are having on institutional partnerships, how they are perceived by participants, and whether they open opportunities for students. One set of project interviews explored teachers' views of the nature of higher education programs in TAFE. In this paper, issues associated with the identity, concerns and professional positioning of teachers who are responsible for delivering higher education programs in TAFE institutes are explored. It is argued that this identity is a bifurcated one. On the one hand, these teachers are situated in a VET environment, with its attendant physical, industrial and resource implications, and a mandate to liaise closely with industry. Yet, simultaneously, they are expected to have completed post-graduate qualifications, provide course content and assessment regimes that are current but more intellectually demanding than those in the VET sector and find time to engage in scholarship and research activities. The paper is divided into three sections. It begins with a brief literature review of the phenomena of higher education in anglophone vocational or further education institutions. Next, the Griffith University project, 'Higher education in TAFE' is described. This is followed by a consideration of the four specific forms of tension, namely, epistemological, pedagogical, industrial and institutional, that were found to impact on the work and identity of the teachers who were interviewed in the study. The paper then concludes by considering the upshot of these tensions within the broader and changing landscape of higher and vocational education. Show less

This paper reports some initial findings of an investigation which seeks to understand the consequences for vocational education and training (VET) provisions and policy of the changing relationships among the four key VET client groups, industry, enterprise, individuals and regions. While over the last decade industry's needs have dominated vocational education policy and provisions, the initial findings of the study include evidence that the shift to an enterprise focus is being enacted, with consequences and concerns for industry goals and the aspirations of individuals and regions. Evidence is furnished of how an enterprise based approach to VET may jeopardise the realisation of individuals' and regions' goals as well as the potential erosion of transferable knowledge. Show less

This report presents the findings of a research project on learning in and for small business with the aim of identifying effective approaches to small business learning and validating those approached with other small businesses. It used the recent implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) and its associated business activity statement (BAS) to study how small business learn and develop the capacities to respond to new tasks and challenges. It was anticipated that there would be no single or uniformly viable approach. Case studies were developed and semi-structured interviews were conducted in thirty small businesses representing a diversity of locations, sizes and specialities, across two states. The project proceeded in four phases: (1) small business learning about and implementing the GST; (2) identifying and delineating a model for learning in small business; (3) appraising a model of learning in small business; and (4) reporting and dissemination. The project found that small businesses had different capacities to learn the ‘same’ task and the scope of the learning task was also different across the small businesses. However, despite the diversity there were some identifiable patterns of responses which assisted in the development of a model of learning in and for small business. It is recommended that vocational education and training (VET) policy and practice be more invitational to small business. Show less

This article examines how different forms of vocational knowledge are constructed from social sources. Using a Vygotskian framework it is claimed that in different ways vocational knowledge is shaped by history, community and ontogeny through microgenetic development. This process of ongoing problem-solving links social circumstances to the development of cognitive structures necessary to conduct vocational practice. It is held that such findings help explain the limitations of transfer and also the need to conceptualise expertise at the particular community of practice, rather than at some disembedded level of practice. Show less

Governments are currently mobilising their national workforces to compete effectively in a globalised economy where being export-effective and import-competitive are necessary to secure national economic and social goals. Australia is no exception here. Yet, in this country, as in others, similar mobilisations occurred in earlier times, most notably in wartime. This article describes and discusses two particular measures during and after the Second World War: the Commonwealth Technical Training Scheme and the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme. Beyond providing an historical account of these two national schemes for skilling Australians, the paper identifies the importance of securing a national consensus and the engagement of all parties, and showing sensitivity towards those who participate in such programs. Particularly salient is that although national-focused, the success of these programs was premised on effective localised arrangements, where diligent administrators and educators seemingly worked closely with local employers and unions to realise their effective implementation.

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

A basis to understand how doing and learning coalesce through work, referred to as co-participation at work, is advanced in this paper. Coparticipation encompasses, on the one hand, the affordances provided by the workplace for engagement in activities and the provision of guidance. However, workplaces are contested, their affordances are neither benign nor distributed equally to those who participate or wish to participate in them. Accordingly, these affordances determine how individuals participate and learn in workplaces. On the other hand, individuals determine how they engage in work, how they know and transform their ways of knowing as a result. In this way there is a reciprocity and interdependence which underpins thinking, acting and learning through work.

Published abstract.

The two volumes of collected papers are indexed at TD/TNC 64.287 and TD/TNC 64.355. Selected papers from volume one are indexed from TD/TNC 64.288 to TD/TNC 64.320; selected papers from volume two are indexed from TD/TNC 64.321 to TD/TNC 64.354. Show less

This report aims to inform the quality improvement policies of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) and focuses on the role of funding incentives in promoting quality improvement in further education colleges. The data used was gathered from structured interviews with principals and senior managers at 28 further education colleges. The report presents the findings from this research along with the views of a sample of representatives from the LSC and concludes that while funding enables quality improvements, it does not drive them. Three recommendations are given: (1) that colleges should be able to rely on consistent funding as an enabler of, but not a driver for, quality improvement; (2) that resources should be focused on developing capabilities; and (3) that change instruments should be based on flexibility and balance. Show less

TAFE institutes now offer full-fee associate and bachelor degrees in five states. This provision is likely to increase as a consequence of policies of the Australian and state governments, which encourage diversity and competition among educational providers in both the vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors. This project seeks to fill gaps in knowledge about the nature of these programs: how they have been designed and implemented, the purposes they are designed to meet, the impact they are having on partnerships with universities and with industry partners, and whether they open opportunities for students. Arising from this research, this issues paper has two purposes: (1) to put TAFE institutes' offering of higher education programs in an analytic, historical, geographic and policy context; and (2) to raise for discussion issues about higher education in TAFE in Australia. Issues raised for discussion include the governance of mixed-sector institutions as well as ensuring access and maintaining progression to higher education without sectoral division in the institution. Implications arising from the Bradley review of higher education (indexed at TD/LMR 85.696) are canvassed and the authors invite discussion on a range of questions related to the nature of policies and practices influencing the provision of higher education in TAFE. Show less