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This project investigated the principles and practices underpinning the effective operation of social partnerships. The aim was to identify those principles and practices most beneficial in social partnerships supporting vocational education and training (VET). The project builds on prior research into social partnerships by examining the processes involved in social partnerships. The specific aims of this project were to investigate: the key principles and practices that underpin the formation, development and maintenance of the social practices effective in assisting localised decision-making and capacity-building; the effective enactment of these principles and practices as shaped in different ways across these social practices; and the ways in which these principles and practices are associated with establishing and developing social partnerships robust enough to manage changing circumstances, tasks and goals. This project is phase one of a two-phase project. Phase two will investigate the application of these principles and practices to VET in specific regions. The project involved reviewing 10 social partnerships in Queensland and Victoria during 2005-06, specifically those which had shown some history of operation and success. This review process aimed to: understand their formation, development and progress; determine internal and external factors influencing their formation and development; and identify principles and practices that have sustained these social partnerships and their partnership work over time. Data were collected from these 10 partnerships through interviews with up to three key informants in each, and focused on specific events in the development of the partnership in order to identify factors that either contributed to the development of, or served to undermine the partnership and partnership work. Three kinds of partnerships were identified: enacted partnerships; community partnerships; and negotiated partnerships. Analysis of the data indicated that these three kinds of partnerships may not be helpful in categorising social partnerships in their early or subsequent development, but their quite different bases need to be considered in the context of their initial formation, depending on the direction or initiation of the partnership project. The data show that social partnerships are established and maintained because participants engage in partnership work which is identified as the interactive and collaborative process of working together to identify, negotiate and articulate goals, and to develop processes for realising and reviewing those goals. The findings of this first phase of the research project have been used to identify and elaborate further the character of social partnerships and the work necessary for establishing and maintaining them. A key finding is that this is complex work, demanding significant skills in cross-cultural and interpersonal communication. Further findings cover the identification of different types of social partnerships; the central role of partnership work in the development and continuity of social partnerships; the principles and practices associated with partnerships and their development; and the types of partnership work. Show less

The aim of this report is to assist with the development and implementation of effective mentoring for workplaces. Its conclusions are drawn from an investigation of the use of guided learning strategies on five workplaces over a six month period, during which period some key principles and practices, which should assist in making workplaces effective learning environments, were identified. The research methodology is described and findings offered. Show less

Understanding how learning for small businesses should best proceed constitutes a worthwhile, yet challenging, pedagogic project. In order to maintain their viability, small businesses need to be able to respond to new practices and tasks. Yet small businesses seem neither attracted to nor to value the kinds of taught courses that are the standard pedagogic practice of vocational education systems. Small business operators commonly view these courses as being irrelevant, inappropriate or inaccessible. Therefore, identifying the kinds of pedagogic practices that meet their needs and offer effective learning outcomes is a useful project. This paper reports and discusses the findings of a study of how 30 Australian small businesses learnt to implement a new practice: a recently introduced goods and service tax (GST). Interviews were used to understand the pedagogic practices that supported the learning associated with implementing the GST. In most cases, the process of learning comprised a movement from an initial reliance upon external contributions to a greater independence in practice premised on capacities residing within the small businesses. The key and most commonly reported contributions were those provided by localised support and expertise (e.g. experts such as affiliates, accountants, consultants, family, other small businesses). Localised support was potent when it assisted in identifying the goals for learning (e.g. the scope and requirements of the task) and the development of capacities to operate independently, as well as supporting and monitoring the progress with this innovation. A model of learning in small business was generated and validated through further interviews with small businesses. The model illuminates the need to go beyond the orthodox pedagogic practice of vocational education and training to consider options, such as localised learning spaces as the key source of small business learning.

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This paper discusses workplace participatory practices - the reciprocal process of engaging in and learning through work (Billett, 2000). Reciprocity between the affordance of the workplace (its invitational qualities) and individuals' engagement in the workplace is proposed as a means of understanding how participation in and learning through work proceeds. These affordances are shaped by workplace norms and practice and affiliations (for example, cliques, associations, occupational groupings, employment status) and are often characterised by contestation and their inequitable distribution. The distribution of and access to opportunities for practice are directed towards sustaining the work practice and/or the interests of particular individuals and groups who participate in it. These reciprocal processes of participation in the workplace are illuminated through an analysis of the participatory practices of three workers over a six-month period. These are those of a union worker, a grief counsellor and a school-based information technology consultant. The findings first illuminate the work of these three individuals through an analytic framework comprising categories of activities and interdependencies. The bases for participation, performance and learning for each of the three workers are then illuminated.

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The three volumes of conference proceedings are indexed from TD/TNC 72.49 to TD/TNC 72.51; selected papers are indexed from TD/TNC 72.08 to TD/TNC 72.11 and TD/TNC 72.52 to TD/TNC 72.100. Show less

Social partnerships are increasingly seen as a means by which both government and non-government agencies can identify and respond to localised need. This paper reports the findings of the first phase of the project that aims to inform how best social partnerships can be formed and developed to support vocational education and training (VET) at the local level. This phase sought to identify key principles and practices that will underpin this aim, using the experiences of 10 existing social partnerships. A key finding was the importance of partnership work. This is detailed through five dimensions of partnership work, and principles and practices that were identified and verified as most likely assisting the development and transformation of social partnerships over time. The dimensions of ‘partnership work’ comprise (a) cultural scoping work, (b) connection building work, (c) capacity building work, (d) collective work, and (e) trust building work. The principles that manifest with subtle differences at the initial and later stages of partnership work include developing and maintaining (a) shared goals, (b) relations with partners, (c) capacity for partnership work, (d) governance and leadership, and (e) trust and trustworthiness. The specific implications for VET will be explored in the next phase of this project.

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Volumes of papers are indexed at TD/TNC 90.212 and TD/TNC 90.213. Selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 90.214 to TD/TNC 90.264. Show less

When individuals select a particular occupation, they, their families and the community invest significant resources in their preparing for, learning about, and effective participation in that occupation. Yet, given the high attrition rates during that preparation and high levels of early separation from occupations, selection of occupations is shown to be frequently flawed with accompanying costs all around. Hence, it is important to understand more about how individuals select their occupation. This paper is based on a consideration of earlier studies and a current inquiry into student nurses' engagement with their occupation. It notes that individuals' bases for engagement are multi-fold, personally distinct and shaped by experiences within their life history or ontogeny. Moreover, individuals make occupational choices at various distances from the actual practice of the occupation itself. Seemingly, the more remote from actual practice the decision-making occurs, the greater this choice is premised on ideals, rather than actualities of the occupation. Hence, given the importance of compatability and negotiations between the person and the occupation constituting the vocations with which individuals come to identify, understanding occupation as a practice rather than an ideal becomes salient. The paper concludes that the importance of aligning personal interests and capacities with particular occupations through proximal access is critical. That is, individuals need to experience the occupation and its practice before significant levels of personal and societal investment are expanded, and through successful participation it may well then become adopted as vocation.

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This paper explores participation in social partnerships as a space for learning. It analyses interview data about participation in social partnership from partnerships involved in vocational education and training (VET) to argue that social partnerships constitute a form of learning space. Partnership participants engage in new learning through the interactions and activities inherent in partnership work, and relational learning is the kind of learning most supported in these learning spaces. By fostering learning about the self and its relationship to others, social partnerships have potential to enhance capacity for action and responsibility, which underpins citizenship as a learning process. In this way, social partnerships are learning spaces that potentially build collective, even democratic, understanding by enhancing the individual's cognitive and affective competencies. This cultural learning is embodied in the social partnership through engagement in effective partnership work.

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The need for vocational education to respond to demand-side factors has become a key policy goal for vocational education in Australia. However, what comprises the demand side has not been critically appraised. Assumptions that only industry and enterprises comprise the demand side are questioned by the legitimate claims for inclusion by regions and individuals. Taking this more inclusive definition of the demand side of vocational education, the outcomes of a study that investigated the changing relationship between industry and enterprises are reported. It also mapped the needs of the four client groups. Identified are both commonality and difference in these needs, some of which are not readily reconcilable within an enterprise or industry-led vocational education system. Means for reconciling the needs of the client groups within curriculum development are discussed, as are some supply-side considerations.

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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

The study reported here used high school students' paid part-time work experiences to assist them to reflect upon work, working life and post-school pathways. Because many high school students engage in paid part-time work, in any Australian senior school classroom there is a range of experience that can be used to assist students to consider working life and post-school pathways. These experiences are more readily available and authentic than those provided through school-organised work experience programs. In order to understand how the students' experience of paid work might be best engaged, students and teachers in six schools in Victoria and Queensland participated in processes of reflecting on these experiences. Consistently, across all cohorts of students, authentic workplace experiences were identified as assisting a range of educational purposes associated with students' consideration of learning about work, the world of work and to consider post-school options and pathways. Key variables in the likely success of this initiative were the facilitative capacity of teachers, their knowledge and valuing of working life outside schools, and students' capacities and readiness to engage in reflection of their paid work and the resourcing and privileging within the school of vocational education and training (VET) provisions.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Volumes of papers are indexed at TD/TNC 90.212 and TD/TNC 90.213. Selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 90.214 to TD/TNC 90.264. Show less