Search Results

This report presents findings from 25 projects that were funded to use appreciative inquiry (AI) in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia in 2008, as part of the Reframing the Future program. AI is a methodology for influencing change that concentrates on the positives, not the deficits, within a group or organisation. It revolves around asking positive questions about existing strengths (discovery stage), possible futures (dream stage), improved designs (design stage) and preferred pathways going forward (destiny stage). This summary report shows that AI can have a strong, positive impact on the capability of individual VET practitioners and the capacity of VET organisations in implementing the national training system. The report’s title ‘Appreciative inquiry builds capability’ draws attention to the way AI can assist practitioners to improve capabilities such as developing closer engagement with industry, improving relationships with separate enterprises, contributing to continuous improvement practices and refining workplace training and assessment strategies. Show less

This report updates a project begun during 2006, in which a range of organisations and practitioners in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia addressed directions set by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in workbased learning projects funded through Reframing the Future. VET organisations undertook activities that assisted the achievement of the following aims of COAG: increased workforce productivity and participation, requiring the enhancement of human capital in Australia; improved relationships between industry and training providers; better services for the recognition of prior learning. The report was presented as a paper at the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) Conference in Adelaide in 2008.

The full report of the project, ‘Human capital enhanced by VET’ is indexed at TD/RTF 95.49. Show less

This report outlines how a variety of vocational education and training (VET) organisations and practitioners in Australia began to address the directions set by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2006. It highlights how these organisations carried out activities that helped to achieve the following goals of COAG: increased workforce productivity and participation, requiring the enhancement of human capital in Australia; improved relationships between industry and training providers; and better services for the recognition of prior learning (RPL). The report draws on a sample of 31 out of the 215 project teams managed during 2006 by Reframing the Future, the national staff development and change management program for skilling Australia’s VET workforce to implement the national training system. The report aims to inform and guide the 2007 project teams and beyond, to help in connecting future projects with COAG’s aims for the VET sector. Key findings reveal that Reframing the Future project teams are effectively meeting COAG aims in the following ways: enhancing human capital of people in a range of industries, including health, arts, metals and childcare; increasing workforce productivity by improving the skills of existing workers and young people who are at risk of disengaging from formal learning and work; increased workforce participation by providing training for groups whose participation in the workforce can be increased, including youth, women, mature aged people, Indigenous people and people with a disability; improving relationships between industry and providers from a range of industries including drilling and the science and disability sector; developing better recognition services in diverse settings; and improving the human capital of VET by addressing cultural and organisational barriers to VET staff becoming more responsive. Show less

The purpose of this report is to share with the vocational education and training (VET) sector insights into how over four thousand VET practitioners increased their capabilities to implement the national training system, as evidenced by their participation in the Reframing the Future program in 2005. The document provides insights on skill building drawn from the final reports of many of the more than two hundred project teams that undertook Reframing the Future projects in 2005. These detailed final reports completed by project team convenors clearly identify projects’ challenges, processes and achievements, providing highly informative data for this document. The document reports that VET practitioners in these projects accessed, critically examined and applied learning from the following sources: research reports, good practice models and other resources and information sources. Participants benefited from undertaking many of these activities in groups, as the groups provided an opportunity for sharing, comparing and exploring ideas and creating new frameworks. Participating in groups enabled tacit knowledge held by participants, and sometimes stemming from considerable practical experience, to be made explicit and available for others to access. This group knowledge was often positively directed at seeking improvements to participants’ organisations, in order to better implement aspects of the national training system such as Training Packages or industry-provider collaboration in designing customised training and assessment. Show less

This report describes and analyses new ways of working in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia. [New ways of working refers to those that are emerging or progressively being adopted in the sector]. Recent research in the sector indicates that pressure is increasing for VET practitioners to be more responsive to an expanding range of clients and learners. Hence, the VET sector needs up-to-date examples of how practitioners can develop new skills for operating effectively in many different settings. In response to this need for examples, this report highlights the good practice of VET practitioners who developed new ways of working in 2004, in a variety of contexts. The report shows that VET practitioners can acquire the skills and knowledge needed to meet the challenges of a demand-driven sector. They can develop the competencies required to work in new ways - for example by forming partnerships or by networking with industry. VET practitioners can also develop the skills needed to change provider organisations’ structures and cultures.

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

This report describes how a selection of organisations and practitioners in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia undertook professional development projects and assisted industries, enterprises and individuals to increase workforce productivity and enabled individuals and groups to participate in the workforce. The projects were managed and supported by Reframing the Future, the national staff development and change management program that supports the implementation of the national training system.

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