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A group of voluntary literacy tutors discuss first meetings with their adult students. Includes vignettes showing different approaches by a tutor towards her student with differing results. Show less

Does higher education need a new paradigm to serve Australia's needs in the Transformative Age? We have entered the Transformative Age and, much like the Industrial Revolution before it, we can expect fundamental shifts in how we live, work and learn. External disruptive forces over which university stakeholders have limited control will shape the future of higher education in Australia. Our report explores four divergent views of the higher education landscape in 2030 and provides insights to how universities need to transform themselves to serve a changing society and a profoundly changed world.

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This is the second of a series of articles about the TAFE NSW Online Project. The project is a response to the demand for flexibility in service delivery that is a feature of the changing patterns of work, study and life in the information age. Further developments of the project illustrate how TAFE NSW is taking advantage of online technologies that will enable it to meet the learning needs of its students and clients.

TAFE NSW commissioned independent market research to develop a profile of the 'ideal' VET provider and online learning as part of this profile. The findings suggest that online delivery is not seen as the most important element of course delivery by most groups. The strategies adopted from this research are focusing more on online integration and enhancement of existing activities than on new or separate activities. Enrolments via the Internet (EVI) are now available for 25 courses with numerous benefits for students and staff.

The first article from this series is indexed at TD/NSW 66.03. Show less

Workers, world-wide, increasingly need to engage in continuing education and training to respond to changing workplace requirements, maintain and increase productivity, remain workplace competent (employable), and participate in longer work lives. Australian workers are no exception here. Yet, given that most of the current Australian tertiary education and training provisions largely focus on initial occupational preparation (i.e. entry-level training), these provisions may not adequately meet the kinds of learning needs of existing workers who need to build upon their initial occupational education and training, or transfer what they know to a new occupation. Therefore, the current focus may need broadening or transformation to better meet the learning needs of Australian workers who face continual change in the requirements for performance in their lengthening working lives. A team of researchers from Griffith University is conducting a three year project, funded by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), to review and appraise current provisions of tertiary education and training and to identify models of tertiary education and training provisions and related pedagogic practices that will be effective in responding to the growing educational project that comprises continuing education and training. This paper reports how some worker-learners from the aged care industry prefer these provisions to be organised for their work and workplaces. The tentative findings advanced here indicate a high preference for everyday learning through work individually, and assisted by other experienced workers and mentors or supervisors in the workplace. These early findings point to demands for a larger component of courses offered by tertiary education and training providers to be delivered at the work site, and for increased levels of on-site support for learning. The findings have implications for changes to policies and provisions for models of continuing education and training. Show less

This document reports the results of the 1999 employee opinion survey for the Open Learning Institute of TAFE, Queensland. Show less

The Improving Disability Employment Study (IDES) is the first longitudinal survey to investigate perspectives on barriers and facilitators to work of Australians with disability accessing the Disability Employment Services (DES) program. The aim of this report is to describe the survey development and data collection methods, as well as key learnings to improve future research.

Two surveys, conducted 12-months apart, covering socio-economic factors, employment, physical/ mental health, and experiences of employment support, were used to collect information from 369 jobseekers with disability, recruited from nine government-funded DESs, across Australia. The surveys were developed with industry input, where possible used validated instruments, and cognitive and pilot testing were undertaken. The IDES sample was close in composition to the broader Australian DES population. The most commonly reported primary disability was psychosocial disability (48.0 per cent), followed by physical disability (33.1 per cent), and most participants had worked at some stage in their lives (90 per cent). Numerous challenges associated with recruitment were identified, such as conducting the survey during implementation of significant sector reform, and the limited reach to some cohorts.

The IDES study provides important data to assist in the analysis of vocational and non-vocational barriers and facilitators to work for Australians with disability accessing DES. Future studies in this area should seek to address the challenges in conducting such studies including: ensuring representation of the broader jobseeker population; having the survey available in languages other than English; and resourcing service provider support. Awareness and appropriate management of the challenges to inclusive and representative research is required to maximise the outcomes of disability research using partnerships with industry organisations.

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This study explores the effects of a vocational education-based program on academic motivation and engagement of primary school aged children. The Get Into Vocational Education (GIVE) program integrated 'construction' and the mathematics, English and science lessons of a Year 4 primary classroom. This paper focuses on investigating the components of the GIVE program that led to student changes in mathematical academic motivation and engagement resulting in outstanding gains in [National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy] NAPLAN numeracy results. The components proposed to have contributed to effectiveness of the GIVE program are: teacher and trainer expectations, task mastery and classroom relationships. These findings may be useful to researchers and educators who are interested in enhancing students' mathematical academic motivation.

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Scholarly articles and the Australian media claim that 30-50 per cent of Australian teachers leave teaching within their first five years in the role. The figures are considered to be well established although some articles acknowledge that they are estimates. In reality, there is no robust Australian evidence, and figures do not agree. What evidence there is, nationally and internationally, suggests that attrition is dynamic, varies by school level and location, and is not always negative and not always due to the school environment. In the absence of Australian evidence, articles should be more cautious about figures cited, and about causation. Attention should be paid to the classification of attrition types and a typology is outlined in this article, based on the teacher supply pipeline, along with what evidence exists on teacher exits at each level. This typology may facilitate greater transparency about levels of early career teacher attrition, leading to a broader and more nuanced policy and research conversation in the area of teacher supply.

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

This second booklet deals with the preparation of cocktails and mixed drinks. The handbook places emphasis on the practical skills as well as product knowledge of the various spirit bases. Topics covered in Book II include: cocktail recipes, general rules for mixing cocktails, fermentation - distillation, product knowledge and manufacture of liqueurs. Show less

HERDSA offers an annual international conference on topical teaching and learning issues with opportunities to meet colleagues with similar interests, exchange ideas about teaching and learning and learn about current developments from experienced researchers and practitioners.

Papers in this volume include: Peer assisted teaching scheme: a way of creating, sustaining and developing new connections / A. Carbone; Intercultural interactions in university tutorials: a Bourdieusian analysis / C. Colvin, F. Fozdar, and S. Volet; Assessment of mechanical engineering final year projects using fuzzy multi-attribute utility theory / C. Dong; Student and staff perceptions of fieldwork experiences: assessing authentic learning / S. Ferns and J-A. Pegden; Establishing a regional enabling pilot programme through university-community engagement / M. Fleming, B. Cram, G. London, and C. Kayrooz; Using web-enhanced learning to connect with learners: student perceptions / K. Flowers, N. Gamble, M. Nebauer, T. Harding, and P. Schulz; A case study on providing international students the opportunity to enhance performance through online engagement / R. Gill, E. Verezub and X. Wang.

Connections through dis-identifications: the use of Cultural and Political Vignettes (CPVs) in teacher education / A. Goriss-Hunter; Connecting theory and practice: exploring the use of personal experiences in programme design / E. Govers; Reflective connections in an undergraduate architecture program / J. Grellier and L. Mackintosh; The emergence of 'I', 'you' and 'us' identities for, in and through work placements / K. Henschke; Why is it important for higher education to connect with the [vocational education and training] VET sector? / A. Langworthy and S. Johns; Undergraduate students' experience of research: findings from a cross-disciplinary analysis of students' perceptions / R. Lee, P. Myatt and G. Joughin; Enhancing intercultural competence among pharmacy students through the Excell Program / S. Maganlal, R. Hills, S. McMillan, M. Barker, N. Blauberg, and L. Shallcross.

Interdisciplinary threshold concepts in engineering / S. A. Male, A. L. Guzzomi and C. A. Baillie; Supporting and promoting reflective thinking processes in an undergraduate Medical Imaging program / S. Maresse, J. McKay and J. Grellier; A blind spot in higher education research?: a call for the explicit use of qualitative survey validation methods / C. McCormack; Using 'core academic literacy' course results to create a profile for potentially 'at risk' students / K. McNaught and F. McIntyre; The NAME four factor model for engaging students in academic support services / K. McNaught and E. Beal; A model promoting conceptual change in higher education: an integrated approach / T. Olsson and T. Roxa; Students, faculty and local community health professionals learning together / P. Paliadelis, I. Stupans, L. Turner, M. Puxty, A. Fagan, and J. Lea.

Building community, educational attainment and university aspirations through university-school mentoring partnerships / K. Pearce; Connecting research with carnival: developing critical business education through reflective writing / V. Pollard; Multiple-choice questionnaires and the success of law students: results of a preliminary evaluation / J. Prichard; Academic expatriation: an investigation into the importance of connections when entering expatriate life / K. Sanderson; The connection of reflective practice to management competency through a business simulation / M. Segon and C. Booth; Student engagement: what is stopping our international students from getting it? / K. Stratilas and J. Yong; How do we connect and engage students, learning in a distance mode, to develop verbal communication skills? / I. Stupans and L. Orwin.

Social ties as key knowledge transfer agents between Indonesian and Australian universities: perspectives from an Indonesian university / A. Sutrisno, Lisana, and H. Pillay; The potency of interdisciplinary collaboration to empower constructive dissenters / C. Symons, L. Almberg, E. Goh and J. McGowan; Graduate employability: interpretation and expectation / T. T. Tran; Outcomes and evaluations: is there a relationship between indicators of student success and student evaluations of learning? / B. Tucker, J-A. Pegden and J. Yorke; Understanding academic identity conflicts in the public university: importance of work ideologies / R. Winter and W. O'Donohue; Plagiarism across the academic disciplines / C. Zimitat; Connecting with the African-student diaspora in Australian higher education / C. Zufferey and D. Wache. Show less