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The issue of skills development in the informal sector needs to be tackled at two levels. It is firstly necessary to find activities or jobs for the many uneducated, undereducated and even qualified young people who find it extremely hard to enter the world of work. It will then be necessary to develop technical and vocational skills for this group of young people, as well as for the economic and professional stakeholders in this sector, that can help them further develop their own activity and, more generally, progress from the subsistence economy to one of wealth and added value.

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Current social and economic changes have created a challenging context for career counsellors. Within this context counsellors are being asked to view their role from different perspectives. There is recognition of the importance of lifelong guidance and also the need to view guidance from a broader social context with greater emphasis on social responsibility and ethics. New forms of delivery are also emerging. These include an emphasis on client centred and holistic counselling, an affirmation of narrative methods, and a more dynamic counselling approach. Lastly, there is the development of a number of new methods of service delivery. Some examples include one stop counselling centres, virtual counselling services, mentoring, career coaching, and the inclusion of social enterprises as part of the counselling process. The implementation of these changes has implications for training, specialization and for accreditation.

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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

The introduction of teamwork in enterprises raises the question of the appropriate personnel development measures. The objectives of such measures should be to place practical, on-the-job learning in (and in interaction with) the group at the centre of attention while at the same time encouraging the development of an in-company learning culture. The authors identify innovative concepts for developing the competence of employees in group-oriented forms of work organisation. The book provides an overview of the current state of research; the CD-ROM documents the results of a scientific study that accompanied an implementation concept. Show less

The Masters Painters Group Training Company is changing the training of painters and decorators with the potential to increase employment opportunities. The company employs 140 apprentices and trainees and recruits around one-third of all workers entering the painting trade in NSW and has recently established a new traineeship. There has been concern that apprentices did not have sufficient knowledge and skills required by the industry. The Master Painters Group Training company's intention is to get more training done on the job in a more organised and systematic way. More practical training is offered by the host trainer or 'master' in collaboration with TAFE.

The scheme was piloted last year at TAFE NSW - Sydney Institute with the intention to extend regional availability and a summary of this scheme is included. Benefits such as satisfaction levels, reduction of drop-out rates and cost were shown under the new model which included block release and mentoring. Show less

The conference-workshop focused on the contents of a study ‘An investigation of the processes of curriculum development in TAFE’ by John Broderick. The aims of the conference-workshop were to: inform participants of the processes of TAFE curriculum development within and across all States and Territories of Australia, especially as they referred to administrative activity; discuss implications of the findings of the Broderick report at local and national levels.

The workshop reports are as follows: Examine the findings and recommendations of the study as they relate to future research and development efforts that should now occur, particularly at national level / G. Hermann and J. Raftery; As a case study, discuss the implications of the findings and recommendations of the study as they apply to the structure and tasks to be performed in a particular state TAFE department. The SA Department of Technical and Further Education is to be the case discussed / D. Furber and J. Grosvenor; Examine the findings and recommendations of the study and discuss their implications for the relationships which exist with bodies for fulfilling educational and training needs but are not TAFE organisations / G. Mill and R. Jackson; Take a global view of the findings and recommendations of the study and in particular discuss those issues, identified earlier in the day, which span more than one theme or are not directly covered by themes given to other groups / N. Renfrey and J. Kuhl; Examine the findings and recommendations of the study as they relate to the implementation of a developed and documented curriculum in colleges and for the classroom teacher / D. Atkinson and W. Neale; Discuss the methodology of the study and presentation of its findings and recommendations as an example of a research project. Identify its strengths and suggest where it might have been improved / R. Shilling and M. Bode.

The commentaries are as follows: The Broderick report: its contribution to the process of developing a curriculum theory for the preparation of TAFE courses / Jillian Naling; The Broderick report: national research into curriculum development issues / Hermann, Graham.

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Teachers have multiple roles to perform nowadays. To fulfil their roles professionally, teachers need to be competent in their responsibilities towards their students inside and outside the classroom. One important teacher role inside and outside the classroom is to provide guidance and counselling to students. This paper has two aims. First, it discusses the importance of guidance and counselling training for teachers. The second aim of this paper is to investigate guidance and counselling training needs for teachers through students taking an innovative guidance and counselling component in a pre-service undergraduate teacher preparation program. This course component has been tried out with four cohorts of English Language Studies and English Language Teaching double-honours degree students. Using qualitative analysis of students' responses in a personal reflection activity in the latest cohort, the present study found that students have various training needs, and perceived strengths and impeding issues in relation to carrying out the guidance and counselling role at school. The paper ends with discussions on directions for future teacher training and research.

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The field-dependence cognitive styles of 44 professionals in purchasing and customer service occupations as assessed by the Group Embedded Figures Test provided a benchmark to interpret cognitive style data for 239 secondary marketing education students. The professionals were more field-independent than students. Professional males were more field-independent than professional females and both student gender groups. Male marketing education students were more field-independent than female students. These field-dependence cognitive style differences suggest that males have greater access to analytic traits such as restructuring skill, problem solving interest, and skill with abstractions. Theoretical and practical implications for workplace skill development are discussed.

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This paper discusses the role learning organisations play in Finland in providing in-house training for the employees of companies with the aim of making the companies more competitive and successful. It looks at the Learning Organizations in the Lake District project which helps small and medium sized companies with their personnel development needs.

The volume of papers is indexed at TD/TNC 69.282; selected papers are indexed from TD/TNC 69.283 to TD/TNC 69.287. Show less

'Training journal' provides current and practical information for those involved in workplace learning, training and development in the United Kingdom (UK). In this issue, the main articles are: 'Psst! Don't tell anyone but ... organisational politics is about to go positive' by David Bancroft-Turner and Don Morley (p. 12-15) which examines how to respond positively to the issue of political behaviour within organisations; 'Competency profiling: definition and implementation' by Stephen Shellabear (p. 16-18) which defines competency profiling, the techniques and tools used in assessment, levels of competence, the role of performance management, personal development plans, and competency-based training; 'It ain't what you do ... ' by Jo Lucas (p. 20-22) in which the author explains what is involved in experiential learning and the skills required by trainers to facilitate it successfully; 'SMART objectives: what they mean and how to set them' by Garry Platt (p. 23-26) which defines the acronym and then sets an exercise for readers to test themselves on setting SMART (specific; measurable; achievable; relevant; time-based) objectives; 'Action learning and change in South Manchester' by Cheryl Brook (p. 28-30) which explains how a group working within different sections of South Manchester University Hospitals NHS (National Health Service) Trust solved some complex, work-based organisational questions. Also included in this issue are news on recent events, reviews of resource materials for trainers, and surveys and trends on the UK government's training initiatives and workplace reforms. Show less