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Progress File aims to promote the skills of setting learning goals, planning and reviewing and recording achievement, replacing the National Record of Achievement (NRA). From 1999 to 2002 ten pilot demonstration projects were set up to gain further experience and insight into the implementation of Progress File, with a national evaluation of the projects running concurrently. This report is structured round two evaluation frameworks. The first framework looks at the impact of Progress File and its success in meeting its national objectives. The second framework looks at the conditions and contexts which helped or hindered the successful implementation of Progress File. The report found that, using the first framework, Progress File was largely successful in meeting its objectives but identifies its impact on users’ learning habits and behaviour as being uneven and finds very little evidence that it had any impact on users’ attitudes to lifelong learning. Using the second framework, the evaluation successfully identified those factors which enhanced the implementation of Progress File, and those that could inhibit it, pointing out that while school students were particularly receptive to Progress File, there was little enthusiasm amongst further and higher education students (except mature students), trainees or employees. The evaluation concludes that Progress File has the potential to contribute to a number of important priorities in education, including key skills, target setting, action planning and work experience programs for young people. It can also build on the NRA and supplement it with a greater emphasis on the important processes that underlie learning. Show less

The Internet and associated digital technology are tools for enabling schools to shift from conforming to centralised curriculum and for releasing students to create their own learning opportunities managed by professional learning managers (formerly teachers). Increased autonomy for the learning manager will enable measuring individual student learning. Research demonstrates that the average student learns for nine minutes in a typical school day. If learning managers could increase that to 18 minutes a school day, it would double the productivity in our education systems. This type of measure is more meaningful than the meaningless school and matriculation certificates used in Industrial Age schools.

Education research indicates that everyone learns differently with different emphases on visual, tactile, cerebral, and motor capacities. The notion of conforming students to learn together seems particularly non-educational. The speaker's message is to forget the Industrial Age notions of school and teacher and to enter the digital economy of individual learning management, to set up a digital nervous system in schools, to recognise that students seek self-service to attain self-satisfaction, to empower them by changing from teacher to learning manager and to encourage individual worth, relevance and hope in students by enabling them to control their own futures via a student centred curriculum. Show less

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the actual conditions of youth in social difficulties in Japan and to examine the characteristics and meanings of 'educational support' for them from the viewpoint of literacy theory as a social practice. My colleagues and I carried out a four-year qualitative study of several private groups supporting young people from 2012 to 2015. In this study, we visited the groups and conducted semi-structured interviews with young learners (aged from 16 to 23) and their supporters. It became clear during the interviews that most young learners had not received sufficient basic education because of their delinquency or truancy, and they had had very few opportunities to build relationships of trust with those around them. The elements of the support that is needed are clarified in this study as follows: (1) building relationships of trust with young learners, (2) nurturing learners' motivation and/or self-confidence, (3) emphasizing learners' ideas, interests and literacies embedded in their everyday lives. These points show that 'educational support' for youth in social difficulties should by no means only be about the transmission of skills or fragmentary knowledge, but also the cultivation of motivation for learning and/or self-confidence based on relationships of trust.

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This review of National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC) research into English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) comes at a critical time for this key aspect of the Skills for Life strategy [indexed at TD/IRD 88.171]. ESOL provision has grown rapidly and exceeded expectation since 2001. The research contributes to the understanding of ESOL learners, what motivates them and what goes on in the ESOL classroom.

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The combination of technology augmented reality (AR) with educational content aims to create new ideas that can improve the effectiveness and attractiveness of teaching and learning for students in real-life scenarios. The use of AR technology can make the process of teaching and learning more enjoyable, in which students' interest in learning can be stimulated. The AR technology has three characteristics. The first feature is that AR technology is a combination of virtual objects with the real world. The second feature is that AR operates in real time and interactively. The last feature is that it has 3 dimensions (3D) for virtual objects. In this study, the ADDIE model includes five phases, namely analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation, which are utilised to develop applications based on AR technology in education for the topic of current and voltage division. To identify the effectiveness of the application of AR technology, a survey using questionnaire was conducted among pre-service teachers to know their perceptions of the development of AR applications namely as Voltrent AR. As this is a quantitative study where questionnaires were distributed to 73 students from the class of Bachelor of Technology with Education (Electric and Electronics) with Honours and Bachelor of Technology with Education (Living Skills) with Honours at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Skudai, Johor. Most respondents gave very positive feedback on the use of AR in education, especially for the topic of current and voltage division. AR is viewed as a medium of instruction that is innovative, interesting and effective. Voltrent AR application development is successfully developed based on the ADDIE model, and the application development of the constructivism theory was applied in this AR application. Thus, the AR application development has reached the desired objective of producing application-based augmented reality as a teaching aid.

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This paper proposes some principles for youth learning developed from a major research project. Specific parts of the project have been published in other literature, and this paper summarises key findings before proposing a set of principles to support their learning. The findings of the research about youth learners and how they learn were analysed in the context of adult learning principles proposed by Knowles (1990). The analysis exposed discrepancy between youth and adult learners, implying that adult learning principles [are] unsuitable for most youth learners. A profile of youth learners was drawn from the research data on priorities that youth have, their motivation, and learning attributes. The analysis leads to three broad conclusions about youth learners: (1) most youth use a surface approach to learning largely due to time constraints, overwhelming volume of content, and assessment requirements that reward outcomes achieved through a surface approach; (2) most youth are at Stage 2 of their learning orientation on an orthogonal scale. Their learning could be facilitated through a directive, but supportive approach where the facilitator plays the role of a motivator and guide; (3) most youth seem to appreciate a relational level of understanding rather than abstract thinking. Youths’ learning could be better facilitated using Kolb's learning theory using the information processing model. Their learning is best facilitated through an approach that begins with concrete experience and is followed by reflective observation and then abstract conceptualisation. The research findings were used to develop a set of principles for youth learners in terms of education delivery practices, and skilling for higher learning. These principles would enhance facilitation of youths' learning.

Published abstract.

Available papers from the 8th Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) Conference, 'Emerging futures: recent, responsive and relevant research', are indexed from TD/TNC 81.564 to TD/TNC 81.610. Show less

This paper explores the discourses of power in adult literacy and numeracy (ALN) teaching and learning that were highlighted through the processes of accessing and gaining the views of ALN learners for a research project on the quality of learning and teaching. It details the problems encountered in gaining access to this group of learners and discusses how they are rooted within the discourses of power and deficit that permeate ALN teaching and learning. It also argues that the pedagogical structures of 1:1 learning that characterise sections of ALN provision reinforce the suppression of collective voice by individualising the ‘problem’ and its solution. It suggests that whilst ALN learning aims to effect change in individuals and in society, the structures and power relationships within it militate against such change. The paper shows that in learning communities where power and meaning are mutually negotiated learners do begin to recognise their personal worth and power and its impact in the wider world. However, it argues that critical, radical adult learning extends beyond the parameters of individual change. It is a collective process whereby people who begin to see themselves differently as individuals also question together the asymmetrical power relationships that have marginalised them and their practices, and act to change them. The learners’ comments show that, although they had changed through participating in learning, the change process was essentially individualised, and almost entirely devoid of these critical elements.

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Attracting and retaining students in a [Coronavirus Disease] COVID-distanced online higher education market is more important than ever. With limited access to campus, extensive student choice, and precarious institutional revenue, understanding what makes a positive online student experience in the eyes of students themselves, is vital for institutional survival. Through an in-depth case study of online first-year university students, this research identified six themes that describe students' lived experiences of online education (OE), summarised as a motivation, ability, circumstances - interaction, curriculum, environment, or MAC-ICE, thematic structure of the online student experience (OSE). Where online students are deeply motivated, possess the skills to participate effectively in online university education, and are situated in conducive circumstances, they may be well placed for a positive student experience. Supplementing this, universities may facilitate a quality OSE through meaningful interaction with instructors, peers, and course content; flexible, challenging, and relevant curricula; and a reliable, innovative learning environment commensurate with the on-campus student experience. The rich description provided by this research enables generation of propositions about students' experiences of OE, and suggests opportunities to enhance the OSE through consideration of identified themes.

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Purpose - The aim of this paper is to provide a framework to measure the response of blue-collar workers to new technology in manufacturing and to establish the relationship between learning culture and that response. Design/methodology/approach - The data were collected with a survey questionnaire from 12 manufacturing sites that were implementing a number of diverse new technologies. The dimensions of worker response were identified with exploratory factor analysis and the relationship between these factors and learning culture was established with path analysis. Findings - Factor analysis identified seven dimensions of worker response: disgruntlement, job-security concerns, accommodation, informal learning, resistance, discussion, and formal learning. Learning culture had a large, statistically significant relationship with disgruntlement and medium, statistically significant relationships with job-security concerns, accommodation, informal learning, and formal learning. Research limitations/implications - The sample was limited to manufacturing locations in the southeastern USA and the respondents were almost all male and either White or African-American. Practical implications - These findings establish a strong positive relationship between learning culture and behavioral, affective and cognitive responses of workers to new technology. This is key for supporting learning culture in organizations that naturally are inclined to worker isolation and independence. Originality/value - Empirical work of this nature is limited in manufacturing facilities. These organizations tend to be closed to research because of concerns regarding the security of proprietary information or the personal safety of the researcher.

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We study how beliefs about the automatability of workers' occupation affect labor-market expectations and willingness to participate in further training. In our representative online survey, respondents on average underestimate the automation risk of their occupation, especially those in high-automatability occupations. Randomized information about their occupations' automatability increases respondents' concerns about their professional future, and expectations about future changes in their work environment. The information also increases willingness to participate in further training, especially among respondents in highly automatable occupation (+five percentage points). This uptick substantially narrows the gap in willingness to train between those in high- and low-automatability occupations.

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