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This paper briefly reviews historical narratives of ‘hands on’ learning and Industrial Education as presented by Anderson (1926) and Bennett (1926 & 1937). It is suggested that precedents for some of the contemporary debates in curriculum and pedagogy within Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) have deep roots and their seeds and branches can be found in these historical narratives. For example, in recent years there has been discussion around the development and use of training packages. Training packages are text based specifications of vocational qualifications and as such some VET practitioners and researchers have questioned their effectiveness and whether they constitute a new form of curriculum. This paper specifically focuses on three historical attempts at documenting ‘the mysteries of the trade’. Each is presented as a vignette contextualised through significant events of the time. These are, (1) Moxon’s treatise of 1683, ‘The Doctrine of Handy Works’; (2) Diderot’s ‘Encyclopedie’ of 1751, an enlightenment project undertaken in France, that amongst other things documents the trades and industry; and (3) the Russian system of instruction which involves systematic approaches to mechanical instruction in the trades and industry as developed by Della Vos at the Imperial Technical School in Moscow. It is suggested that together these examples stand as ancestors to more contemporary attempts to document trades and occupations as the basis for education and training.

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This is a major field-based study for National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre by a research team from the University of Ballarat. It is an exploration of the benefits of older men's (age 50+) learning through participation in community settings other than those understood as having a vocational or educational dimension. It is based on an analysis of extensive audio-recorded and transcribed interviews and surveys in 48 organisations in six diverse sites across three Australian states. The six community organisation types explored were: adult and community education; sporting; religious, Indigenous and cultural; voluntary fire and emergency services; age-related and disability; and men’s special interest organisations. The research provides new evidence of the acute need for organisations providing adult learning in community settings to consider how to engage more men and to promote older men's wellbeing more effectively.

Excerpt from publication.

A shorter report based on this study is indexed at TD/TNC 99.876. Show less

This is a major field-based study for the Western Australia Department of Education and Training by a research team from the University of Ballarat. It is an exploration of the benefits of men’s learning through participation in community settings other than those understood as having a vocational or educational dimension. It is based on an analysis of extensive audio-recorded and transcribed interviews and surveys in 36 organisations in six diverse sites across Western Australia. The six community organisation types explored were: adult and community education; sporting; religious, Indigenous and cultural; voluntary fire and emergency services; age-related and disability; and men’s special interest organisations. The research confirms and explores the important role that all community organisations examined play, in providing contexts in which all aspects of lifelong and lifewide learning can be practiced and enhanced for, by and with men as active participants.

Excerpts from executive summary. Show less