Search Results

This study analyses how one Victorian regional [Technical and Further Education] TAFE Institute is working towards understanding and contributing to skill formation for the green economy. While we already know that the provision of vocational education and training in regional areas contributes to regional innovation and development, (Kilpatrick, Johns and Rosenblatt, 2000; Gelade and Fox, 2008; Kearns, Bowman and Garlick, 2008; TAFE Directors Australia, 2011), this research provides a case study of how this is occurring with regard to the development of green skills. The study presents the perceptions and understandings of participants drawn from four different cohorts. These cohorts are (1) key players in the community/industry representatives, (2) TAFE managers, (3) TAFE teachers, and (4) TAFE students. The study found that work and jobs are changing to become more sustainable though investment in large scale alternative energy generation while often lauded had failed to reach fruition. Likewise, [vocational education and training] VET training programs are also changing with teachers and students contributing to the complex arrangements around the supply and demand for green skills. The teachers at this regional TAFE who participated in the study reported that they were well supported in accessing and participating in relevant sustainability-related professional development. Finally, numerous examples were evident throughout the study of how the work performed by staff at this TAFE institute was contributing towards regional and community development.

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

This paper provides insight into the attitudes and perceptions of young people who are studying, or who are recent graduates of [vocational education and training] VET programs to identify and discuss issues and trends emerging from research into the development of 'skills for sustainability'. Located in the wake of the implementation of the Green Skills Agreement (Council of Australian Governments 2010), this paper brings together findings from recent research undertaken separately by these two researchers. The study by Sack (2012) was conducted under the auspices of the Dusseldorp Skills Forum and involves review and analysis of the 2008 and 2011 Gen Green surveys of Australian WorldSkills competitors. These two surveys have been analysed separately and more recently together, to provide a longitudinal snapshot of the issues and trends as depicted by young people in VET. The 2011 survey shows that some important environmental, social and economic skills are largely absent from courses and workplaces, suggesting scope for a broader revision of public policy around skills for sustainability in the future. Following a key finding from these two surveys that recognises technical and further education (TAFE) as the main source of learning about sustainability skills, this paper includes a slice drawn through the data in a recent study by Brown (2012) involving semi-structured interviews with 19 TAFE students located in three different TAFE institutes and one recent VET graduate. While far from universal, these TAFE students reported changes being implemented into both their work roles and their courses of study.

Published abstract. Show less

The implementation of the Green Skills Agreement ratified by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2010 provides the national policy context for this analysis of skills for sustainability. Data from three different but complementary studies provide powerful insight into the attitudes and perceptions of young people who are studying, or are recent graduates of, Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs. [The authors] argue that the voices of the young people who participate as students are largely absent from analysis and policy-making, despite policy rhetoric about a demand driven Australian tertiary education sector responsive to consumer (student) interest and need. The combination of these three studies contributes to an improved understanding of what these young adults think and are learning with regard to skills for sustainability in their VET courses and in their workplaces.

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