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This article examines issues and challenges associated with the provision of effective professional teacher education for vocational education and training in schools (VETiS) teachers. Current minimum levels of qualifications for VETiS teachers are argued to be inadequate for the complexity of preparing senior secondary students for work in the future. VETiS teachers require a deep understanding of education and teaching that, as per their colleagues in schools, is acquired through completing a university-based teacher education program. Faculties of education are urged to enact strategies to recruit students to enter these university-based teacher education programs on the basis of their VET qualification and additional industrial experience. However, these university-based teacher education programs need to be specifically designed and tailored to the needs of these nontraditional higher education students. Evidence is presented from one such program and is used to identify potential features for an effective model of VETiS teacher education.

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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.

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One of the strategies being advocated in response to climate change is the need to transition to a low carbon economy. Current projections show that within this transition, new jobs will be created, some eliminated and most others subjected to change. This article reports findings from interviews with a selection of 20 participants who are involved in the formation and/or deployment of green skills. The participants were asked about their perceptions of: (1) how jobs are changing in the transition to a green economy; (2) how are adult learners developing and using green skills; and (3) what are some of the main drivers and blockers to the development and use of green skills. The data are presented as vignettes from various positions of supply and demand within the emerging green economy.

The findings of this study report that the organisations and the training providers are motivated to develop and/or deploy green jobs and green skills for a range of different reasons. These include the making of a favourable business case, environmental beliefs about conserving the finite resources of the planet, and for health and wellbeing reasons. Some blockers that have been identified are the initial capital outlay for any changes, and the need to address some inconsistencies that arise over time in the financial arrangements when trying to work out the business case. This has led the designers and contractors working in renewable energy to call for a level playing field with those who provide and utilise finite resources and non-renewable energy. Overall transition to a low carbon and green economy is shown to be supported and occurring with some limited success. However there is a need for further larger scale research into this area of skill formation and deployment.

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The author attempts to relate and interweave a number of distinct themes, beginning with a description of scientific management as developed by Frederick W. Taylor. This is followed by an introduction to the notion of skill formation, and a brief discussion of the current political and economic context and the relationship between workplace reform and educational reform. The third section reviews competency-based training.

The paper concludes with a summarised critique which leads to the finding that the Richmond TAFE model of CBT is an example of 'classroom Taylorism' and represents a form of 'educational engineering', which works against the interests of the learners. Show less

These 12 papers are part of the study materials for the one-semester distance education unit, Project Development Plan 2, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University (Australia). They examine the breadth and depth of the actions and debates around the social construction of skill and the critical role played by the concept of skill in the gendering of the workplace. An introduction from Elaine Butler and Mike Brown provides an overview of the papers. The first two papers illustrate the broad picture: 'Con-testing skill: women, skill and training in Australia' by Elaine Butler and Helen Connole, locates contemporary studies of women and skill within the discourses of education and training and the Australian microeconomic reform agenda; 'The gendering of skill and vocationalism in twentieth-century Australian education' by Jill Blackmore, provides an historical base for the contemporary discourse as well as a framework for future critique.

Other papers are as follows: 'What's in a word: recognition of women's skills in workplace change' by Cate Poynton and Kim Lazenby, offers a precis of a research project that renames the skills of women workers in clerical occupations; 'From industry to enterprise: issues for women workers around award and industry restructuring' by Kim Windsor, investigates the potential for 'women's' industries to influence award and industry restructuring processes; 'Women and skill formation' by Ann Byrne, draws on Labour Research Center research, with a focus on skill identification issues, classifications, and methodologies; 'Women and award restructuring in local government' by Mira Robertson, considers implications for women workers within the industry; 'The transport industry: another challenge for women' by Robyn Francis, juxtaposes the male-dominated transport industry and its inherent challenges against 'feminized' industries; 'Women's skills in community services' by Susan Kenna, contends that a fundamental shift is required in the way caring occupations are valued; 'Community Service Workers and pay equity' by Sara Charlesworth, pursues issues of valuing service work and the skills inherent in such work; 'Skill and skill formation for women workers: a case study of the hospitality industry' by Sue Harper, reports on a project that investigated women working in the hospitality industry in jobs usually viewed as unskilled or semiskilled; 'Training for the computerized office: crisis or opportunity?' by Rosemary J. Harris, is a personal perspective of one female worker's experiences; 'The ideology of skill and gender: a selective review of the literature' by Cathy Emery, is a review of the literature around the ideology and construct of skill. 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

Our paper is based on our recently published National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) project report ‘Men’s sheds in Australia, learning through community contexts’ (indexed at TD/TNC 89.03), which showed that men’s sheds informally cater for non vocational, social, health, wellbeing and learning needs of mainly older men. We deliberately used unedited transcripts from the NCVER project in the form of narratives or stories to give the men an opportunity to speak for themselves about the benefits of participating in men’s sheds. The paper highlights some of the limitations of the methodology used in the attempt to allow the men themselves to make sense of the benefits they experience and enjoy from participating in men’s sheds as conveyed through their own voices.

Published abstract.

Available papers from the 11th Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) Conference are indexed from TD/TNC 92.459 to TD/TNC 92.499 and from TD/TNC 92.701 to TD/TNC 92.716. Show less

Some experts say a mental state of relaxed concentration - when the brain produces alpha waves - is the most conducive to learning. Perhaps this is why the friendly atmosphere and ambience in men’s sheds supports the process of informal learning.

Excerpt from publication.

The full report ‘Men’s sheds in Australia: learning through community contexts / Barry Golding … [et al.]’ is indexed at TD/TNC 89.03. Show less

Our paper explores some recent innovations in workshop-based learning practice that come out of community-based men's sheds in Australia. It deliberately goes beyond an exploration of the 'typical' community-based men’s shed, already explored in our forthcoming National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) research report and looks at some new and productive interactions between sheds and other informal learning organisations. We go to the margins of rapidly evolving shed practice and single out three types of shed-based organisations that work with school resisters, Vietnam veterans and older men in aged care. Our aim is to illustrate, using new Australian narrative data, some theoretical and practical implications and benefits of reciprocal, workshop-based mentoring relationships involving men of different ages. Our focus is on ways in which men with a skill or trade are able, in a situated and authentic learning context, to informally ‘weave magic’ for and with other men, and in some cases with young people. Our paper provides pointers to some of the principles underpinning successful informal and community-based learning practice for older men: particularly the need for a high level of engagement; the choice of an appropriate and safe setting; and to account for the differences associated with age and gender. We articulate an imperative for 'bringing more blokes' into all forms of learning in Australia including through more informal, community-based learning as well as through adult and community education (ACE). Our paper and its conclusions have implications for other workshop and shed-based learning practice in vocational education and training (VET) as well as informal and community-based learning by volunteers in the quintessential and ubiquitous Australian fire and football sheds.

Published abstract.

Available papers from the 10th Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) Conference are indexed from TD/TNC 89.401 to TD/TNC 89.447. Show less

This paper focuses on evidence of positive interactions between schools and community sheds in Australia to examine what it is about shed-based community programs and pedagogies that are attractive to some early school leavers and school resisters. It is based primarily on interview data from the subset of men’s sheds across Australia with school programs that formed part of our 2007 research into men's sheds. It is complemented by insights from interviews with men's sheds participants and rural fire volunteers about what it was that also led many of them to also 'shed' school early. Our paper identifies links between the success factors associated with informal learning pedagogies in voluntary and community groups identified in the UK and success factors associated with community-based shed programs in Australia. We identify the potential benefits of sheds in engaging both early school leavers and older men with negative recollections of school, in enjoyable, regular, hands-on activity. We also discuss ways in which some of the difficulties associated with shed-based school programs that seek to engage and reintegrate early school leavers might be avoided or minimised. Finally, we pose some unanswered questions about the implications of our research findings for education and training providers.

Published abstract.

Available papers from the 11th Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) Conference are indexed from TD/TNC 92.459 to TD/TNC 92.499 and from TD/TNC 92.701 to TD/TNC 92.716. Show less