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Education Links is produced by a group of teachers, students and university staff working to bring about democratic and socially progressive change in Australian schooling, as part of a broad political movement towards socialism in Australia. The magazine aims to present a socialist analysis of a wide range of theoretical and practical issues in education and is not affiliated with any political party.

Excerpt from publication.

Contents: Editorial; Multiple tales for training / Peter Waterhouse; Navel-gazing TAFE: from Kangan to [vocational education and training] VET and beyond / Peter Rushbrook; Revisiting the craft tradition / Peter Ewer; Feminist pedagogy and praxis / Kate Pritchard Hughes; Does it add up: adult education, mathematics and economic rationalism / Gail FitzSimons; Building castles in the air? / Crina Virgona; Perspectives on unemployment / Mark Brophy. Show less

This paper reviews ideas and concepts that provide a framework for facilitating the work-related learning of adult educators. The site of the study is the 'higher degrees (by project) research program' at a Victorian dual sector university. This paper assumes that there are concepts from within adult education that can and have been used in this program. The participants are adult educators who mainly work in the VET sector, and work-based practitioners involved in organisational learning and change projects. The discussion includes 'conceptions of work-related learning', 'conceptions of practice', 'communities of practice', and 'practices and processes of practitioner research'. 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 uses new data from research into informal learning through community-based ‘men’s sheds’ organisations, that have proliferated rapidly and recently across much of southern Australia, to ask ‘What is the potential for shed-based community learning in other countries?’ It is based on a continuing suite of Australian research into informal learning occurring in community contexts for men, particularly research into men not in paid work.

The authors’ research report, ‘Men’s sheds in Australia: learning through community contexts’, is indexed as TD/TNC 89.03. Show less

This chapter begins by offering a definition of vocational education and training (VET) followed by a discussion of the economic and political forces that shape the VET sector and an examination of the relationship between vocational and higher education. The chapter goes on to provide a comparison of the VET systems in different countries. VET qualifications, accreditation and credentials are looked at and the discussion broadens to cover VET curriculum, learners and teachers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of tensions within VET, including the problematic nature of competency based training and assessment, the tension between VET and higher education in terms of status and whether VET is effective in meeting the needs of the unemployed and disadvantaged. However, the main concern expressed in this chapter is about the nature of VET in as much as it is the main sector of education offered by the state to working people. It is essential that the education offered by VET responds to change and provides an education that is worthwhile.

The complete volume is indexed at TD/TNC 76.380; selected individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 76.381 to TD/TNC 76.392. Show less

This article reviews research into the genesis and spread of both neighbourhood houses and learning centres in Victoria and community-based men’s sheds in Australia to identify some similarities and differences. Our article asks questions about the gendered communities of practice that underpin houses for women on the one hand, and sheds for men on the other. Our particular interest is with the gender issues associated with the development of the relatively mature neighbourhood house ‘sector’, and those associated with the very recent and developing community-based men’s sheds ‘sector’. Our underpinning research question has to do with the desirability (or otherwise) in each of these sectors of political and strategic decisions being either gender specific or gender neutral. We identify a number of tantalising parallels between the rationale behind the establishment of both sectors, for women and men, albeit in very different circumstances, along with some obvious differences.

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

Education Links is produced by a group of teachers, students and university staff working to bring about democratic and socially progressive change in Australian schooling, as part of a broad political movement towards socialism in Australia. The magazine aims to present a socialist analysis of a wide range of theoretical and practical issues in education and is not affiliated with any political party.

Edited excerpt from publication.

Contents: An historical reckoning: education and training reform / Terri Seddon; Lurking in the wings / Roy Martin; Ford factory learning / Mike Brown; Claiming common ground / Helen Gribble; The training market / Simon Marginson; Bottom line training / Robin Sefton; Vocational education reform: kamakazi style / Peter Kell; Brave new vocationalism / Grant McMurdo. Show less