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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

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

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

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 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

[Vocational education and training] VET students and their teachers have unique insights into the supply of demand for skills for sustainability, and this viewpoint can contribute, now and in to the future, to the further development of skills for sustainability in Australia. In this research skills for sustainability are broadly conceived as including skills for social, economic and environmental sustainability - a triple bottom line approach. The study provides evidence on the actual depth and breadth of the take-up of these skills within Australian training organisations and workplaces.

In summary, the results show that: apprentices, trainees and their teachers cared a great deal about soil, economic and environmental sustainability; supply was closely aligned to social demand for skills for sustainability so that demand for skills for sustainability from VET students was almost entirely met; there are important differences in the teaching, learning and utilisation of skills for sustainability that are related to gender and age; and in-class learning of environmental skills has increased over time and now slightly outweighs learning of these skills at work, however community learning of these skills outweighs both.

Summary from publisher's website. 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

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

A range of Australian demographic, education, training, health and wellbeing data confirm that men are experiencing a range of dilemmas as they age, particularly after retirement. Community-run men’s sheds have recently developed and proliferated, mainly across parts of southern Australia and with higher proportions of older men not in work. This research study examines their role as a place in the lives of older men. It examines the informal skill development that takes place for older men in men’s sheds: dedicated men’s programs and spaces in community organisations in Australia. It examines the circumstances and attitudes that have been shown to bring otherwise disengaged older men (defined as age 45+) to learning. In doing so, it closely examines the rationales, pedagogies, experiences and outcomes of participants in men’s sheds. These spaces and programs form a growing part of local government, community services and welfare provision for older men at a neighbourhood and suburb level in towns and local communities. The research confirms for the first time, using compelling and rigorously collected data from participants, the critical value of community-based men’s sheds in Australia to older men’s wellbeing: particularly to their health, social enjoyment, ongoing learning capacity and ability to contribute to the community. Show less