Search Results

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.

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

This research paper focuses on the provision and teaching of vocational education and training (VET) programs to young people within Victorian secondary schools. The study identifies and discusses the way that VET in schools programs are nuanced as they are made to fit the state system, then with the individual school settings and circumstances. These programs are important in offering a range of relevant and useful programs to a diverse range of senior secondary school students. The study found that when a VET program is provided to students through a secondary school setting in Victoria it will: (1) be made appropriate for students aged 15 to 21; (2) occur as part of one of the two senior secondary school certificates; and (3) often have undergone some modifications to its authenticity with some flow on effect to its reliability and validity due to the limitations and nature of the school-based context. Accordingly, teachers and school administrators are required to be creative in fine-tuning their program provision as they work through issues that arise around costs, quality and effectiveness.

Author's abstract. Show less

This paper looks at the development of green skills in a Regional TAFE Institute. The study follows the implementation of the Green Skills Agreement and explores the perceptions of stakeholders and participants about how jobs are changing, the demand for green skills along with possible future directions, inclusion of learning about sustainability and green skills within [vocational education and training] VET programs, and access to appropriately aligned professional development for TAFE teachers and managers. The paper reports on data collected through interviews with four TAFE managers, five TAFE teachers, seven TAFE students, and four industry and/or community representatives.

Stakeholders in green industries are reporting that their economic viability tends to be closely tied to government subsidies, and some are expressing some frustration at the promises of businesses and government to develop a large scale solar industry. However, the domestic solar industry continues to grow. TAFE managers and teachers report seeing more sustainability-orientated content being included in their courses. TAFE staff also report positively on receiving access to associated professional development as the senior management at this Institute appear to be supporting the development of TAFE staff to teach green skills. The students interviewed for this research were studying Electrotechnology and Land and Conservation Management. Both groups reported seeing changes being implemented in their workplaces, their courses of study and the community. The students interviewed tended to be very knowledgeable and interested in the changes they were seeing.

Published abstract. Show less

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

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 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

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

This paper reviews a selection of the policy, curriculum, operational and research literature associated with the recognition of vocational education and training (VET) within the Victorian senior secondary certificates: the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL). The central tenet of this paper is that VET in Victorian schools serves multiple purposes and in doing so it offers both risks and opportunities. While the outcomes of the Victorian VET programs achieve national recognition, the recognition of these programs for broader educational certification has become diverse and complex. We use statistical participation data to argue that the incorporation of VET into these senior secondary certificates, appeals to students and offers increased options and pathways in the post-compulsory years of schooling. A range of assessment strategies and procedures have been developed to assist in the recognition of VET within these senior secondary school certificates. In particular, scored assessment and its contribution to national tertiary entrance scores is at the centre of the debates over recognition of VET within VCE. Also in this mix for recognising VET within the senior secondary certificates are pre-apprenticeship programs, school-based apprenticeships and traineeships. The operational, procedural and research literature associated with the complexities of the tandem usage of competency-based and scored assessment are reviewed as they apply in the Victorian context. As with the VCE, VET is also incorporated into VCAL programs through the industry specific and work-related skills streams. VET is mandatory within the intermediate and senior levels of VCAL. The paper tries to identify and discuss the complexities in this area of VET provision.

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

This article explains some of the curriculum and assessment practices that enable vocational education in schools (VETiS) programs in Victoria to be recognised and incorporated into the senior secondary school certificates through the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL). The author outlines the two curriculum frameworks and reviews the strategy and processes for the tandem usage of competency-based and scored assessment as they apply in the Victorian context. The purpose is to demonstrate the complexities and the 'balancing act' occuring at the operational and policy levels between equity and quality.

This article is part of a thematic edition of Vocal entitled 'What works for vocational education and training in schools in terms of developing connections, building capacity and enhancing collaboration'. Articles are indexed from TD/TNC 94.144 to TD/TNC 94.150 and from TD/TNC 94.264 to TD/TNC 95.276. Show less

In this paper, the author first signals the intention of his institution, Victoria University of Technology, to develop further its research profile in the vocational education and training (VET) field. Secondly, he outlines some concerns regarding research in VET, under the following headings: (1) lack of autonomy; (2) lack of critique; (3) dominant masculine presence; (4) misuse of ‘interpretive flexibility’. Thirdly, the paper gives information about the formation of a new nationally based professional association for those interested in the more socially critical aspects of adult and work-related education, to be known as the National Adult Education Coalition. Finally, he provides an overview of three publications currently at varying stages of production. The focus of all three is the development of curriculum for work-related learning, and two are specifically about competency-based training. Show less