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This research explores the experience eight students from Victoria University had during a vocational education and training outbound mobility project. The intent of an outbound mobility project is for students to undertake study, research and professional development to increase their skills and gain international experience while working at a high level. The students, four hairdressers and four make-up artists, undertook advanced training in Australia and then spent nine days working with or observing experienced professionals working behind the scenes at New York Fashion Week. Opportunities to work behind the scenes at one of the world's largest fashion events are rare. Students who graduate with recognised training qualifications and experience applying their skills in an internationally-recognised fashion forum are highly sought after by employers. The qualitative research approach sought to triangulate information sources to explore learner, teacher and industry perceptions of the experience. This paper explores two questions: What did Australian students involved in international [work integrated learning] WIL gain from their learning experience? And, how can their experiences inform future programs? The study found that the students had a marvelous experience, but this can be marred if the program is not organised and administered well.

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The Victorian Government introduced the Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG) as a key policy reform to reorganize [vocational education and training] VET provision in 2008. Since then, the evolution of a training market has been shaped by the shift from a 'purchaser-provider' arrangement to a fully 'contestable' open market regime. These changes are having far reaching impacts on VET in terms of provision and student experiences. These changes have brought a shift in emphasis with students positioned as consumers and with providers (public and or private) being treated uniformly as market entities.

This paper draws upon submissions to the recent (2011) Essential Services Commission, VET Fee and Funding Review to consider the impact of market approaches to the Victorian VET sector. Many of the submissions made to the review highlighted the costs of a fully 'contestable training market'. Of the sixty-three submissions to the review, Registered Training Organisations and their representative bodies made thirty-five. In these submissions it was consistently maintained that the VTG represented a significant disadvantage to current and prospective students. Submissions by students poignantly illustrated and provided examples of the nature and character of the unintended inequities in this brave new market context.

This paper argues that consumer protections are urgently needed to ensure more equitable approaches to VET provision. In order to achieve improved consumer protections, the paper will argue that cooperation as a core principle is important. For a training market to imply guarantees and be premised upon a robust assurance of quality education this will only occur when a contestable market is arranged through a principle of cooperation.

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This keynote address is one of two papers (the other is indexed at TD/TNC 71.657) presented under the theme of 'What is the public role of TAFE?' and looks at the public TAFE system in Victoria. It begins by examining the recent past, then looks at the reform of the system and finally, at what it is now. The author concludes that 'TAFE is a public asset... [which] plays a vital role in the social cohesion of many communities, particularly in regional areas... [and] must be reclaimed from the bureaucrats and politicians as simply a tool of government, or industry, and all its stakeholders must be allowed to have a say in its future'.

The volume of conference papers is indexed at TD/TNC 71.652; individual keynote papers are indexed from TD/TNC 71.653 to TD/TNC 71.657. Show less

Of all the factors contributing to turbulent times in Australia, climate change is one that offers both challenges and opportunities for [vocational education and training] VET. In a time when the response to water availability is subject to ‘extensive debate and policy attention’, our paper explores what adults living and working in the Alpine region of Victoria understand about the changes to water availability, and what they have learned about adapting to significant climatic changes in their local area. Interviews were conducted in the towns of Bright, Mount Beauty and Albury, with participants from across the Alpine region. Our study found evidence of a strong understanding of the direct impact of climate change on participants’ local community area, and a keen desire to learn about adaptation to change. In addition to an identified need for more information around climate change issues and projected impacts in general, participants saw practical hands-on water education strategies as an important way to educate people to help themselves. Conversations about where or how people learned to adapt to change were broad ranging, and clearly connected to the participants’ backgrounds, livelihoods or where they were situated. This raised the question of what responses VET might develop to address these identified learning needs. Major local industries of tourism, agriculture, water harvesting and landcare are all covered by national Training Packages that include industry-specific units of competence to support learning to live and work in an environmentally sustainable way. In addition, the national Employability Skills framework offers opportunities to build climate change awareness and adaptation into units of competency where they may not be explicitly incorporated. Our paper will outline the opportunities for VET to act as a change agent in this and other Australian communities impacted by climate change.

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The conference was convened by the Lifelong Learning Network, which is a policy research network based at the University of Canberra. Changes taking place in higher education are intimately related to changes taking place in the organisation and practice of staff development in universities both in Australia and internationally. In Australia, in particular, these changes are stimulating discussion about practices and principles underpinning staff development, so that future directions can take into account the needs of this relatively new profession. The author of this paper provides a brief overview of the current issues in staff development and describes an approach adopted by Victoria University, based on some of these principles and practices. The Assessment for Learning Teams (ALTs) project is described to illustrate the process used in the delivery of activities, and conclusions about the nature and scope of staff development are drawn.

The collected papers of the conference are indexed at TD/ACT 59.13. Show less

This paper outlines some work currently being undertaken by the Victorian Department of Transport, as part of developing a strategy to enhance workforce capability in the road freight sector in Victoria. Actions and recommendations being developed for consideration by Government seem likely to fall into four priority areas, and implementing these will require the support of government, industry or both in collaboration. This paper discusses why skills shortages in Transport and Logistics (T&L) are important, what skills shortages exist or appear to be emerging, and why governments have a legitimate role to play in assisting the industry to address such challenges. Reasons for skills shortages in the road freight sector are briefly explored, and responses being taken to address workforce capability more broadly are also outlined. Some of the complexities of developing and implementing a strategy of this kind include the cross-portfolio nature of the issues to be addressed and the importance of securing engagement and buy-in from a traditional industry.

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This paper discusses preliminary findings from a sub-set of empirical data collected for a recent [National Centre for Vocational Education Research] NCVER study that explored the geographic dimensions of social exclusion in four locations in Victoria and South Australia with lower than average post school education participation. Set against the policy context of the Bradley Review (2008) and the drive to increase the post school participation of young people from low socio-economic status neighbourhoods, this qualitative research study, responding to identified gaps in the literature, sought a nuanced understanding of how young people make decisions about their post-school pathways. Drawing on Appadurai's (2004) concept 'horizons of aspiration' the paper explores the aspirations of two young people formed from, and within, their particular rural 'neighborhoods'.

The paper reveals how their post school education and work choices, imagined futures and conceptions of a 'good life', have topographic and gendered influences that are important considerations for policy makers.

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Social partnerships are increasingly seen as a means by which both government and non-government agencies can identify and respond to localised need. This paper reports the findings of the first phase of the project that aims to inform how best social partnerships can be formed and developed to support vocational education and training (VET) at the local level. This phase sought to identify key principles and practices that will underpin this aim, using the experiences of 10 existing social partnerships. A key finding was the importance of partnership work. This is detailed through five dimensions of partnership work, and principles and practices that were identified and verified as most likely assisting the development and transformation of social partnerships over time. The dimensions of ‘partnership work’ comprise (a) cultural scoping work, (b) connection building work, (c) capacity building work, (d) collective work, and (e) trust building work. The principles that manifest with subtle differences at the initial and later stages of partnership work include developing and maintaining (a) shared goals, (b) relations with partners, (c) capacity for partnership work, (d) governance and leadership, and (e) trust and trustworthiness. The specific implications for VET will be explored in the next phase of this project.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Volumes of papers are indexed at TD/TNC 90.212 and TD/TNC 90.213. Selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 90.214 to TD/TNC 90.264. Show less

It is important for students to develop informed and realistic career aspirations to gain the most value from their university studies towards achieving their initial career goals. However developing students' career aspirations, goals, and expectations is a complex and discipline-specific process. In information technology (IT) no clear career development framework is evident in the literature. Recent research in Australia argues that electronic portfolios are a useful way for students to develop, articulate and document career objectives to enhance their employability. IT students at Deakin engage in formal training and assessment with respect to developing their professional skills and career understandings. Currently electronic portfolios feature as a useful method for evidencing professional competencies for employability.

Through a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of 306 students' articulated current career aspirations, qualitative analysis of seven staff opinions of desired student career competencies, and a quantitative analysis of 28 students' current work personality traits assessments (Work Personality Index), this work presents an analysis of the current state of IT students' career development. The results indicate that while students reported short-term career aspirations, navigating to their long-term career goals is going to require addressing difficult barriers such as confidence (self-perception) and motivation. This research will influence a larger program-wide endeavour to build student career competencies for employability in IT at Deakin University.

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The UNESCO UNEVOC regional conference was held at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) from 11-14 November 1996. Delegates attended from almost all UNEVOC countries. The theme of the conference, Policy development and implementation for technical and vocational education for economic development in Asia and the Pacific, resulted in papers and workshops which related experiences, identified issues and outlined possible solutions for the region. This paper is based on experience gained in the delivery of training on the internet in courses in local government, public administration and community justice at RMIT. It describes four general applications for online delivery including the option of complete delivery of training online. The major decision elements relating to students, the course considered for internet delivery and teaching issues are outlined.

The volume of conference papers is indexed at TD/IRD 88.92; individual papers are indexed from TD/UNEVOC 48.01 to TD/UNEVOC 48.35, and from TD/UNEVOC 55.10 to TD/UNEVOC 55.13. Show less