Author: Ajal

Posted on

Engaging in continuing education and training: Learning preferences of worker-learners in the health and community services industry

Authors: Sarojni Choy, Stephen Billett and Ann Kelly: Griffith University, Brisbane

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: Current tertiary education and training provisions are designed mainly to meet the learning needs of those preparing for entry into employment and specific occupations. Yet, changing work, new work requirements, an ageing workforce and the ongoing need for employability across lengthening working lives make it imperative that this educational focus be broadened to include continuing education and training provisions for those already in the workforce. To address this refocusing of the education and training effort, this paper proposes that learning at work, encompassing practice-based experiences supported by both formal and informal workplace arrangements, constitute an effective continuing education and training model for worker-learners in the aged care industry. It draws on data from semi-structured interviews and written responses from 51 workers who show preferences for such a model. Not only do aged care workers like engaging in learning independently and with co-workers and workplace facilitators, they prefer a larger component of courses to be delivered at the work site. The implications of these findings are summarised in this article.

Keywords: continuing education, workforce, workplace, aged-care, worker-learner, work site

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail  Share a copy of this abstract.

This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

Posted on

‘Trying to keep up’: The experience of combining full-time VET with work

Author: Michelle Morris: Student Services, TAFE SA Regency Campus

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: Maintaining a healthy work-life relationship is important for the health and wellbeing of individuals and families. This is also true for students studying in vocational education and training(VET) who face increasing pressure to combine study and work. The intersecting commitments of work, life and study create a range of demands for individuals, which, in turn, impede work-life satisfaction. Time and money have been shown to be the biggest factors affecting people who combine work and VET – particularly for workers in low-income jobs, which constitute the biggest employment source for VET students. Data from a research project at TAFESA indicates that working students experience high levels of stress, time strain and interference with activities outside work/ TAFE. The work life outcomes for full-time students are significantly worse than outcomes for workers in the general population.

Keywords: full-time, work-life, balance, VET, research, TAFESA

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail  Share a copy of this abstract.

This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

Posted on

Meeting diverse expectations: Department of Tutorial Classes, Sydney University, 1919 to 1963

Authors: Darryl Dymock and Ann Kelly; Griffith University

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: The University of Sydney has offered some form of organised adult education since the late 19th century. In 1914, that provision was formalised through the establishment of a Department of Tutorial Classes, the appointment of a Director, and a partnership with the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA). Right from that time, however, there was ambivalence and sometimes direct opposition to the role and sometimes to the existence of the department. As a result, successive directors of the department had to tread a fine line in balancing the expectations of the university with their passion for extending the academy into the adult community, while also satisfying the demands of the WEA. This paper reviews the period of three directorships of the Department of Tutorial Classes, between 1919 and 1963, and argues that the liberal adult education approach adopted by the university from its earliest days was sustained over those 45 years mainly because ongoing disagreement within the university about the purpose of the department and the status of the director, as well as continuing external pressure from Meeting diverse expectations 27 the WEA, ensured that the status quo prevailed, even when there were innovative adult education developments elsewhere, and opportunities for change presented themselves.

 

Keywords: tutorial WEA adult education Sydney

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail  Share a copy of this abstract.

This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

Posted on

Recruiting and retaining learners in workplace literacy programs in New Zealand

Author: John Benseman: Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: Successful workplace literacy and numeracy programs are dependent on effective strategies to recruit and then retain course participants. This article reports on the recruitment strategies used in a large workplace literacy and numeracy project involving 535 workers in 18 courses. It provides an analysis of the strategies used, their rates of success in the companies, the overall retention rates of success in the companies, the overall retention rates and identifies effective ways to implement these strategies 

Keywords: workplace programs, literacy, retention, recruitment

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail  Share a copy of this abstract.

This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

Posted on

Introduction: Why food? Why pedagogy? Why adult education

Author/s:   Rick Flowers and Elaine Swan: University of Technology, Sydney

Edition: Volume 52, Number 3, Nov 2012

Summary:   We convened this special issue on Food pedagogies to start to address what we saw as lacunae in both research on adult education and food studies.  Thus, in spite of the expanding body of work on informal learning and pedagogies amongst adult educators, food has been relatively neglected (see Cook 2009; Jubas 2011 and Sumner 2011, for exceptions).  This is somewhat surprising as many good studies academics argue: the growing, buying, preparing, provisioning, cooking, tasting, eating and disposing of food have become the target of intensified pedagogical activity across a range of domains (Kimura 2011; Short 2006; Coveney 2006).  Hence, many different “pedagogues” – policy makers, churches, activists, health educators, schools, tourist agencies, celebrities, chefs – think we don’t know enough about food and what to do with it.

Keywords: food, pedagogy, adult education, adult learning

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail  Share a copy of this abstract.

This article is part of AJAL, Volume 52_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

Posted on

Recruiting and retaining learners in workplace literacy programs in New Zealand

Author/s: John Benseman

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: Successful workplace literacy and numeracy programs are dependent on effective strategies to recruit and then retain course participants. This article reports on the recruitment strategies used in a large workplace literacy and numeracy project involving 535 workers in 18 courses. It provides an analysis of the strategies used, their rates of success in the companies, the overall retention rates and identified effective ways to implement these strategies.

Keywords: workplace programs, literacy, retention, recruitment

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail  Share a copy of this abstract.

This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

Posted on

What is the moral imperative of workplace learning: Unlocking the DaVinci code of human resource development?

Author/s: Tom Short

Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006

Summary: In the course of my doctoral study, I am exploring the strategic linkages between learning activities in the modern workplace and the long-term success they bring to organisations. For many years, this challenge has been the Holy Grail of human resource development practitioners, who invest heavily on training and professional development projects each year but readily admit to their inadequacies when it comes to evaluating the full benefits. In the UK alone, estimates for 2008 indicate that this expenditure will reach over 23 billion pounds sterling (Mann 2006:13).

Keywords: learning activities, modern workplace, training and development

[wpdm_file id=192]

Posted on

Universities are funny places!

Author/s: Ann Lawless

Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006

Summary: Universities are funny places. They have a strong sense of hierarchy and rank. They have an amazing disparity in salary levels and status between staff, are class conscious, and are run by a large bureaucracy that oils and keeps the machinery going. They operate as educational institutions and yet also are entrepreneurial, marketing themselves in a competitive search for students and research resources.

Keywords: universities, hierarchy, rank, status, class conscious, competitive

[wpdm_file id=191]

 

Posted on

Implementation of cooperative learning in the Center for Community Service and Continuing Education at Kuwait University

Author/s: Eissa M. Alansari

Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006

Summary: The purpose of this study is to review the success of implementation of cooperative learning in various courses delivered at the Center for Community Service and Continuing Education at Kuwait University. According to recent research in the field of social cognition, learning situations which make use of the social context often achieve superior results over individualistic experiences. Interviews with 200 university teachers conducted for the last two years showed their experience and opinions about the effects of cooperative learning in their classrooms on the achievement of content knowledge, retention and students’ attitudes toward it. The results of this study revealed that about 75% of the teachers believed that cooperative learning had been successfully implemented. The present analysis offers a series of positive findings and recommendations to improve further the educational standard of the Centre in Kuwait University.

Keywords: cooperative learning, Kuwait University, social cognition, outcomes

[wpdm_file id=190]

Posted on

Educational policies and problems of implementation in Nigeria

Author/s: N. S. Okoroma

Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006

Summary: The poor performance of the education sector in Nigeria has become very worrisome. What is the problem? Is the educational policy faulty or is it the implementation that is faulty? What are the implications for national development? These are the issues explored in this paper, based on a literature review approach. The findings blame the distortions in the educational system on the ineffective implementation engendered primarily by lack of political will, lack of continuity of programs, and corruption. The situation has hindered national development and, until urgent action is taken to review Nigeria’s educational system, its national aspirations will continue to be compromised. The paper recommends the discontinuation of the National Policy on Education fashioned after the American system and the adoption of the model practised by Asian countries such as Japan, China and India which takes the culture of the people into consideration. In addition, the 2provision of qualitative education should be made compulsory and entrenched into the Constitution in order to encourage result oriented implementation. Sustained political will and eradication of corruption are necessary for effective policy implementation.

Keywords: Nigeria, performance, culture, outcomes, performance

[wpdm_file id=189]