Author: Ajal

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Training and development for transitional employment in mature-aged manual workers

Author/s: Hitendra Pillay, Kathy Kelly and Megan Tones

Edition: Volume 50, Number 1, April 2010

Summary: The purpose of the current article was to explore perceptions of transitional employment and training and development amongst blue collar workers employed in technical, trade, operations or physical and labour-intensive occupations within the local government system. The responses of manual workers to two national surveys conducted by the local government association, namely, the Transitional Employment Survey (TES) and the New Initiative Survey (NIS) were analysed for occupational level differences using Chi square tests. Three quarters of blue collar workers were interested in phased retirement options. Technicians and operators were content to retain their current jobs, although technicians seemed to display a more self-directed attitude towards training and development. Tradespersons and labourers were interested in changing jobs, and appeared willing to pursue some training and development. A significant proportion of workers were interested in mentoring. Blue collar workers were interested in contributing to the future of the organisation via transitional employment. However, they may require support for their health and training needs.

Keywords: transitional employment, blue collar workers, manual workers, training and development

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 50_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Recognition of prior learning— Normative assessment or co-construction of preferred identities?

Author/s: Jen Hamer

Edition: Volume 50, Number 1, April 2010

Summary: Recognition of prior learning (RPL) has been an important element of Australia’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy since it was officially adopted as a key national principle in 1991 (VEETAC 1991, cited in Wilson and Lilly 1996:2). The aim of RPL is to formally assess a person’s skills gained through life and work experience, in order to award credit towards nationally recognised qualifications. It is an integral part of access and equity strategies, which are designed to ‘improve access to and outcomes from vocational education and training for disadvantaged groups’ (Smith & Keating 1997: 38). However, limited attention has been paid to the operations of power within the assessor-candidate relationship. This paper raises questions about the perspective of RPL as a selfevidently benign activity and describes concerns regarding its application. It uses postmodern theories of identity and a philosophy of recognition to propose an understanding of the potential impacts of RPL and invite new assessment practices to advance its emancipatory goals.

Keywords: rpl, normative, assessment

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 50_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Taking risks—experiential learning and the writing student

Author/s: Robin Freeman and Karen Le Rossignol

Edition: Volume 50, Number 1, April 2010

Summary: The role of a professional and creative writing degree is to provide resources, structured workshops, professional interactions—and the potential for creative risk. Opportunities for risk, within the structured environment of the university, challenge the individual’s perspectives and judgements, as well as their ability to analyse and to reflect on their writing and creative practices.

From this starting point the authors, both writing industry practitioners and academics, have developed experiential projects with the aim of transforming their teaching practice from a model of narrative hierarchies of knowledge to learning through performativity, social connectedness and immersive workplace learning. As the case studies illustrate, this transitional approach has enabled our millennial learners more confidently to take risks, accept challenges and transform their understanding of their own knowledge, skills and identities.

Keywords: creative risk, writing, creative practices, experiential, hierarchies, knowledge

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 50_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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The big picture on men’s (and boys’) learning

Author/s: Barry Golding

Edition: Volume 50, Number 1, April 2010

Summary: This paper focuses on what is known internationally from research about some aspects of men’s learning. It explores the similar and different factors that shape men’s attitudes towards learning in diverse national and cultural contexts. It also identifies some possible parallels (and differences) between the experiences, participation and outcomes in education of men and boys. The paper proceeds to make a case for recognising and addressing the factors that affect gender parity in educational contexts, including Australia, in which several tertiary outcome measures tend to be skewed towards girls and women. The paper forms part of background research for Phase 1 (in several Anglophone nations) of a major international research project into men’s learning in community settings that includes several Australian study sites.

Keywords: men’s learning, diversity, cultural contexts, gender parity, education, tertiary outcome

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 50_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Diverse pathways into higher education: Using students’ stories to identify transformative experiences

Author/s: Robyn Benson, Lesley Hewitt, Margaret Heagney, Anita Devos and Glenda Crosling

Edition: Volume 50, Number 1, April 2010

Summary: This paper is based on findings from the first phase of a longitudinal project examining how a group of students from diverse backgrounds succeed in higher education. The concept of perspective transformation is used to explore students’ stories about factors that influenced them on their journey to university, including socio-economic background, family difficulties, gender, the effect of being first in family to enter higher education, migration, location and experiences of schooling. The paper argues that, for some participants, the decision to enrol was not primarily the effect of perspective transformation, but rather the result of other aspects of their lives. Finally, we comment on the value of narrative inquiry for revealing participants’ experiences and, potentially, for supporting the process of transformation.

Keywords: diverse backgrounds, transformation, socio-economic, gender, enrolment

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 50_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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The learning society: Two justifications

Author/s: Ya-hui Su

Edition: Volume 50, Number 1, April 2010

Summary: This article examines the view that has long been fashionable in related policies and literature that the establishment of the learning society is a necessary response to changing times. This article suggests that the association between the learning society and current change may be defensible but is limited. The justification of the learning society should be expanded beyond that association, and the learning society should be promoted as a good in its own right. This article begins with an exploration of the phenomenon of change, which has been the primary argument for the establishment of the learning society. Then, it examines the claim that the learning society is essential. Finally, I suggest that discussions of the learning society should shift from the current paradigm of justification based on external relationships to an appreciation of the learning society in its own right.

Keywords: learning society, change

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 50_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Looking forward: Community Gateways at Victoria University

Author/s: Christine Mountford

Edition: Volume 51, Number 4, Special edition, December 2011

Summary: The mission and values of Victoria University provide the underlying criteria for the development and implementation of the Community Gateways initiative, which aims to transform the lives of those living in the west of Melbourne through the power of further education. Community Gateways takes the university into the community by providing career education and counselling, skills recognition, recognition of prior learning, workshops and short training opportunities to engage the community ‘on their own turf’, and to support their access and success through career-aligned course choice. To be truly effective in the community, Community Gateways has utilised a cooperative approach to engage with over forty community organisations, including community centres, neighbourhood houses, local councils, youth centres, libraries, and ACE and ACFE providers.

A resurgence of interest in values associated with community, social cohesion and cultural diversity has provided the platform for these relationships to develop. Community Gateways strengthens access to learning and employment in the region for many people who currently are unsure of how to access education and training opportunities. Through the provision of complimentary, professional careers counselling, community members are encouraged to consider their career options as the basis for making appropriate training or further study decisions. In this paper I will explore the development of the program and share the learning and achievements to date.

Keywords: Victoria University, community gateways, ACE

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_4_Special Edition. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

 

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Art, disability, learning and the dance of my life

Author/s: Faith Thorley

Edition: Volume 51, Number 4, Special edition, December 2011

Summary: I use my passion and skills as an artist to deal with my various disabilities resulting from brain tumour surgery. The ‘artvantages’ of this approach have been many: improved self-esteem and a greater sense of wellbeing, to name just two. On reflection and after revisiting the experiences of my healing journey, I now know when this journey began. Today I’ve come to recognise its beginning as the onset of my personal transformation.

My aim in this paper is to explain how I believe my personal transformation happened after my brain tumour surgery and to describe the transformative learning process that followed. I will support these explanations with valuable insights that I’ve gained from research in adult education and my involvement with others with disabilities. Next, I will introduce my interpretation of a phenomenon that I call ‘arts-based resistance learning’. This has been a major phase in my personal transformative journey and the subject of my current PhD inquiry. I am strongly committed to my research inquiry because it is uncovering new ways of using art to enhance life, which gives me hope, and may inspire and so assist other like afflicted people, health professionals and concerned individuals.

Keywords: disability, transformation, brain tumour, adult education, wellbeing

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_4_Special Edition. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Arnold Hely and Australia adult education

Author/s: Roger Morris

Edition: Volume 51, Number 4, Special edition, December 2011

Summary: Arnold Hely (1907–1967) was a most significant figure in the history of adult education in New Zealand, in Australia and internationally. Arnold Hely, a New Zealander, Director of Tutorial Classes (later Adult Education) at the University of Adelaide from 1957 to 1965, was the prime mover in the establishment in 1964 of the Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE) and was, until his most untimely death in 1967, its General Secretary. He previously had played, as an impartial newcomer/outsider, a leading role in the formation in 1960 of ALA (then called AAAE). In this paper I will focus on Hely’s efforts to bring Australian adult education into the mainstream of world adult education. In telling Hely’s story I will explore the context of Australian adult education in the 1950s and 1960s.

Keywords: Arnold Hely, adult education, 1950, 1960, history

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_4_Special Edition. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Is the use of video conferencing and supporting technologies a feasible and viable way to woo farmers back into farmer education?

Author/s: Margaret Brown and Tom Fraser

Edition: Volume 51, Number 4, Special edition, December 2011

Summary: North Dakota State University (USA) have been using video conferencing as a delivery mode for farmer education for about twenty years and report that their farmers find this delivery method both practical and worthwhile. With the number of New Zealand farmers attending learning events decreasing, due mainly to time and cost, maybe it is time to use different approaches to engage farmers in learning. A study called ‘FeedSmart’, which looked into the ways farmers preferred to learn, identified that e-learning is worth further investigation as a learning delivery approach. In this paper we report on three small-scale trials that investigated the viability and effectiveness of generating and delivering information to farmers via a video-conferencing-based learning approach. This study showed that e-learning of this type has potential as a learning approach for farmers and is worthy of further investigation.

Keywords: rural, farmer, education, FeedSmart, e-learning

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_4_Special Edition. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.