Tag: formal

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Assessor judgements and everyday worker performance

Author: Hilary Timma, Recently completed PhD studies, The University of Melbourne

Edition: Volume 45, Number 2, July 2005

Summary:  The subjective nature of assessment focuses attention on the prior perceptions that workplace assessors can bring to formal assessment activities, regarding the competence of workers. This paper draws on a study into workplace learning and assessment practices and the construction of worker identities, which was conducted at three food production companies in North East Victoria. The paper proposes that, rather than concentrating principally on planned, formal assessment activities to determine the competence of workers, workplaces could develop an alternative approach and support assessors to utilize (and make publicly justifiable), the prior perceptions they have regarding workers’ skills and abilities on-the-job and include these in the overall assessment.

Keywords: assessment, workplace assessor, competence, formal

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The role of cultural context in continuing vocational training

Author/s: Oktay Akbas ̨

Edition: Volume 51, Number 1, April 2011

Summary: This study analysed how auto repairmen working in micro-enterprises undertake continuing vocational training in relation to cultural context. The study was conducted in Kırıkkale, a city in central Anatolia in Turkey. To this end, the descriptive research technique of structured interview was used. Interviews with 33 auto repairmen were recorded and analysed. The results revealed the means used by auto repairmen to receive vocational training. It was found that the auto repairmen who participated in this study mostly consulted their co-workers as a means of vocational training. In addition, almost all of the craftsmen and foremen seemed to receive help from their co-workers when they encountered a problem which they could not solve on their own. The second most common means included computers and the Internet.. On the other hand, face-to-face education and printed materials were the least commonly used means for vocational training. These findings show that, although they are literate, auto repairmen, who mostly do not take full advantage of formal education and grow up in traditional cultural environments, prefer to use oral communication instead of printed materials as their information sources. These results should be taken into consideration while developing vocational training programs for auto repairmen and other similar groups that are not born into a written culture.

Keywords: auto, VET, training programs, vocational, culture, formal

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.