Tag: foundation

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The ‘double-edged sword’ of the adult learning environment

Authors: Sara Murray and Jane Mitchell: Charles Sturt University

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: The vocational education and training sector plays a critical role in the provision of educational opportunities for young adults who have left school prior to completing a qualification. Some research has found that a major factor that supports student re-engagement in formal education is the ‘adult learning environment’ that characterises institutions such as TAFE. Other studies have questioned the suitability of the adult learning environment for some students. This study explores how students and teachers in five foundation TAFE courses view the adult learning environment and how they respond to this environment. The paper argues that the adult learning environment can in some instances be a ‘double-edged sword’, in that it can both enhance and limit student engagement.

Keywords: vocational, VET, TAFE, young adult, learning, foundation

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

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Innovations in bridging and foundation education in a tertiary institution

Author/s: Rae Trewartha

Edition: Volume 48, Number 1, April 2008

Summary: A 2006 survey of programs at Unitec, New Zealand concluded that, in the main, Unitec programs and courses were not meeting student needs in the area of foundation and bridging education. Invoking international research and practice, a report was compiled proposing a number of recommendations to remedy this situation. Academic Board, in accepting recommendations that were based on developing and re-developing foundation and bridging courses and programs to better staircase students into degree programs, and to support first-year students in undergraduate degree programs, has challenged the Unitec community to think in new ways about the needs of students entering the institution. It was argued in the report that the key determinant in developing these strategies should be the need to provide students with bridging/foundation education that supports them to develop the contextualised discipline knowledge and academic literacies they need in order to transition to the next level of study as independent, critical learners – as students who know ‘how to learn’. Over the last few months, many exciting and challenging developments have occurred in relation to this initiative. This paper begins by examining the research that informed the recommendations in the report. Initiatives that are proposed or underway arel then outlined, and discussed in conjunction with examples of the challenges associated with making this shift in institutional thinking and practice.

Keywords: foundation, education, bridging, Unitec, courses, programs, literacies

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