CREEW'S News
April 2005
We have a small but rich collection of news items for CREEW members this month. Don't forget to keep your contributions coming!
- Research News
- Publications
- Conferences
- Presentations
- Awards
- Seminar Program
- Meet the CREEW!
- HRISS News
- Future CREEW's News
Research News
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Consortium on VET Research
Work has begun on the new Consortium, won by CREEW in collaboration with the University of Technology, Sydney and the Canberra Institute of Technology. Colloquially, the Consortium is known as Consortium 2 but this of course doesnt tell anyone much about it. The initial name in our proposal was Building RTOs for the Future, which had the advantage of being brief and catchy, but we thought may end up getting architects around the nation too excited! So, after much deliberation with NCVER (oversighting the program), a name somewhat cumbersome and offputting, but nevertheless more informative and accurate was devised that we all said we could live with: Supporting VET providers in building capability for the future. It more accurately indicates that we are not doing the building ourselves, but are undertaking research that will underpin their own building.
Consultations have been taking place in all States and Territories with leaders of key bodies, informing them of the Consortium, the researchers and its work, seeking their views and their support. This is necessary as we cannot afford to have any one State not supporting us. We will be speaking at many forums across the nation during the year, including the VISTA Conference in Lorne in May, the ACPET Conference in Adelaide in August, an RTO Conference in Perth in mid-May, the Reframing the Future Conference in early November, etc. All projects within the Consortiums research program have begun their literature reviewing and their planning. A website is being developed which we think will hang off the CREEW website, and a Consortium Newsletter will be emailed around the nation every quarter. Life is good but very hectic! Updates later on. -
Rosie Le Cornu and Judy Peters have renewed their contract with the Learning to Learn Project for a further two years. Learning to Learn is a DECS curriculum redesign project which has been funded since 1999. As part of their work as University Colleagues in Phase 3 of the Project they are facilitating four Learning Circles each comprised of principals and 2- 3 designated change leaders from 6-8 schools. The main focus of Learning Circles is for leaders to share and develop their understanding of leading the change process and developing site-based learning communities.
Publications
- The following report was published recently by NCVER,
and can be located at this
web
address
Roger Harris, Michele Simons and Berwyn Clayton (March 2005), 'Shifting mindsets: The changing work roles of vocational education and training practitioners,' Adelaide: NCVER, 85 pages.
The key messages are:
- Three major external drivers of change have impacted on the daily working lives of vocational education and training (VET) practitioners over the past three years. These are government policy, the expectations of industry and the community, and funding and financing.
- The greatest changes in the working lives of practitioners have been in the areas of work responsibilities, relationships with industry and relationships with colleagues.
- The introduction of training packages, increased competition among training providers and changes to funding have had the greatest impact on practitioners work. These are followed by technology, competency-based training and flexible delivery.
- Practitioners are generally positive about the changes. Private providers are most positive and are more focused on external matters, such as funding, understanding changes to vocational education and training, and meeting industry needs. Those in public providers are more focused on matters concerning teachinglearning practice, such as flexible delivery, training packages and the effects these have on their roles and work. They are more negative than those in private providers in their attitudes to change. - Two other reports are in the NCVER publishing pipeline to be
published soon:
- Roger Harris, Robert Sumner and Linda Rainey, 2005, in press, 'Student traffic: Two-way movement between vocational education and training and higher education', Adelaide: NCVER.
- Roger Harris, Michele Simons and Julian Moore, 2005, in press, 'A huge learning curve: TAFE practitioners ways of working with private enterprises', Adelaide: NCVER. - The following refereed paper has been accepted for publication
in the UK:
Roger Harris and Michele Simons, 2005, accepted, Exploring the notion of retention in apprenticeship, Education + Training (UK). - Raduntz, Helen, 2005, Constructing a Critical Democratic Education: Is it possible? A critical review essay of Philosophical Scaffolding for the Construction of Critical Democratic Education, By Richard A. Brosio, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 2000, 365 pages ISBN 0-8204-3939-8, in Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies Volume 3, Number 1 (March).
- Raduntz, Helen, 2005, Marketization of Education within the Global Capitalist Economy, in Globalizing Education: Policies, Pedagogies, & Politics, edited by Michael W. Apple, Jane Kenway & Michael Singh (eds.), Peter Lang, New York.
- Raduntz, Helen, 2004, RAD04066 'Positioning the Intellectual Property Issue at the centre of the Education Research Private/Public Debate: A Marxian Dialectical Critique', refereed paper presented at the Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Melbourne, Victoria, 28 Nov-2 Dec.
- Raduntz, Helen, 2004, RAD04110 'Educators and Education Researchers negotiating a way through the Public good/Private gain divide: A Marxian Dialectical Critique', refereed paper presented at the Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Melbourne, Victoria, 28 Nov-2 Dec.
- Reid, A, 2005, 'The regulated education market has a past' in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, Vol. 26 (1), pp. 79-94.
- Davies, I, Evans, M, & Reid, A, 2005, 'Globalising citizenship education? A critique of 'global' education and 'citizenship education' in British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 53. No.1, March 2005, pp. 66-89.
Conferences
- Helen Raduntz writes: As one of the twelve hundred or so
participants attending the 2004 AARE Conference in Melbourne in
November-December my impressions can of course only be fractional.
However, I sensed in the four major addresses and in the
presentations I managed to get to a note of urgency that the
changes to education as a result of marketisation pressures were
not on the whole working for the public good and that educators
and education researchers must become seriously, critically and
politically activist. As one presenter put it, when neo-liberal
and neo-conservative apologists are becoming critical of the
effects of their own policies and their consequences, its time to
build on their critiques and work towards 'unravelling the mess'.
That mess, according to presenters from the US and Canada, is being played out under the influence of what they consider to be one of the most extreme positivist, instrumental, narrowly defined and restrictive education and research agendas following the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 sponsored by the US Federal Government and binding on all states.
In the past the AARE has not seen its role as a body engaging in political activism let alone supporting educators and education researchers in taking to the barricades, so that the calls for action during the conference were for me somewhat electrifying.
As if to disabuse me of the notion that it couldn't happen in Australia, a presenter and members of his audience from the vocational education sector provided grass roots examples that it indeed could and probably would happen here.
For those interested in checking out my 'take' on this the following papers can be accessed from the AARE 4004 Conference CD due out in February 2005:
COR04940, CRU04375, DEL04060 (highly recommended), GRA04388 (highly recommended), JEF04006, MAY041063, MEY041087, PET041083 (Keynote address, most highly recommended), POW041079; SED04166, SIN04412, TEE041084 Radford Lecture, highly recommended). - 'Social Change in the 21st Century' is a one-day conference of the Centre for Social Change Research at Queensland University of Technology, 28 October 2005, papers due 15 July 2005. For more information click here.
Presentations
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On March 10th at the Education Development Centre, Associate Professor Judith Gill and Adjunct Professor Robert Crotty addressed the annual meeting of the South Australian Primary Principals Association about the research published in their report Social Inclusion in South Australian Primary Schools. The report was well received and endorsed by the 150 principals present and will provide the basis for further school-based social inclusion initiatives.
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Prof Marie Brennan and Assoc Prof Bruce Johnson, School of Education, alongside Steve Marshall the Chief Executive of DECS spoke to a gathering of Doctor of Education candidates, teachers and supervisors on March 4. The meeting celebrated the enrolment of 8 new candidates into the program, 7 of whom enter the program as part of an ongoing partnership between UniSA and DECS.
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Michael ODonoghue participated in receiving a delegation of Chinese middle school principals from Quingdao to the School of Education at Mawson Lakes on 2 March. The group toured the Mawson Centre and the Garth Boomer building and observed some teaching activities.
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The annual general meeting of the Technology Teachers Association took place in the new design and technology teaching spaces, School of Education, at Mawson Lakes on the evening of Friday February 25. Prof Marie Brennan addressed the meeting on future issues for technology education. The broad group, which included some of the new design and technology education award first year students as well as officers from SSABSA, DECS and teachers around the state, was impressed with the new facilities at Mawson Lakes.
Awards
Wonderful news! On 3 March, at the 2004 University of South Australia Student Association Awards event, 3 CREEW Key Researchers were recognised for their excellent contribution to education at the University.
- Dr Peter Willis - named the 2004 University of South Australia Research Degree Supervisor of the Year
- Associate Professor Bruce Johnson - Runner-up 2004 University of South Australia Research Degree Associate Supervisor of the Year
- Dr Rosie Le Cornu - Runner-up 2004 University of South Australia Lecturer of the Year .
Seminar Program
- On 18 March, Peter Willis, Tom Stehlik and Pam Carden
presented on the linked topics of communities of practice and the
research culture within CREEW. Opinions were sought on the
future of the postgraduate group and attendees were invited to
rank various proposals concerning activities for these
postgraduate members of CREEW.
- On 24 March, Silke Hellwig, a visiting PhD candidate from the University of Konstanz, Germany, presented a special session on 'Vocationalism and the competency debate in Germany'. Silke's presentation related to her ongoing research into ideas of competence in vocational education and training, in Australia and Germany. Attendees contributed to an animated discussion on VET policy.
- Peter Willis is enthusiastically putting together a seminar program for the year. If you would like to present a seminar, please contact Peter Willis.
Meet the CREEW!
Glenna Lear was with us for a couple of days last week, from Port Lincoln. Glenna is a full time PhD student and will be coming here hopefully for 3 days per month to catch up with Tom Stehlik who is her supervisor. She will be located in G4-13. Glenna has kindly provided us with a profile and writes ...
My PhD topic continues my research interest in Third Age learning but this time the focus is on what learning is occurring in ageing, vulnerable rural/regional communities and its role in sustaining and revitalising those communities. As I have lived on Lower Eyre Peninsula for many years I have personal experience of remoteness as a farming partner and an insiders perspective of rural life.
I returned to higher education as a very mature aged student after a break of several decades; it is something I had always wanted to do since my initial brief encounter at teachers college. After the last of my 4 sons left home I returned to the paid workforce and began studying with the encouragement of my partner. I completed a Bachelor in Adult and Voc Ed in 2002 followed by Honours as an external student and I am a now a full time internal student although I continue to live in Port Lincoln and will only be on campus for a few days each month.
While studying, I worked as an ATAS/ITAS tutor of Indigenous university students at UniSAs Port Lincoln off-campus study centre which provides Aboriginal people with the resources and support to access some university programs as external students while remaining in their own communities. Although I have reduced my workload I continue to work with 2 students in a range of courses.
HRISS News
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HRISS Steering Committee is having its first official Planning Day as a funded institute on 7 April at the Art Gallery of South Australia. After the success of our 2 day retreat for all members in November last year, we plan to have a follow up one day session on 16 June. Put this date in your diary now. More information will follow.
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HRISS Advisory Committee and launch: planning is underway to host our inaugural Advisory Committee meeting on Friday 10 June. It is anticipated that following the meeting with our Advisory Board HRISS will have an official launch from 4.30 to 6.30 in recognition of our new institute status. This will be held at the City West Campus. More information to follow.
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HRISS invites all members and post graduates to join us for a celebration on Friday 8th April at 4pm. Meet new staff and visiting scholars and congratulate the newly promoted, grant winners and PhD completions. Come along to MH1-06. We look forward to seeing you there. For catering purposes, please RSVP to Karen.hewitt@unisa.edu.au
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We are pleased to welcome Karen Hewitt to the team working at Murray House. Karen will provide administrative support three days a week, initially Mon, Tues and Wed. You may already have noticed Karens name on the weekly Calendar of Events.
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Visiting Scholars Profile. We have two international visitors who are here to work with Dr Gerry Bloustien, Dr Margaret Peters and Dr Sarah Baker on their ARC Discovery project, Playing for Life. Dr Bruce Cohen, a Marie Curie Research Fellow from Germanys Humboldt University, was awarded an ARC International Fellowship, and will be at the Hawke Research Institute for a year. His interests include the negotiation of youth identities through cultural practices. Dr Andy Bennett, in Adelaide until late April is from the University of Surrey and has written widely on aspects of youth culture, popular music and local identity. Both can be contacted through the Hawke Research Institute or come along on 8th April and meet with them informally.
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We have a number of events planned for 2005 that can be viewed at our events page. If you have an upcoming event and would like it included on our web page, please contact Katherine.leeson@unisa.edu.au
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Professor Alison Mackinnon attended the Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) conference for Directors of University-based Centres in Brisbane on March 17 and 18. A major agenda item was the issue of measures of performance and impact for the CHASS sector in a possible research assessment exercise. Further information will be available on the members page of the HRISS website on Tuesday 5 April.
Future CREEW's News
This newsletter reflects the activities and interests of some 80 members of CREEW. Please keep us informed about your activities, sending all contributions to Linda Rainey.