CREEW'S News
July 2004
Hello everyone
Amazingly July has come round and wetly too! Some of you may be off to sunnier places during the mid year break and others of us will be warmly anticipating the summer. Nevertheless, CREEW members have been generating heat in research activities, which are happily presented below.
- Research News
- Publications
- Conferences
- Professional Development
- Seminar Series
- Postgraduate News
- HRISS Update
- Meet the CREEW
- Future CREEW's News
Research News
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CREEW has won two of the three grant proposals prepared for the latest round of National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) funding.
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'Choosing VET: Evaluation of career development services'. Researchers are Michele Simons and Linda Rainey, together with Berwyn Clayton (Centre Undertaking Research in Vocational Education, Canberra Institute of Technology); value is $89,900. This is a national study to evaluate the effectiveness of the range of careers development services available to and utilized by young people, up to 24 years, at the transition point of post-compulsory schooling and in the early years of their careers, with a particular focus on outcomes relating to VET.
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'Learning pathways for young people'. Researchers are Roger Harris, Bob Sumner and Linda Rainey, together with Jillian Albrecht, Hunter Institute of TAFE, NSW; value is $44,875. This study builds on the recently completed 'Student Traffic' project and will explore the extent and nature of the movement of clients (including young learners) between available learning pathways. It will analyse policy initiatives and national statistics, as well as qualitative research of the individual pathways of young people who have transferred between VET and HE, in either direction.
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Michelle Simons and Roger Harris have been asked to resubmit in October their proposal 'Making decisions about access to professional development for VET staff'.
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A team headed by Bruce Johnson has been awarded a Teaching & Learning Grant of $21,000 for a project entitled 'Improving the evidence base of doctoral research teaching, supervision and management: an integrated research and professional development strategy'. The project builds on existing research undertaken in the University by Dr Di Bills as seen in her 2003 report on characteristics associated with research degree student satisfaction, completion and attrition.
Publications
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Harris R, Simons M & Carden P (2004). 'Peripheral journeys: probationary constables, learning and acceptance', Journal of workplace learning (UK), vol.16. no.4, May, pp.205-218.
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Harris R, Sumner R & Rainey L (2004). 'Student traffic: two-way movement between vocational education and training and higher education,' Adelaide: National Centre for Vocational Education Research (in press).
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Rainey L (2004). 'Evaluation of "Australians Working Together" pilot program at Regency Institute of TAFE'. Report delivered for project funded by DFEEST. This project evaluated the effectiveness of the program in terms of enhancing resilience and employability for a long term unemployed people, with multiple disadvantages, living in the northern suburbs of Adelaide.
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Simons M, Bridge K, McCarthy C & Harris R (2004). 'More than just a VET certificate: are there unrecognised outcomes from apprenticeship training?', Melbourne: Victorian Qualifications Authority (in press).
Conferences
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Sue Howard and Bruce Johnson gave a presentation and took part in the forum 'Putting the sustainability back into societies' conducted at the Hawke Institute at Magill on June 17th.
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Judy Peters is attending the ATEA (Australian Teacher Education Association) conference at the University of Bathurst 7-9 July and presenting a refereed paper 'Student teachers reflecting through problem-based scenarios'. For conference details, click here.
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Alan Reid was the invited keynote speaker at the combined conference of schools in the Murraylands, Murray Bridge High School, Friday June 11.
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The Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics (AAPAE) will be holding a conference 'Power and responsibility: ethics in the 21st Century?', at Hawkesbury campus, University of Western Australia on 29 Sept-1 Oct. Papers are due by 26 July. For a link to the conference site, click here.
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'Social Change Research in the 21st Century' is a one-day conference of the Centre for Social Change Research at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland on 29 October 2004. The conference will showcase social research projects that address a wide-range of issues pertaining to social change at a local, national and international level. Papers are due on 16 July. For a link to the conference site, click here.
Professional Development
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Alan Reid was the inaugural winner of the 2004 Mackillop Medal. This is a medal presented every two years by the Australian College of Educators to recognise the work of a distinguished South Australian educator. The medal was presented at an awards ceremony on Thursday evening 24 June. Congratulations Alan!
Seminar Series
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On Thursday 5 August, in the evening, Mike Newman will be presenting on 'Teaching for sustainable, vigorous and defiant societies' in the 'Weaving the social fabric' seminar series. This will be followed by the launch, by Denise Bradley, of the book 'Lifelong learning and the democratic imagination: revisioning justice, freedom and community', edited by Peter Willis and Pam Carden. So put this date in your diary and you will be notified of further details.
Postgraduate News
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Shin Yu Miao, whom many of us got to know and love during her years here, has had her PhD confirmed; Roger Harris and Peter Willis were her Supervisors. Well done Shin Yu - we look forward to seeing you when you come to Australia for your graduation in September!
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Pam Carden writes: Wendy Bastalich held another very successful workshop for the CREEW postgraduates on Monday 21st June. The theme was 'Grounded Theory' and Wendy gave us both a broader understanding of what the methodology is and also ways in which we are able to critique or use it for our own research. These sessions are really valuable in giving postgraduates a greater knowledge of methodology generally and in exploring ways of critiquing, and I urge all postgraduates to try to get to each of the sessions. The next one is scheduled for Monday 19th July from 2.00 - 5.00 pm in the seminar room, ground floor of C Building. The topic is "Methodological debates underpinning the research interview method".
HRISS Update
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There is no further news on the formation of the new Institute, but the Hawke Research Institute has a number of exciting new developments by way of new staff members, several impressive ARC Linkage grants, new events in the Weaving the Social Fabric Lecture Series and a 2-day research retreat on 10-11 November. For more news click here.
Meet the CREEW
Guten tag from Germany
Roger Harris writes:
I am enjoying my time in Germany as a 'Gastprofessur' at the University of Konstanz, teaching a full semester course telescoped into 4.5 weeks! I am told by UniSA International Office that there have been four Uni of Konstanz students who have studied at UniSA between 2002-04. Apparently, our respective State Governments have a student exchange agreement. However, no UniSA students have gone to Konstanz. It is, of course, easier in terms of language to go to Germany than to go to Oz. It would be good if somehow we could arrange for a Konstanz VET student to study with us (much like Karen and Marieke from the Uni of Nijmegen in The Netherlands did in 2002).
Euro 2004 has been, as is, very big here, of course ... or at least was until last Wednesday evening when Germany was put out of the competition and didn't make the quarter finals!
This morning I visited Wessenberg Commercial School. They were obviously keen to show off their offerings to two university people, especially one from Oz. They were very helpful and very hospitable, making us feel quite at home. Their main pride and joy was their "Practice Firm" (PF), and we spent a good deal of the time in there, talking with two teachers and some of the students. The students are interviewed (just like a proper job interview) to enter this PF - it is quite a status to get in; they had 100 applying, and they could take only 27. So the students were quite motivated. They spend something like 7-9 lessons out of a week's 25 in the firm - a simulated office divided into departments, such as Finance, Personnel, Sales and Purchasing, and Secretarial. The teacher sets up tasks for them at the beginning of the day and then they break up into their "departments" to carry out work, submitting their work at the end of the day. They are learning by doing, and learning "employability" (generic) skills such as being self-directed, motivated and initiated, as well as the technical skills. Interestingly, they are also learning English quite a bit of the time, as they are increasing their links with PFs in other countries such as Italy and Belgium, and so the lingua franca has to be English! At these times, the English teachers check their English in invoices and accounts, for example, before they get emailed off to other countries. They are keen to build more bridges, too, with English-speaking PFs, so I volunteered to try to link them up with some in Oz that I know about. Getting a Dual System apprenticeship is the thing to do (about 65% of German youth do that), but the system is reaching something of a "crisis" because the number of training places that companies can make available each year is dropping. The school overlooks the Rhine (on the southern side of it - so it must have been very close to Switzerland), a lovely outlook!
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.