The Skills for Jobs White Paper and funding and accountability consultation set out the Government's plans to introduce a greater focus on the outcomes of learning, including a new Skills Measure that looks at the employment and other outcomes that learners achieve. Will this give colleges and providers greater freedom to deliver for learners, or…

A skilled workforce is critical to the delivery of quality school age care services. A strategy called Core Knowledge and Competency (CKC) Framework was designed to build the skills and knowledge of after school care educators as they provided before and after school programs in Queensland, Australia. The strategy was to help educators meet the…

The transition into a post-industrial economy changed the nature of the Australian labour market extinguishing jobs in traditional industries and creating jobs in new industries. Workers displaced from the manufacturing sector and women seeking to re-enter the labour market after taking time out for family reasons need to retrain in order to…

There is a lack of coherence between education, training and work in Australia indicated by low proportions of VET graduates who work in occupations related to their qualification and mismatches between qualifications, skills and work. This paper discusses how student flows through tertiary education can further illustrate this lack of coherence.…

This is the final report from a three-year program of research investigating the role of vocational education and training (VET) in workforce development. The research focuses on meat processing and child care, both of which are characterised by low-skill entry points to the labour market. The author pulls together the key themes emerging from the…

Adult educators have strong beliefs. This will surprise no-one, but where do their beliefs come from, and how do they influence future development of their teaching practice? Drawing on my PhD research, I explore the multi-directional relationship between teaching beliefs and practices, considering the influence of past traditions of adult…

The purpose of this report is to provide national data on the technical and further education (TAFE) workforce in 2008 and, where possible, compare this with 2002 data collected for the report "Profiling the national vocational education and training workforce" (NCVER 2004). Currently, there is no regular consistent national collection…

Language, literacy and numeracy are necessary for greater workforce participation, productivity and social inclusion. Being able to measure the level of proficiency in these skills, and any changes in the level of skills, is important for getting a sense of how well language, literacy and numeracy programs are working. Two measurement tools used…

"Research messages 2011" is a collection of summaries of research projects published by National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in 2011. The publication also has an overview essay that captures the themes and highlights from the research for the year, including: (1) the initial education and training of young people and…

The adult and community education (ACE) sector is consistently responsive to changing community needs and government priorities. It is this particular function that has drawn ACE into the lifelong learning debate as one model for sustaining communities. The responsiveness of ACE means that the sector and its programs continue to make valuable…

Degrees in technical and further education (TAFE) are relatively new, but are likely to grow as a consequence of government policies that both seek to increase the percentage of Australians holding a bachelor degree and create a more unified tertiary education sector. There are ten TAFE institutes authorised to offer higher education in five…

Uncritical acceptance of the discourses of government economic policies is counterproductive to the development of teamwork and flexible skills due to the insecurity they create. Therefore, discourse analysis should be a crucial element in adult education and training. (SK)

The Commission on International Adult Education (CIAE) of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) provides a forum for the discussion of international issues related to adult education in general, as well as adult education in various countries around the globe. The following purposes summarize the work of the…

Debates on skill shortages and the aging of the population have markedly increased the attention given to Vocational Education and Training (VET) and to Technical and Further Education (TAFE). New roles for VET include new products, pedagogy and partnerships with industry, all with implications for staff development. TAFE has particular…

The material in this monograph is part of the study materials for the one-semester distance education unit, Non-Formal Learning, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University (Australia). It is designed to raise issues relating to skill definition. "Choosing a Worker or How Good Are Your Job Descriptions?" explores why interpersonal or…