What we do - Vocational Education and Training
The vocational education and training theme explores learning associated with employment, community engagement and personal development. Work undertaken contributes to identifying key factors in determining and ensuring high quality training delivery in urban, regional and remote sites. The research focuses on:
- understanding the relationships that exist formally and informally through a range of socially informed learning partnerships, and
- their impact on the engagement, experience and outcomes of individuals, agencies and broader systems. through learning
The consortium’s research priorities are to identify and address the key issues in working in complex environments, explicitly recognise the power differentiated structures and diverse knowledge systems that impact on learning and describe approaches to negotiate and implement meaningful learning experiences and outcomes. Findings inform the development of systemic responses to policy structures, strategic training and workforce development challenges, funding and evaluation models.
These include;
- Collaborative, demand driven and outcomes focussed approaches to training and community development
- Empowerment amd Involvement of all stakeholders in designing, implementing and assessing integrated learning programmes
- Strength-based learning models that recognise learners’ knowledge, skills and opportunities an empower them to meet their social, economic and cultural goals.
- Development of new workforces and work opportunities with disenfranchised communities, particularly Indigenous people
- Enterprise approaches to training and development
- Learning across the lifespan for personal and vocational purposes
- Learning in socially and environmentally complex environments
- Innovative approaches to flexible delivery, e-learning and recognising prior learning
- Evaluation of the outcomes of learning programmes as they impact across the lifespan and community.
- Professional learning linked to adoption of innovative approaches to teaching and assessment
- Development of a valid evidence base and processes that recognise diverse knowledge systems, collaboration between learning stakeholders and workforce outcomes
- Identifying the literacies in emerging industries and learning technologies, exploring their implications for training and developing systems to recognize and build links between established and other literacies.
- Development of community engagement models across government, non-government and community members that build capacity and recognize different knowledge systems
- Build a robust evidence based practice and policy model that is understood and can be used across the VET sector
- Identifying the literacies in emerging industries and learning technologies, exploring their implications for training and developing systems to recognize and build links between established and other literacies
The research theme is developed through high quality, participatory research, theoretical development and publication by skilled researchers and research students. The team disseminate their findings through a series of seminars, conference presentations and publications. Innovative practitioners are involved in developing an informed and connected research community.