Enhancing pathways for ACE learners : Building the capacity of Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers to offer non-accredited courses and VET modules with pathways into VET programs.

This report presents findings from a project that considered a) the current capacity of Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers to offer non-accredited courses and single modules of accredited learning that provide pathways into full scale accredited VET programs, and b) the factors that aid and inhibit this from occurring. Based on the findings, suggestions are made as to what needs to be done to extend this capacity and thereby to achieve the goals outlined in the 2008 Ministerial Declaration on Adult Community Education.

A theory of literacies for considering the role of adult and community education in postcolonial change

In this paper, I use a case study drawn from education in the Grenada revolution and afterwards to discuss lessons that postcolonial societies can learn from comparing two approaches to adult basic and popular education. I argue that some approaches to adult education provide subordinate literacies and catch-up schooling on the cheap, while others contribute to sociopolitical change by helping participants develop powerful literacies that challenge the structures of injustice, inefficiency, and dysfunctionality that are still entrenched in most societies. The paper puts forward the concept of epistemic, humanist and public ‘literacies’ as a tool for considering the role of adult education in national development.

Urban renewal from the inside out: Spatial and critical literacies in a low socioeconomic school community

This article focuses on how teachers worked to build a meaningful curriculum around changes to a neighborhood and school grounds in a precinct listed for urban renewal. Drawing on a long-term relationship with the principal and one teacher, the researchers planned and designed a collaborative project to involve children as active participants in the redevelopment process, negotiating and redesigning an area between the preschool and the school. The research investigated spatial literacies, that is, ways of thinking about and representing the production of spaces, and critical literacies, in this instance how young people might have a say in remaking part of their school grounds. Data included videotapes of key events, interviews, and an archive of the elementary students' artifacts experimenting with spatial literacies. The project builds on the insights of community members and researchers working for social justice in high-poverty areas internationally that indicate the importance of education, local action, family, and youth involvement in building sustainable and equitable communities.

Restructuring instructional material in vocational education to enhance learning

This paper reviews research findings regarding the design of instructional material and its effectiveness in facilitating learning. Firstly, a discussion of memory processes engaged in when learning from different types of instructional material is presented. Secondly, referring to empirical research, the implications of the above discussion for vocational education instruction, and in particular, for engineering graphics, CNC programming and learning to use equipment from manuals are presented.

Mathematics funds of knowledge : sotmaute and sermaute fish in a Torres Strait Islander community

The purpose of this article is to describe a project with one Torres Strait Islander Community. It provides some insights into parents’ funds of knowledge that are mathematical in nature, such as sorting shells and giving fish. The idea of funds of knowledge is based on the premise that people are competent and have knowledge that has been historically and culturally accumulated into a body of knowledge and skills essential for their functioning and well-being. This knowledge is then practised throughout their lives and passed onto the next generation of children. Through adopting a community research approach, funds of knowledge that can be used to validate the community’s identities as knowledgeable people, can also be used as foundations for future learnings for teachers, parents and children in the early years of school. They can be the bridge that joins a community’s funds of knowledge with schools validating that knowledge.

Shattered dreams : a community project

The research field was community empowerment through education and skill-building. The context was the high rates of domestic violence in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, and the dearth of culturally-appropriate resource materials to stimulate and encourage community engagement with the issue. The research question concerned the use of a specific media project – the creation of a 7-minute 48-second DVD on the causes and impacts of domestic violence – as a focus for community empowerment, education and skills development. The research represented an innovative partnership between the university research team, a non-government organisation, and various expert content-providers. The project generated new knowledge regarding best practice, in such areas as the culturally appropriate use of the voices of elders, focusing on the responsibilities of both men and women in relation to family and domestic violence, and the protection of Aboriginal and Islander children. The project has created an excellent tool for workshops on related issues including familiarity with the legal system. The film has been distributed to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander domestic violence services throughout the State, and has generated interstate interest, indicating a significant gap in available culturally-appropriate domestic violence resources. A support package for educational workers within Indigenous community groups wishing to use the resource has also been produced. In 2010, the DVD was nominated for a Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Award. Other non-government organisations have expressed interest in using the model created through this community-based project.

The creative citizen : understanding the value of design education programs in the knowledge economy

The knowledge economy relies on the diffusion and use of knowledge as well as its creation (Houghton and Sheenan, 2000). The future success of economic activity will depend on the capacity of organisations to transform by increasing their flexibility. In particular, this transformation is dependant on a decentralised, networked and multi-skilled workforce. To help organisations transition, new strategies and structures for education are required. Education systems need to concentrate less on specialist skills and more on the development of people with broad-based problem solving skills that are adaptable, with social and inter-personal communication skills necessary for networking and communication. This paper presents the findings of a ‘Knowledge Economy Market Development Mapping Study’ conducted to identify the value of design education programs from primary through to tertiary level in Queensland, Australia. The relationship of these programs to the development of the capacities mentioned above is explored. The study includes the collection of qualitative and quantitative data consisting of a literature review, focus groups and survey. Recommendations for the future development of design education programs in Queensland, Australia are proposed, and future research opportunities are presented and discussed.

Successful outcomes in vocational education and training courses : how pedagogy and expectations influence achievement

This paper reports on a four year Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project titled Skilling Indigenous Queensland, conducted in regional areas of Queensland, Australia from 2009 to 2013. The project sought to investigate vocational education, training (VET) and teaching, Indigenous learners’ needs, employer cultural and expectations and community culture and expectations to identify best practice in numeracy teaching for Indigenous VET learners. Specifically it focused on ways to enhance the teaching and learning of courses and the associated mathematics in such courses to benefit learners and increase their future opportunities of employment. To date thirty-nine teachers/trainers/teacher aides and two hundred and thirty-one students consented to participate in the project. Nine VET courses were nominated to be the focus on the study. This paper focuses on questionnaire and interview responses from four trainers, two teacher aides and six students. In recent years a considerable amount of funding has been allocated to increasing Indigenous Peoples’ participation in education and employment. This increased funding is predicated on the assumption that it will make a difference and contribute to closing the education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Council of Australia Governments, 2009). The central tenet is that access to education for Indigenous People will create substantial social and economic benefits for regional and remote Indigenous People. The project’s aim is to address some of the issues associated with the gap. To achieve the aims, the project adopted a mixed methods design aimed at benefitting research participants and included: participatory collaborative action research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988) and, community research (Smith, 1999). Participatory collaborative action research refers to a is a “collective, self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social and educational practices” (Kemmis et al., 1988, p. 5). Community research is described as an approach that “conveys a much more intimate, human and self-defined space” (p. 127). Community research relies on and validates the community’s own definitions. As the project is informed by the social at a community level, it is described as “community action research or emancipatory research” (Smith, 1999, p. 127). It seeks to demonstrate benefit to the community, making positive differences in the lives of Indigenous People and communities. The data collection techniques included survey questionnaires, video recording of teaching and learning processes, teacher reflective video analysis of teaching, observations, semi-structured interviews and student numeracy testing. As a result of these processes, the findings indicate that VET course teachers work hard to adopt contextualising strategies to their teaching, however this process is not always straight forward because of the perceptions of how mathematics has been taught and learned historically. Further teachers, trainers and students have high expectations of one another with the view to successful outcomes from the courses.

Education : South Asia

South Asia, a source of great literary and literacy traditions and a generator of great philosophies, also contains a large percentage of illiterate people, the majority of them women. South Asia includes India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma and Afghanistan. The progress of these countries is dependent on female literacy because health, hygiene, and nutrition problems can be partly overcome through educating women. “Illiteracy is closely related to underdevelopment and poverty, and the elimination of illiteracy represents an essential condition for the development and well-being of peoples and nations" (UNESCO PROAP, 1989: II ). In South Asia, women constitute nearly two- thirds of illiterate adults. There is an inherent contradiction in the region between modern amenities, modern educational systems, and advanced communication systems, on the one hand, and the high level of illiteracy and significant backwardness, on the other.

Community-based control of Aedes aegypti by using Mesocyclops in southern Vietnam

We previously reported a new community-based mosquito control strategy that resulted in elimination of Aedes aegypti (Linn.) in 40 of 46 communes in northern and central Vietnam, and with annual recurrent total costs (direct and indirect) of only $0.28-$0.89 international dollars per person. This control strategy was extended to four provinces in southern Vietnam in Long An and Hau Giang (2004-2007) and to Long An, Ben Tre, and Vinh Long (2005-2010). In a total of 14 communes with 124,743 residents, the mean ± SD of adult female Ae. aegypti was reduced from 0.93 ± 0.62 to 0.06 ± 0.09, and the reduction of immature Ae. aegypti averaged 98.8%. By the final survey, no adults could be collected in 6 of 14 communes, and one commune, Binh Thanh, also had no immature forms. Although the community-based programs also involved community education and clean-up campaigns, the prevalence of Mesocyclops in large water storage containers > 50 liters increased from 12.77 ± 8.39 to 75.69 ± 9.17% over periods of 15-45 months. At the conclusion of the study, no confirmed dengue cases were detected in four of the five communes for which diagnostic serologic analysis was performed. The rate of progress was faster in communes that were added in stages to the program but the reason for this finding was unclear. At the completion of the formal project, sustainability funds were set up to provide each commune with the financial means to ensure that community-based dengue control activities continued.

The Gothenburg Recommendations on Education for Sustainable Development

This document calls on governments, civil society and in particular educators to prioritize processes that develop and strengthen education for sustainable development (ESD). The world has changed since the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. While there have been significant initiatives and progress has been made, the scale of effort is still overshadowed by the scope of the problem. For instance, human-induced climate change is creating a long-lasting ecological crisis with severe economic and social consequences. Recently the global economic crisis has drawn attention to the problem of borrowing from resources that do not exist. Poverty, conflict and social injustice remain critical issues on the global agenda. A renewed sense of commitment to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014 is required. Formal, informal and non-formal education and learning processes for sustainability must be strengthened and prioritized. This document supports and builds on the concepts and values that are put forward within UNESCO’s International Implementation Scheme for Education for Sustainable Development and in the Earth Charter. The purpose of ESD is to reorient education in order to contribute to a sustainable future for the common good of present and future generations. ESD recognizes the interdependence of environmental, social and economic perspectives and the dependence of humanity on a healthy biosphere. Participation and involvement are necessary components of ESD, with an emphasis on empowerment and agency for active citizenship, human rights and societal change. Re-orientation is necessary at all levels and in all phases of education, and encompasses community learning, thus making ESD a wider process challenging the form and purpose of education itself.

Dry tropics water smart : a community based approach to residential outdoor water consumption

This paper discusses the Townsville City Council Dry Tropics Water Smart (DTWS) initiative, developed by TCC Integrated Sustainability Services (ISS) and Townsville Water, and informed by The University of Adelaide. The program draws on many years of experience by the TCC team to blend key community-based research approaches in order to develop this residential outdoor water conservation program. Several community pilots have been conducted to test different behaviour change strategies and messages. This paper outlines recent steps taken to develop the community trials, as guided by a combination of behaviour change theories including community-based social marketing and thematic communications methods. Some preliminary results are outlined focused on community uptake of different strategies, community perceptions of communication materials, and some insights into the effectiveness of outdoor water hardware.

Research in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability : International Perspectives and Provocations

Sustainability is a global issue that urgently needs addressing, the most serious consequences of which concern children and future generations. This insightful research text tackles one of the most significant contemporary issues of our times – the nexus between society and environment – and how early childhood education can contribute to sustainable living. By offering international and multidisciplinary research perspectives on Early Childhood Education for Sustainability, each chapter explores and investigates the complex topic of sustainability and its relationship to early childhood education. A particular emphasis that runs through this text is young children as empowered citizens, capable of both contributing to and creating change for sustainability. The chapter authors work from, or are aligned with, a transformative education paradigm that suggests the socio-constructivist frameworks currently underpinning Early Childhood Education require reframing in light of the social transformations necessary to address humanity’s unsustainable, unjust and unhealthy living patterns. This research text is designed to be provocative and challenging; in so doing it seeks to encourage exploration of current understandings about Early Childhood Education for Sustainability, offers new dimensions for more deeply informed practice, and proposes avenues for further research in this field.

Community arts in early childhood

Community arts can take many forms, including murals, installations, festivals and performances. The work can be produced by artists solely, by artists working with community groups, or by community groups. Community arts can be on a grand-scale covering whole streets, parks or even towns, or small- scale, such as a mosaic in the corner of a play area. It can be extremely impacting and a permanent fixture, or fragile and small and designed to blow away in the wind. But, common to all these different forms of community arts are the criteria that community arts are made in, for and/or by, the local community.