Working and learning in vocational education and training in the knowledge era : final report of the professional development for the future project

This Report summarises the outcomes of the phases of the Professional
Development for the Future Project and presents the implications of this research for professional development of staff in Vocational Education and Training (VET), as they become knowledge workers.

These shifts are occurring within the knowledge era. Distinguishing features of this era are summarised into four broad areas:
- the importance and value placed on knowledge in organisations
- the time span of discretion
- the complexity of relationships, and
- the ubiquitous nature of information and communication technology.

It is within this context that work is currently performed, and understanding this context provides the foundation for considering new capabilities required in the knowledge era.
Key capabilities required of knowledge workers to work effectively in the
knowledge era were drawn together from an analysis of the theoretical literature and the results of interviews with knowledge workers. The core capabilities identified include:
- adaptive problem solving – becoming designers as well as problem -
solvers
- rapid knowledge gathering and sharing with others
- discriminating between relevant and irrelevant information, and
- understanding and working effectively with the organisation’s culture.

Knowledge era characteristics and knowledge worker capabilities have been mapped to each other illustrating conceptual linkages between these two areas.

Professional development themes drawn from interviews with knowledge
workers are presented. While global trends in knowledge work have been well documented, the impact of these trends on the capabilities of workers, and the ways in which knowledge workers develop these capabilities is less well understood. Their learning methods challenge our current thinking in relation to the ways in which workers acquire skills and knowledge. Some of the professional development methods include seeking exposure to new ideas from a wide variety of sources, embracing intense learning opportunities, and using relationships to increase knowledge.

‘Thought pieces’ (see p17 ff) commissioned for this Project, as well as
subsequent interviews with the authors, provided further insights into the
professional development of knowledge workers. The implications of these insights are an extension of earlier themes and emphasise:
- the emergent nature of knowledge work
- the importance of relationships that facilitate knowledge sharing
- coherent conversations and dialogue
- collaborative work and generosity.

A key insight is the shift from thinking about knowledge work in terms of
borrowed knowledge to an emphasis on generated knowledge within a context.

Data from focus groups of the Project provide further insights for knowledge worker professional development. These augment the perspectives of the earlier data analysis but also add greater emphasis to:
- the clear and direct relationship between professional development and
work and career aspirations of knowledge workers,
- the relationship of professional development to the organisational
mission, and
- the issues of managing and leading knowledge workers and their
development.

As part of this analysis the defining features of organisational life in VET were reviewed in relation to effective professional development of knowledge workers.

The final section of the Report revisits the core dimensions of the Project.
Concise commentaries on working and learning in the knowledge era,
professional development in the knowledge era, and leadership and
management in the knowledge era are presented.

The Report concludes with a discussion of the enablers of professional
development for knowledge workers in VET. This discussion is introduced by a re-statement of the VET sector’s positioning in the knowledge era and the consequences of this for VET managers an d staff in terms of complexity, uncertainty and diminished prospects for accurate predictiveness. The enablers comprised:
- integration of information technology into socio -technical systems
- greater understanding of the organisation from within
- connecting staff to the organisation’s fundamental identity
- connecting to the work and career trajectories of workers
- establishing work structures which integrate the use of professional
development resources with knowledge work
- providing workers with the autonomy to design their own professional
development activities
- building professional development into the iterative nature of knowledge
work, and
- creating organisational contexts that value intuitive thinking and working.

Professional development needs to be thou ght of in a much broader context in the knowledge era. What each VET staff member knows and shares will become increasingly central to their work, and in that sense all VET workers require capabilities for knowledge work. This report accurately describes t he VET context, the capabilities required, and the organisational enablers that will promote ‘knowing’ and thus embed a new style of professional development within VET.

Evaluating a strategic approach to professional development through guided reflection

Research on quality in early childhood has consistently shown that staff are the cornerstone of excellence, and that staff training makes a difference to services provided to children and families. There is also a growing awareness of the importance of adopting a planned approach to career development and that this begins with self-assessment, and can be enhanced through the use of guided reflection with a mentor. The Early Childhood Consortium Victoria (ECCV) at The University of Melbourne, has developed a self-assessment manual (SAM) designed as a tool for early childhood practitioners to explore their work in a strategic way. It serves the dual purposes of assisting practitioners to address issues of service quality, as well as promoting individual professional development through reflective practice. SAM has now been piloted in a number of early childhood settings in Australia and this paper presents a formative evaluation of this work and discusses its potential for professional development planning.

Attitudes about work practices, time allocation and publication output : profiles of Australasian marketing academics

The Australasian tertiary education sector has undergone significant organizational and cultural changes, which have increased pressures on academics to undertake a range of additional activities while at the same time improving research performance. These pressures impact on individuals in different ways, although there may be some groups or clusters of individuals within institutions with common characteristics. Managers may need to develop different sets of management strategies and policies to assist each group of academics to deal better with these pressures and improve their individual performance. The paper examines Australasian marketing academics’ perceptions of their work environments and whether these perceptions result in differing clusters of individuals who might also vary based on their research performance, time allocated to different academic roles, and their professional and demographic characteristics. Sixty-eight members of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Marketing responded to a survey using a modified version of an instrument developed by Diamantopoulos et al. (1992). K-means clustering procedure identified four groups of academics – “Traditional Academics,” “Satisfied Professors,” “Newer Academics,” and “Satisfied Researchers.” While only a few significant differences among clusters were identified in relation to time allocated to academic activities and research performance, it appears that clusters differ on several professional and demographic characteristics.

Professional development online : showcasing good practice to support open, distance and flexible learning

Designing Electronic Learning and Teaching Approaches (DELTA) is an online professional development initiative to support pedagogically-appropriate teaching with technology by showcasing examples of good practice in e-learning. The site aims to increase appreciation of e-learning possibilities for teaching staff through an easy-to-access, just-in-time resource. This paper describes the site and introduces the modular evaluation approach which is being implemented to examine it from different stakeholder perspectives. It then focuses on the first evaluation module which investigates how users perceive and engage with DELTA. The paper provides the initial evaluation findings which will contribute to the ongoing improvement of DELTA as a professional development resource that supports open, distance and flexible learning.

Technology advances : transforming university teaching through professional development

Increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in universities is a global trend. However, many teaching academics are unfamiliar with the possibilities of ICTs and have limited understanding of how to integrate them into their teaching in pedagogically appropriate ways. Th is highlights a need for universities to provide professional development opportunities to assist staff to better understand their teaching practices, and the theoretical perspectives underpinning them, in order to exploit current educational technologies for the benefi t of student learning. This paper introduces the broad trends infl uencing the advancement of technology in higher education before considering the opportunities that the new context off ers for pushing the boundaries of theory and practice relating to learning and teaching in higher education. It then describes an online professional development initiative which responds to these opportunities. Th is is an exemplars website entitled Designing Electronic Learning and Teaching Approaches (DELTA) which has been introduced at Monash University to support pedagogically appropriate teaching with technology.

Knowledge and skills of professional carers working with older people with depression

Objectives: The current study was designed to evaluate the knowledge, skills and self-efficacy of care providers from the perspective of professionals working in the aged-care industry.

Method: Participants were 21 professional carers, 10 General Practitioners and 7 aged-care managers. Focus groups, which involved the completion of a semi-structured interview related to knowledge, recognition, confidence, referral procedures and use of screening tools for the detection of depression, were conducted.

Results: The results showed that all groups of respondents recognised significant gap in the knowledge and awareness of depression among professional care staff working with older people in both the community and residential care-settings. Skills in the detection and monitoring of depression and the self-efficacy of these care staff were also seen to be a problem.

Discussion: The implications of these findings in terms of training programmes for professional carers working in the aged health care sector are discussed.

The management of depressed elderly care recipients : family perspectives on the skills of professional carers

Recent studies have identified high levels of depression among older people, both those in their own homes and those in residential care. With the world's population ageing, it is timely for health service providers to consider how the escalating population of depressed elderly people will be managed. Although treating general practitioners may be the health professionals most expected to detect, treat, and monitor depression among the elderly, professional carers are well placed to assist in the detection and monitoring of the disorder. This study conducted individual interviews with 15 family members of depressed aged-care recipients to determine their perceptions of the skills and knowledge of depression of professional carers. Family members reported that carers are more likely to avoid than engage with their clients about depressive symptomatology and do not communicate their concerns with managers or general practitioners (GPs). Family members believed that, in general, professional carers were undertrained in these areas. The implications of these findings for health service planning and staff training are discussed.

Professional attitudes towards deliberate self-harm in patients with borderline personality disorder

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the attitudes of mental health and emergency medicine clinicians towards patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The clinician gender, primary occupation and service setting, level of university training and years of experience, frequency of clinical contact, and completion of specific training in borderline personality disorder were expected to influence the attitudes of health professionals towards working with borderline patients that engage in self-harm.

Method: A purpose-designed questionnaire and an assessment tool to quantify attitudinal levels were used to collect demographic information and assess the attitudes of 140 mental health and emergency medicine practitioners across two Australian health services and a New Zealand health service.

Results: Statistically and clinically significant differences were found between emergency medical staff and mental health clinicians in their attitudes towards working with borderline personality disorder. The strongest predictor of attitudes was whether the clinician worked in emergency medicine or mental health. This was followed by years of experience and specific training in personality disorders as significant predictors of attitudes to self-harm.

Conclusions: The implications of these findings for the professional training of clinicians in the management and treatment of borderline personality disorder patients are discussed.

Targeted clinical education for staff attitudes towards deliberate self-harm in borderline personality disorder : randomized controlled trial

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of attending targeted clinical education on borderline personality disorder on the attitudes of health clinicians towards working with deliberate self-harm behaviours commonly exhibited by patients diagnosed with this complex disorder. Comparisons of clinicians across service settings, occupational fields, and other demographic areas were also made.

Method: A purpose-designed demographic questionnaire and the Attitudes Towards Deliberate Self-Harm Questionnaire were used to collect the demographic information and assess the attitudes of 99 mental health and emergency medicine practitioners across two Australian health services and a New Zealand health service, both before and after education attendance.

Results: Statistically significant improvements in attitude ratings were found for both emergency medicine clinicians and mental health clinicians in working with deliberate self-harm behaviours in borderline personality disorder, following attendance at the education program with a medium affect size (t(32)=−3.45, p=0.002, d=0.43 and t(65)=−5.12, p=0.000, d=0.42, respectively). Clinicians across occupational areas of nursing, allied health, and medical fields demonstrated equivocal levels of improvement in their attitude ratings.

Conclusions: Results are discussed in terms of the necessity of providing regular access to targeted clinical education for health professionals working with patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

Academic staff take the lead : experimenting with social software at Deakin University

This paper reports on a two staged staff development exercise to help new academic staff to integrate Web 2.0 technologies including web-based communication and some digital technologies into their curricula. It involved professional development for the teaching staff in the first stage followed by these teachers providing professional development for the course participants. The teachers engaged in a blended community of inquiry with face-to-face sessions and online work while the professional development for the course participants included technical support, training and a peer group environment with formal allocation of time for the course, finally leading to an institutionally recognised qualification. Evaluations conducted through focus group interviews revealed that collegial networks and time were important for effective professional development. The paper reflects on the successes and limitations of the model and its potential for further development. It also highlights the importance of providing professional development in a safe environment for academics to adopt technologies for teaching and learning.

Using social software to support the teaching of IT professional practice

Social software has been used to support problem-based learning activities in a wholly online information technology (IT) professional practice course at Deakin University since 2006. When the course was first delivered, the authentic learning environment was a website, with an intranet and team forums created in Drupal, the open source content management system (CMS). Although this environment was suitable, feedback from students and teaching staff highlighted areas where improvements could be made. In the second year of the course, Joomla!, the open source CMS, in combination with Simple Machines Forum (SMF), the open source online discussion community software, was used to provide the website, as well as the intranet and team forums respectively. Feedback in 2007 was more positive, suggesting that the Joomla!-SMF social software combination and the features implemented, improved the learning and teaching experience in comparison to the 2006 version of the course.

Introducing a learning repository using a blended professional development approach

This paper outlines the professional development program used to introduce a learning repository at Deakin University. Providing appropriate, timely and effective professional development programs to support academic and other staff is one of the objectives of the Deakin University Teaching and Learning Functional Plan 2008. Our blended program combines web-based and face-to-face training with a wide variety of resources to support staff. Issues noted in the literature relating to the introduction and use of learning repositories informed the planning and development of our program. Challenges and issues we experienced at Deakin are also outlined.

Science professional development for early childhood educators : some identified issues

In a small research project, using a qualitative approach we surveyed eleven pre-school teachers/coordinators asking them for information about the science experiences within their EC setting. We identified the opportunities they had for science professional development and clarified the level of their qualifications and those of a further 22 staff. In addition, we conducted four case studies to interrogate this further, and interviewed four early childhood educators asking for more detail about the science they provided and about their comfort in teaching science. The interviews revealed that although early childhood educators indicated that they provided a large number of varied experiences, often they were unsure of the science content or the science understanding. This limited their abilities to develop the activities further. Early childhood educators also indicated that whilst there was access to some science professional development, more would be welcome. The types of professional development which they felt would be most beneficial were "hands-on" play experiences - a "quick fix" approach. This presentation will discuss the findings of the research through a socio-cultural framework, noting some of the issues being raised in our discussions with the educators.

The development of professional learning and a research culture in a primary school in Melbourne, Australia

This paper outlines the development a/professional/earning and a research culture at Benleigh West Primary School, which is located in a middle class suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Whilst leadership is widely dispersed at BWPS, as it is in other schools, from students to teachers to the Assistant Principal and Principal, the primary focus in this paper is on the Principal and the ways she has influenced the professional and research culture at the school. Evidence of a change in school climate is presented as are the steps taken to create and foster learning collaborative communities among the staff at BWPS.

Developing multimedia materials : a professional development initiative at Rangsit University

This study consisted of four professional development investigations and a dissertation on professional development for academic staff at Rangsit University in Thailand. The dissertation includes professional development activities on the design and production of a CDROM. The research utilised some of the principles of action research.