Vocational education in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) : Curriculum innovation through school industry partnerships

Governments have recognised that the technological trades rely on knowledge embedded traditionally in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. However, there is substantial evidence that students are turning away from these subjects in schools because the school curriculum is seen as irrelevant, with clear implications for not just vocational education but also higher education. In this paper, we report preliminary findings on the development of two curricula that attempt to integrate science and mathematics with workplace knowledge and practices. We argue that these curricula provide educational opportunities for students to pursue their preferred career pathways. These curricula were co-developed by industry and educational personnel across three industry sectors, namely, mining industry, aerospace and wine tourism. The aim was to provide knowledge appropriate for students moving from school to the workplace as trade apprentices in the respective industries. The analysis of curriculum and associated policy documents reveals that the curricula adopt applied learning orientations through teaching strategies and assessment practices which focus on practical skills. However, although key theoretical science and maths concepts have been well incorporated, the extent to which knowledge deriving from workplace practices is included varies across the curricula. The extent to which applications of concepts are included in the models depends on a number of factors not least the relevant expertise of the teacher as a practitioner in the industry. Our findings highlight the importance of teachers having substantial practical industry experience and the role that whole school policies play in attempts to align the range of learning experiences with the needs of industry.

School industry partnerships : An innovative strategy for vocational education

One of the challenges confronting contemporary education internationally is to ensure that students are provided with opportunities to make informed choices about future careers and to acquire the capacity to transition into these careers. Schools need to manage their curricula, teacher capacity, timetables, and diversity of student populations by offering pathways that are seen as engaging and meaningful to life beyond schooling. Traditionally, education in the senior years has privileged those students who intend to progress to advanced studies at university or in other professional careers. In more recent times, in response the need for more sophisticated technical knowledge in the trades and a growing skills shortages in these fields, schools have paid more attention to vocational education. It has been argued that the vocational aspect of the school curriculum is less well understood and poorly implemented in comparison with the traditional academic curricula. One attempt to address this issue is through the establishment of school-industry partnerships. This paper explores the process of knowledge transfer between industry and schools in these partnerships. The paper theorises how knowledge that is valued and foundational in workplace employment can inform school curricula and pedagogical practices. The paper draws on theories of organisational knowledge, workplace learning and experiential learning to explore strategies that enhance school-to-employment transition outcomes.

Much confusion about inclusion in Australia's largest education system

Over the last three decades, growing international recognition of the right of students with a disability to attend their local school has prompted change in the formation of education policies, schooling structures and pedagogical practice. Inclusion, as the movement has become known, has since been taken up and developed to different degrees in different regions and to differing degrees of success. Yet, despite sincere attempts to better include students with physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities, new and different forms of exclusion have arisen since the late 1990s; particularly for students with social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. In this lecture, Dr Linda Graham reports on findings from a three year ARC Discovery project to consider the impact of inclusion on the New South Wales government schooling sector, Australia’s largest education system.

Transitioning from vocational education and training to university : strengthening information literacy through collaboration

"Students transitioning from vocational education and training (VET) to university can experience a number of challenges. This small research project explored the information literacy needs of VET and university students and how they differ. Students studying early childhood related VET and university courses reported differences in how and where they searched for information in their studies. These differences reflect the more practical focus of VET compared with the more academic and theoretical approach of university. The author proposes a framework of support that could be provided to transitioning students to enable them to develop the necessary information literacy skills for university study."--publisher website

Successful outcomes in vocational education and training courses and mathematics: 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 and Training (VET) and teaching, Indigenous learners’ needs, employer culture 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 offered in schools and Technical and Further Education Institutes (TAFE) were nominated to be the focus on the study. This paper focuses on student questionnaire responses and interview responses from teachers/trainers one high school principal and five students as a result of these processes, the findings indicated 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 by trainers and teachers. Further teachers, trainers and students have high expectations of one another with the view to successful outcomes from the courses.

Vocational education in science technology, engineering and maths (STEM) : Curriculum innovation through industry school partnerships

Governments have recognised that the technological trades rely on knowledge embedded traditionally in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In this paper, we report preliminary findings on the development of two curricula that attempt to integrate science and mathematics with workplace knowledge and practices. We argue that these curricula provide educational opportunities for students to pursue their preferred career pathways. These curricula were co-developed by industry and educational personnel across two industry sectors, namely, mining and aerospace. The aim was to provide knowledge appropriate for students moving from school to the workplace in the respective industries. The analysis of curriculum and associated policy documents reveals that the curricula adopt applied learning orientations through teaching strategies and assessment practices which focus on practical skills. However, although key theoretical science and maths concepts have been well incorporated, the extent to which knowledge deriving from workplace practices is included varies across the curricula. Our findings highlight the importance of teachers having substantial practical industry experience and the role that whole school policies play in attempts to align the range of learning experiences with the needs of industry.

India's vocational education capacity to support the anticipated economic growth

The buoyancy that the Indian economy experienced between 2000 and 2010, in spite of the global downturn of 2008, is no longer a reality. Growth projections for 2012-13 have been reassessed to 6.5 per cent. This is still higher than most other developed economies of the world (see Figure 1.1), however the growth rate is slowing. The World Bank in its recent forecasts1 expects India’s growth rates not to extend beyond 7.2 % and 7.4 % in the years 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively. Similarly, the Planning Commission has scaled down the growth target for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) from 9% to 8%. Different reports note different rates, but the consistent message is that the projection of India’s economy is on a downward trend...

Skilling up for a low-carbon future: Vocational education and training

Given the need for both short and long-term training for sustainability discussed in the first of this three-part series (ECOS 158, pp 22–24), it is clear that the vocational education and training sector will play a major role in building capacity for our nation over the next five years.

Engaging at-risk vocational education students with mobile devices

The potential of using mobile devices to increase learner engagement within a small group of at-risk vocational education students was studied through a qualitative case study. It was found that the use of mobile devices could be a strategy educators may use to reduce the barriers these students often encounter within traditional classrooms. Notions of interactivity, ease of use, existing familiarity and fluency were found to be fundamental variables that were central to the group's use of mobile devices. The study provides direction for educators looking for innovative ways to engage students who struggle in a classroom situation.

Digital competence and professional development of vocational education and training teachers in Queensland

Teaching with digital technologies is essential to the development of 21st century students’ graduate capabilities. However, relatively little is known about the extent to which Queensland VET teachers engage with digitally-enhanced teaching, or have the capacity to do so. Using a mixed methods approach, this thesis investigated the current digital teaching capacities of VET teachers and how current professional development opportunities are helping to address their learning needs.

Quality Assurance and Assessment in Technical Education System: A Web Based Approach

Engineering education quality embraces the activities through which a technical institution satisfies itself that the quality of education it provides and standards it has set are appropriate and are being maintained. There is a need to develop a standardised approach to most aspects of quality assurance for engineering programmes which is sufficiently well defined to be accepted for all assessments.We have designed a Technical Educational Quality Assurance and Assessment (TEQ-AA) System, which makes use of the information on the web and analyzes the standards of the institution. With the standards as anchors for definition, the institution is clearer about its present in order to plan better for its future and enhancing the level of educational quality.The system has been tested and implemented on the technical educational Institutions in the Karnataka State which usually host their web pages for commercially advertising their technical education programs and their Institution objectives, policies, etc., for commercialization and for better reach-out to the students and faculty. This helps in assisting the students in selecting an institution for study and to assist in employment.

Vocational education and fisheries

Vocational courses in fisheries are offered in 4 states in India. The technologies in fisheries developed offer good scope for vocational training for self employment. There is an urgent need to have radical revision of the course content to make the students vocationally competent.

Fostering 'habits of reflection, independent study and free inquiry': an analysis of the short-lived phenomenon of General/Liberal Studies in English vocational education and training

In 1957, 12 years after the end of World War II, the Ministry of Education issued Circular 323 to promote the development of an element of ‘liberal studies’ in courses offered by technical and further education (FE) colleges in England. This was perceived to be in some ways a peculiar or uncharacteristic development. However, it lasted over 20 years, during which time most students on courses in FE colleges participated in what were termed General or Liberal Studies classes that complemented and/or contrasted with the technical content of their vocational programmes. By the end of the 1970s, these classes had changed in character, moving away from the concept of a ‘liberal education’ towards a prescribed diet of ‘communication studies’. The steady decline in apprenticeship numbers from the late 1960s onwards accelerated in the late 1970s, resulting in a new type of student (the state-funded ‘trainee’) into colleges whose curriculum would be prescribed by the Manpower Services Commission. This paper examines the Ministry’s thinking and charts the rise and fall of a curriculum phenomenon that became immortalised in the ‘Wilt’ novels of Tom Sharpe. The paper argues that the Ministry of Education’s concerns half a century ago are still relevant now, particularly as fresh calls are being made to raise the leaving age from compulsory education to 18, and in light of attempts in England to develop new vocational diplomas for full-time students in schools and colleges.

Mapping the Education System in Northern Ireland

In this chapter we provide a broad overview of the education system discussing both the system of schooling and the network of both statutory and voluntary bodies that are responsible for the administration and management of the system. We begin with an examination of the administrative structures. This network of statutory and non-statutory bodies has increased in number over recent years, illustrating the diversity of vested interests in the system. This is followed by an examination of the system of schooling and the chapter concludes by exploring the significance of changes that have taken place in terms of its implications for a more pluralist society where each is accorded parity of esteem and equality of opportunity.