Literacy models across nations : literacy and critical literacy in teacher training programs in India

The thrust towards constructivist learning and critical thinking in the National Curricular Framework (2005) of India implies shifts in pedagogical practices. In this context, drawing on grounded theory, focus group interviews were conducted with 40 preservice teachers to ascertain the contextual situation and the likely outcomes of applying critical literacy across the curriculum. Central themes that emerged in the discussion were: being teacher centred/ learner centred, and conformity/autonomy in teaching and learning. The paper argues that within the present Indian context, while there is scope for changes to pedagogy and learning styles, yet these must be adequately contextualised.

A national framework for disaster health education in Australia

INTRODUCTION: Recent events have heightened awareness of disaster health issues and the need to prepare the health workforce to plan for and respond to major incidents. This has been reinforced at an international level by the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, which has proposed an international educational framework. ----------- OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to outline the development of a national educational framework for disaster health in Australia. ----------- METHODS: The framework was developed on the basis of the literature and the previous experience of members of a National Collaborative for Disaster Health Education and Research. The Collaborative was brought together in a series of workshops and teleconferences, utilizing a modified Delphi technique to finalize the content at each level of the framework and to assign a value to the inclusion of that content at the various levels. ----------- FRAMEWORK: The framework identifies seven educational levels along with educational outcomes for each level. The framework also identifies the recommended contents at each level and assigns a rating of depth for each component. The framework is not intended as a detailed curriculum, but rather as a guide for educationalists to develop specific programs at each level. ----------- CONCLUSIONS: This educational framework will provide an infrastructure around which future educational programs in Disaster Health in Australia may be designed and delivered. It will permit improved articulation for students between the various levels and greater consistency between programs so that operational responders may have a consistent language and operational approach to the management of major events.

Incident investigation : on a collision course towards a national standardised approach

The investigation of rail incidents is a highly specialised and important area within the rail industry. Historically training for investigators has been disjointed, with no standard approach being applied consistently. Currently in Australia, rail incidents are investigated by the various rail operators and regulators of each State, with the more serious incidents investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). However, it is hoped with the introduction of a National Safety Regulator for the industry, a standardised competency framework for rail incident investigators can be developed. Consequently, this will also lead to more standardised training across the industry for these specialised career paths. A previous scoping report published by the CRC for Rail Innovation highlighted a need within the industry for a standardised competency framework and training package. Based on the results of the scoping report, a comprehensive Training Needs Analysis for the rail industry was undertaken. This paper will examine potential barriers and facilitators that the industry may face when implementing this national training. Furthermore, based on the results of the Training Needs Analysis, differences and similarities in the needs of rail organisations as well as between operators and regulators will be examined.

Language and power in vocational education and training

In this paper I explore the way language is used in Training Packages, and the impact this language has when Training Packages are used to support work-based vocational programs. Training Packages are a fundamental component of the regulatory framework of the national vocational education and training (VET) system [in Australia]. The national strategy for VET places employers and individuals at the centre of VET, and policy commitments to access and equity are enshrined in the auditable standards of the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF). Yet Training Packages and related official VET texts are written in an abstract, generalised and complex language form which acts as an insurmountable barrier to many people at the front line of VET. My PhD research (a work in progress) explores the proposition that this language form is representative of, and constructive in, unequal power relationships. Early data analysis suggests that VET practitioners and training participants talk about their experience of this language in terms of power and exclusion. In contrast, the official VET response generally leaves the official language form above challenge, and instead largely focuses on the presumed deficient language and literacy skills of those who are excluded by these texts.

Training packages and the AQTF: freedom to move or components of a compliance-driven straightjacket?

This paper reports on a PhD research project being undertaken through the Faculty of Education, Deakin University. Training Packages and the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) form part of the ruling relations of VET, but how do they operate in practice? Do they provide frameworks within which training professionals are free to use judgement and respond in innovative ways to local learning and assessment contexts? Do they impose rigid 'guidelines' within which the decision-making authority of practitioners over appropriate practices is displaced by that of auditors, constraining creativity and creating pressures towards conformity? Or does their impact vary, depending on how they are interpreted and who is doing the interpreting? My PhD research explores issues relating to the use of Training Packages in workbased learning. Interview data suggests that, in practice, different training organisations respond very differently to a regulatory framework that aims to achieve national consistency. Some practitioners describe working in a compliance-driven environment, in which their ability to meet the needs of learners is stifled by standardised training and assessment practices imposed by Training Packages and the AQTF. This view is reflected in phrases such as 'you're not allowed to…', and 'you always feel uneasy because you've got AQTF compliance, inspections, auditors'. In contrast, other practitioners talk about having freedom to design learning and assessment programs for their particular target group and context, providing they stay within broad guidelines that guarantee national recognition of qualifications they issue. This view is reflected in comments such as 'it just leaves it open … to be as creative and flexible as you like', and 'It just gives us freedom'. This paper explores the proposition that the impact of these abstract and generalised texts is influenced by local interpretations, and it considers the role that organisational culture plays in determining these interpretations.

Language, power and ruling relations in vocational education and training

This thesis uses institutional ethnography to explore the text-based regulatory framework of the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. Training Packages are national competency standards used to assess local workplace practice. The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) is a national compliance framework used to audit local learning and assessment practice. These texts operate in a ‘symbiotic relationship’ to achieve a policy goal of national consistency. The researcher explicates the social relations of VET starting from her disquiet as a practitioner. The thesis argues that Training Packages and the AQTF socially organise the content and delivery of local learning and assessment activities. VET practitioners struggle to use these texts to support good practice, and their hidden work maintains an unstable VET system. Yet the extralocal mode of ruling offers no room to challenge VET policy. The thesis explicates three themes. Interview data is used to explore the contrast between the institutional language of Training Packages and the vernacular of workplaces in which these texts are activated. Many practitioners and participants simply do not understand Training Package competency standards. Using these texts to judge employee performance shifts the policing of workplace practice from local sites to external VET authorities. A second theme emerges as the analysis explores why VET practitioners use this excluding language in their work with participants. Interview data reveals that local training organisations achieve different readings as they engage with ruling VET texts. Some organisations use the national texts as broad frameworks, allowing practitioners to create spaces for meaningful learning. Other organisations adopt a narrow and rule-bound reading of national texts, displacing practitioners’ authority over their own practice. A third theme is explored through examination of a sequence of VET texts. The review and redevelopment of the mandatory qualifications for VET practitioners identified the language of the competency standards as a significant accessibility issue. These concerns were reshaped and subsumed in an official response that established the use of this language as a compulsory assessable requirement and a language and literacy benchmark. The thesis presents a new understanding of VET as a regulatory framework established through multiple levels of ruling texts that connect local sites to national government agendas. While some individual practitioners are able to navigate through this system, there is an urgent need for practitioners as a profession to challenge national hegemony.

International standards for programmes of training in intensive care medicine in Europe.

PURPOSE To develop internationally harmonised standards for programmes of training in intensive care medicine (ICM). METHODS Standards were developed by using consensus techniques. A nine-member nominal group of European intensive care experts developed a preliminary set of standards. These were revised and refined through a modified Delphi process involving 28 European national coordinators representing national training organisations using a combination of moderated discussion meetings, email, and a Web-based tool for determining the level of agreement with each proposed standard, and whether the standard could be achieved in the respondent's country. RESULTS The nominal group developed an initial set of 52 possible standards which underwent four iterations to achieve maximal consensus. All national coordinators approved a final set of 29 standards in four domains: training centres, training programmes, selection of trainees, and trainers' profiles. Only three standards were considered immediately achievable by all countries, demonstrating a willingness to aspire to quality rather than merely setting a minimum level. Nine proposed standards which did not achieve full consensus were identified as potential candidates for future review. CONCLUSIONS This preliminary set of clearly defined and agreed standards provides a transparent framework for assuring the quality of training programmes, and a foundation for international harmonisation and quality improvement of training in ICM.

Tracking rail safety : incident and accident investigation in Australia

Scoping Project: Currently no national or structured learning framework available in Aus or NZ Current Project: Develop a national training program & capability framework for rail incident investigators - Establish the potential market demand - Define the curricula for a multi-level national training program - Explore training providers & delivery options

Departures from tradition : the early years learning framework for Australia

In 2009, the Commonwealth Government of Australia published the first national learning framework for use with children aged birth to five years. The framework marks a departure from tradition in that it emphasizes intentional teaching, learning as well as child development, a particular type of play-based learning, outcomes, and equity. This article analyzes aspects of the document that depart from well established approaches to early childhood education in Australia and identifies challenges for educators who are required to use the document. It concludes that ongoing and supportive professional learning opportunities must accompany the introduction and enactment of the document.

From rhetoric to practice : issues in teaching and learning touch keyboarding

Touch keyboarding as a vocational skill is disappearing at a time when students and educators across alleducational sectors are expected to use a computer keyboard on a regular basis. there is documentation surrounding the embedding of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) within the curricula and yet within the National Training Packages touch keyboarding, previously considered a core component, is now an elective in the Business Services framework. This situation is an odds with current practice overseas where touch keyboarding is a component of primary and secondary curricula. From Rhetoric to Practice explores the current issues and practice in teaching and learning touch keyboarding in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Through structured interview participants detailed current practice of teachers and their students. Further, tertiary students participated in a training program aimed at achquiring touch keyboarding as a skill to enhance their studies. The researcher's background experience of fifteen years teaching touch keyboarding and computer literacty to adults and 30 years in Business Services trade provides a strong basis for this project. The teaching experience is enhanced by industry experience in administration, course coordination in technical, community and tertiary institutions and a strong commitment to the efficient usage of a computer by all. The findings of this project identified coursework expectations requiring all students from kindergarten to tertiary to use a computer keyboard on a weekly basis and that neither teaching nor learning tough keyboarding appears in the primary, secondary and tertiary curricula in New South Wales. Further, teachers recognised tough keyboarding as the prefered style over 'hunt and peck' keyboarding while acknowledging the teaching and learning difficulties of time constraints, the need for qualified touch keyboarding teachers and issues arising when retraining students from existing poor habits. In conclusion, this project recommends that computer keyboarding be defined as a writing tool for education, vocation and life, with early instruction set in primary schooling area and embedding touch keyboarding with the secondary, technical and tertiary areas and finally to draw the attention of educational authorities to the Duty Of Care aspects associated with computer keyboarding in the classroom.

Health complaint commissions in Australia : time for a national approach to data collection

Health complaint statistics are important for identifying problems and bringing about improvements to health care provided by health service providers and to the wider health care system. This paper overviews complaints handling by the eight Australian state and territory health complaint entities, based on an analysis of data from their annual reports. The analysis shows considerable variation between jurisdictions in the ways complaint data are defined, collected and recorded. Complaints from the public are an important accountability mechanism and open a window on service quality. The lack of a national approach leads to fragmentation of complaint data and a lost opportunity to use national data to assist policy development and identify the main areas causing consumers to complain. We need a national approach to complaints data collection in order to better respond to patients’ concerns.

Doctoral research training : encouraging timely completion – case study reflections of one university on how it supports a vibrant research training culture

This is a case study of a young university striving to generate and sustain a vibrant Research Training culture. The university’s research training framework is informed by a belief in a project management approach to achieving successful research candidature. This has led to the definition and reporting of key milestones during candidature. In turn, these milestones have generated a range of training programs to support Higher Degree Research (HDR) students to meet these milestones in a timely fashion. Each milestone focuses on a specific set of skills blended with supporting the development of different parts of the doctoral thesis. Data on student progress and completion has provided evidence in highlighting the role that the milestones and training are playing in supporting timely completion. A university-wide reporting cycle generated data on the range of workshops and training provided to Higher Degree Research students and supervisors. The report provided details of thesis topic and format, as well as participation in research training events and participant evaluation of those events. Analysis of the data led to recommendations and comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the current research training program. Discussion considered strategies and drivers for enhancements into the future. In particular, the paper reflects on the significant potential role of centrally curated knowledge systems to support HDR student and supervisor access, and engagement and success. The research training program was developed using blended learning as a model. It covered face-to-face workshops as well as online modules. These were supplemented by web portals that offered a range of services to inform and educate students and supervisors and included opportunities for students to interact with each other. Topics ranged from the research life cycle, writing and publication, ethics, managing research data, managing copyright, and project management to use of software and the University’s Code of Conduct for Research. The challenges discussed included: How to reach off campus students and those studying in external modes? How best to promote events to potential participants? How long and what format is best for face-to-face sessions? What online resources best supplement face-to-face offerings? Is there a place for peer-based learning and what form should this take? These questions are raised by a relatively young university seeking to build and sustain a vibrant research culture. The rapid growth in enrolments in recent years has challenged previous one-to-one models of support. This review of research training is timely in seeking strategies to address changing research training support capacity and student needs. Part of the discussion will focus on supervisory training, noting that good supervision is the one remaining place where one-to-one support is provided. Ensuring that supervisors are appropriately equipped to address student expectations is considered in the context of the research training provisions. The paper concludes with reflection on the challenges faced, and recommended ways forward as the number of research students grows into the future.

Creating a common approach to safety management through structured training development

The successful management of workplace safety has many benefits for employees, employers and the community. Similar to other areas of job performance, safety performance can be enhanced through appropriate and well-designed training. The foundation of the development of effective training is a thorough training needs analysis (TNA). Currently, the application of psychometrically valid TNA practices for the management of workplace safety is an under-researched topic and limited guidance is available for implementing appropriate strategies. To address this gap in the literature, this chapter will provide an overview of TNA practices, including the purpose and benefits associated with implementing the systematic procedure. A case study will then be presented to illustrate how the TNA process was successfully applied to investigate the training needs of Australasian rail incident investigators to achieve an industry-approved national training package. Recommendations will be made to assist practitioners with implementing TNA practices with the goal of enhancing workplace safety management through targeted workforce development.

Managerial Discretion in the Arab World: New National-Level Antecedents

Based on a sample of six Arabian countries, our study examines the effect of cultural practices on CEO discretion. Using a panel of senior consultants, we extend the national-level framework of managerial discretion and find that an encompassing array of cultural practices play a crucial role in shaping the degree of discretion provided to CEOs. We empirically demonstrate that power distance, future and performance orientation along with gender egalitarianism and assertiveness has positive relationships with managerial discretion. However, institutional collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and humane orientation negatively affect the degree of discretion provided to CEOs. As such, our results indicate that executives are able to take idiosyncratic and bold actions to the extent to which the cultural environment allows them to do so. Finally, we find new national-level antecedents of managerial discretion that haven’t been considered in earlier studies.