The global pandemic has thrown up a range of research issues (for example, digital poverty and the ability of some students to access and benefit from on-line learning), but in many instances these are simply pre-existing challenges that the effects of COVID-19 have thrown into sharper relief.  This talk will explore some of the large-scale, long-term challenges that now face VET research – in Australasia and beyond.

" a vocationally oriented system of education should be accessible to all, equitable in its treatment of disadvantaged groups, and accountable to the community because it is paid for from the public purse" (Myer Kangan 1974)

The Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency has shown that here, as in many other countries, most employees work in industries dominated by one gender, with women more likely to work in lower paid, less secure occupations. This intractable trend is exaggerated in the VET sector. 

There, despite many decades of interventions female students tend to cluster in courses such as health and community services and males in areas like engineering and technology. For example female participation, in traditionally male trades - automotive, fabrication engineering and electrical - remains persistently below 4%. Research indicates that these gendered VET participation patterns both reflect and incubate economic and social inequalities. The keynote will consider the harmful consequences of workplace gender segregation and the economic and social benefits associated with more diverse workforces.  It will go on to reflect on why past interventions have failed and what we can learn from contemporary gender theory and approaches to increasing diversity. 

ABOUT

Dr Anne Jones' career has spanned a broad mix of vocational, further and higher education leadership experiences including 3 years as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Students) Victoria University following 13 years as a senior VET executive leader at VU and at Box Hill Institute. She is now a non-executive director on the board of Chisholm Institute, an emeritus professor of Victoria University and undertakes higher and vocational education research and projects as a consultant.  As a VET teacher, manager and researcher Anne has sustained an interest in gender equity and access for women, particularly with regard to traditionally male work and learning.

"VET / Occupational teacher’s knowledge, practice and pedagogy"

The aims of this keynote presentation [1] are to address teacher knowledge, practice and pedagogy of vocational education and training (VET) in the English further education / post-compulsory and lifelong learning (FE) sector. Drawing from a larger research project, it uses the empirical data sets of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews of FE participants who teach VET provisions. 

 In addressing teacher knowledge, I will discuss teaching know-how, relevant disciplinary knowledge (Becher, 1994), and learning theories (Bernstein, 1996). Typologies of teacher knowledge (e.g., Clandinin, 1985; Shulman, 1987; Loo, 2012) are employed to offer a broader perspective of teacher know-how. From an occupational perspective, conceptions of theoretical knowledge, knowledge of procedures, skill sets, dispositions and past work know-how are drawn from researchers such as Bernstein (1996), Eraut (2004) and Winch (2014). 

The teacher know-how is used to conceptualise a VET pedagogy framework.The framework begins with a dual professional approach to understand teachers’ pedagogic activities of their teaching and vocational/occupational practices (Handal, 1999; Robson et al, 2004; Peel, 2005). It also uses the processes of recontextualization starting with Bernstein's theory of knowledge types. These processes offer insights into how teacher knowledge and practices may be modified through selection, relocation and refocus for application in a VET pedagogic setting. 

 In this presentation, the empirical data of the types, sources and application of VET teachers' know-how are used. In this delineation, the theoretical framework draws on 'practice' concepts such as knowledgeable practice (Evans, 2016), practice architectures (Kemmis and Green, 2013) and Systems 1 and 2 (Kahneman, 2012). These concepts offer additional insights into how VET deliverers use their know-how to choose the relevant teaching strategies in their specific educational settings. This presentation finally offers contributions and implications resulting from this study.