Approaches of Vocational Education and Training Research in Australia

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: Some Theoretical Bases for Research on Vocational Education and Training and Career and Technical Education

Abstract

Research and development for the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia has been influenced by an emphasis on experiential learning, that the participants in VET are learning on the job, on site, learning by doing and having the achievement of VET competencies assessed. Lifelong learning, adult education and more recently situated learning each provide theoretical perspectives and models for research and development and underpin the analysis of VET policy and practice. Work based and workplace learning in particular are utilised in the study of VET. This paper presents a theoretical perspective on research for learning at, through and for work.

References

Cairns. L., and Malloch, M., ‘Theories of Work, Place and Learning: New Directions’, in Malloch, M., Cairns, L., Evans, K., and O’Connor, B., (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Workplace Learning, SAGE, London, 2011, pp.3-16

Cairns, L., Malloch, M. and Burns, G., Learning Work, International Journal of Technology and Engineering Education, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2006, pp91 – 105

Authors

• Margaret E. Malloch, Victoria University

• Leonard George Cairns, Monash University