banner 
Main Menu
Home
Research Program
Products
Program So Far
Taking Part
Links
Have Your Say
Search

Research Activity 3

Analysing critical issues in teaching, learning and assessment

This is the consortium’s major activity on teaching, assessment and learning - the core business of providers. It will identify critical issues in teaching, learning and assessment in order to inform and influence VET practice.

Check the details of this activity:

Meet the Team

Leader:
Dr John Mitchell

Dr John Mitchell is the managing director of John Mitchell and Associates, a research-based consultancy specialising in strategic planning and change management in VET. He has published numerous national VET reports on innovation, change agency, change management, strategic management, leadership, communities of practice, industry training networks, work-based learning, e-learning, flexible learning, e-education and professional development.His recent research work includes doctoral studies on senior management in VET. He is also currently researching the following in the context of VET: personalised learning; enterprise RTOs; networks and communities of practice; recognition of prior learning and credit transfer; comparisons around teaching, learning and assessment between England, Scotland and Australia; and evaluation of learning and return on investment. He is the author of ‘Inside VET’, a popular weekly column in the national newspaper Campus Review. The John Mitchell and Associates publication lists can be viewed at: http://www.jma.com.au/

 

Team member:
Clive Chappell

Associate Professor Clive Chappell is director of OVAL research, a key university research centre at University of Technology, Sydney which is a leading Australian centre researching issues concerning learning and work. He is a researcher and consultant to many organisations and professional bodies seeking to improve workforce capability and is an assessor of research grant applications for the ARC in Australia, and in South Africa and the UK. As an academic, he teaches research subjects and supervises PhD candidates. As chief investigator he has recently completed an Australian Research Council research project: Changing work, changing workers, changing selves: pedagogies of the new vocationalism. His PhD thesis received a 2001 award for outstanding educational research from the Institute for Educational Research. His research interests include: learning and knowledge production, working knowledge, VET policy and practice, work-based learning and organisational development. His publication list can be viewed at: http://www.education.uts.edu.au/ostaff/staff/clive_chappell.html

 

Team member:
Sue Roy

Sue Roy’s current position is at the International Centre for Vocational Education Teaching and Learning (ICVET) where her roles are to disseminate findings of the Pedagogy of VET project (TAFE NSW, 2003) and to identify innovative VET teaching and learning practices. She has experience in design and delivery of professional development workshops for VET sector teachers and managers on topics such as training and assessment, establishing assessment systems, workplace delivery and assessor training. She has also conducted research on aspects of training, learning and assessment and has disseminated findings through workshops, seminars and a range of publications. Recent projects she has participated in include: Recognising skills of existing workers (NEVER, 2004), Assessment validation in RTOs (ANTA, 2002), Assessment Quality Assurance (ANTA, 2001), Maximising confidence in assessment decision making (NCVER, 2000), and coordination of NSW VET Assessor Network. She has recent publications for NCVER, ANTA and TAFE NSW.

 

Team member: Andrea Bateman of Bateman & Giles Pty Ltd is one of Australian VET’s leaders in the field of assessment. She specialises in providing educational organizations with advice on complex assessment and auditing issues. As the sole, lead or joint author of a range of seminal national reports on assessment, she has provided clear frameworks for both policy makers and practitioners. She has extensive experience as an auditor and Training Recognition Consultant for the OTTE (Victoria), as well as experience as a curriculum advisor within the scope of the VQA’s curriculum accreditation processes. She actively researches new and challenging aspects of the following core VET topics: competency based assessment, graded assessment, professional judgement and quality assurance systems. Sample recent consultancies include the development of the Credit Matrix model; cross-sectoral review of aspects of the National Code (ESOS Act); Current Policy and Practice in Higher Education Institutions on Assessment in VET; National Consistency in VET in Schools: The Assessment of VET in Schools subjects, as well as its joint project the Terminology & Assessment for Tertiary Entrance. Her current consultancies include a review of the AQF Guidelines, the cross-sectoral review of off-shore quality systems and the identification of critical issues in teaching, learning and assessment.

 

Research questions

  • What do individual learners and industry clients want from VET in terms of teaching and learning experiences, services and support, and how can these best be met?
  • What skills are needed by VET practitioners in the design of learning programs and resources and in the provision of assessment services to meet the needs of different client groups and how might these be developed most effectively?
  • What are the critical success factors (individual, organisational and systemic) in developing and implementing innovative approaches to teaching, learning and assessment in VET providers, and how might models about good practice be most effectively transmitted?

Rationale

The activity acknowledges the challenges for VET practice identified by recent projects in Australia and internationally. It will examine learners’ preferences for how they approach their own learning and the implications for teaching practice, and will identify examples of good practice and the factors that help and hinder innovation in teaching, learning and assessment.

VET practitioners will benefit from this research by:

  • finding out about the latest thinking around learners’ preferences, teaching practices and assessment strategies
  • increasing their awareness of the existence and value of networks in VET that focus on teaching, learning and assessment
  • comparing their own experiences with those recorded in the fifteen case studies
  • understanding factors that affect innovation in teaching, learning and assessment

Methodology

  • Examination of international research on trends in teaching and learning policy and practice, and professional dialogue on critical issues with DFES (England) and Scottish FE Unit
  • Dialogue with at least 20 networks
  • Preparation and electronic dissemination of a discussion
  • Paper on critical issues, with online feedback
  • 3-hour focus groups on the discussion paper in two capital cities and two regional centres
  • 15 case studies to identify good practice and factors that help and hinder innovation
  • Interviews with key VET practitioners and VET stakeholders

Timeline

February 2005 - December 2005

Products

Taking part

You can become a committed and active participant in this broad research program in many ways:

 
This website has been produced by the consortium under the management of the National Centre for Vocation Education Research (NCVER) with the assistance of funding from the Australian, state and territory governments through the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST). The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCVER or DEST. The website conforms to the privacy policy applicable to the NCVER website, which can be viewed at http://www.ncver.edu.au/privacy.html. Photographs used throughout this site appear courtesy of the Canberra Institute of Technology.