Description:
This paper reports on part of a major research project on jobs traditionally considered to be unskilled. The project was funded by the Australian Research Council and involved detailed exploration of nine occupations, seven of which are considered to be low-skilled, to attempt to uncover the skill that was present in those jobs. It is common for the general public, policy-makers and, indeed, researchers to dismiss certain jobs as unskilled or low-skilled. In fact these perceptions are often the result of social construction of skill (Sawchuk, 2006; Healy, Hansen & Ledwith, 2006) and do not reflect the actual, or indeed potential, skills content of the occupations. As Vallas (1990) points out, judgments about skill in work have real consequences, which can affect people’s lives in fundamental ways. The project hoped to correct some perceptions of these types of job, to effect an improvement in training for the occupations, and to provide evidence for industry stakeholders to help improve the perceptions of the jobs and the people that undertake them. As the economy continues to evolve, new jobs will emerge and the findings of the project will continue to be of utility. In this paper we look at so-called low-skilled work through the lens of three of the nine occupations: retail assistant (non-supermarket), security officer and concrete products worker. In these occupations the consequences of perceptions about lack of skill are manifested in low pay, low status, low levels of government funding for training, poor quality training, and self-perception by workers that their jobs are not worthwhile. The method for each occupation was as follows: six interviews at national stakeholder level, two company case studies, a validation forum with industry personnel, and an examination of the respective qualifications. The research showed that all three jobs involved many technical and non-technical skills that were not generally recognised. The workers tended to internalise external negative perceptions of skill in the job, finding it difficult to articulate many of the skills they deployed. Managers and industry stakeholders, on the other hand, tended to be more aware of the inherent skill in the occupations. The paper uses the research in these three occupations to examine a number of issues. These include the reasons for perceptions of low skill in the jobs; consequences for workers and their on-the-job learning, of perceptions of low skill; the interplay of training quality and training take-up with the respect accorded to the occupation; and the ways in which perceptions of skill in work might be more closely aligned to the real nature of occupations.
Description:
Higher education is increasingly available to a wider range of people, not just recent school-leavers with established academic ability. One way of encouraging this trend is to provide credit transfer into higher education (HE) qualifications for people’s prior vocational education and training (VET) studies. However, it is generally recognised that while a range of pathways have been created, the numbers of students involved in such pathways are relatively limited. This paper explores some of the reasons this might be so, using, as a case study, an analysis of a national Australian government policy initiative. The initiative, known as ‘VET FEE-HELP’, involved the introduction of student loans for fees for higher-level VET studies and was designed partly to encourage credit transfer. Availability of loans to students was on the proviso that the course in which the student enrolled had a documented pathway providing credit transfer into a higher education course. This created a climate in which VET providers actively pursued partnerships with higher education. But recently, the credit transfer requirement of the policy has been removed. The paper concludes by discussing the issues for governments in finding appropriate policy levers to increase proportions of students transferring from VET to higher education.
Description:
Higher education is increasingly available to a wider range of people, not just recent school-leavers with established academic ability. One way of encouraging this trend is to provide credit transfer into higher education (HE) qualifications for people’s prior vocational education and training (VET) studies. However, it is generally recognised that while a range of pathways have been created, the numbers of students involved in such pathways are relatively limited. This paper explores some of the reasons this might be so, using, as a case study, an analysis of a national Australian government policy initiative. The initiative, known as ‘VET FEE-HELP’, involved the introduction of student loans for fees for higher-level VET studies and was designed partly to encourage credit transfer. Availability of loans to students was on the proviso that the course in which the student enrolled had a documented pathway providing credit transfer into a higher education course. This created a climate in which VET providers actively pursued partnerships with higher education. But recently, the credit transfer requirement of the policy has been removed. The paper concludes by discussing the issues for governments in finding appropriate policy levers to increase proportions of students transferring from VET to higher education.
Description:
This paper reports on aspects of a recent project carried out for the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, which was designed to feed into the process of updating and expanding India’s apprenticeship system. The apprenticeship system in India is extremely small for the country’s population, even taking into account the high proportion of jobs that are in the informal economy, and is subject to very rigid regulation. Expansion of the system has been seen as vital in order to improve the supply of skills to the rapidly expanding economy, and also to address issues of disparity in labour market participation and equity for certain groups in Indian society. The paper firstly explains how findings about apprenticeship systems from ten other countries, together with analysis of the Indian situation, were used to present options for consideration by the Indian government. It then analyses these options for their social justice and equity implications.
Description:
This paper reports on aspects of a recent project carried out for the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, which was designed to feed into the process of updating and expanding India’s apprenticeship system. The apprenticeship system in India is extremely small for the country’s population, even taking into account the high proportion of jobs that are in the informal economy, and is subject to very rigid regulation. Expansion of the system has been seen as vital in order to improve the supply of skills to the rapidly expanding economy, and also to address issues of disparity in labour market participation and equity for certain groups in Indian society. The paper firstly explains how findings about apprenticeship systems from ten other countries, together with analysis of the Indian situation, were used to present options for consideration by the Indian government. It then analyses these options for their social justice and equity implications.
Description:
This paper discusses under-codified and possibly undervalued skills of security staff and cleaners, as part of an empirical study of skill perceptions and their impacts in a range of low-status occupations. In both industries, contracting has contributed to restricted bargaining power, low wages and undifferentiated classification structures. Yet divergent views of skill requirements emerged from 30 cross-sectional interviews conducted in 2012 in these two industries. In peak employer and employee bodies, the relevant industry skills council and training organisations, security and cleaning jobs were seen as being more skilled than commonly stereotyped. Follow-up case studies in two security and two cleaning organisations elicited a range of perspectives from senior managers, HR managers, supervisors and workers, suggesting that on criteria such as discretion, judgment, self-organisation and communication skills, there is scope for enhanced work value recognition and career pathing in both occupations.
Description:
This paper reports on perceptions of skill and the effects that they have on policy. Interviews were carried out with people holding senior positions in State and national government departments (some in vocational education and training, some in industrial relations), tertiary sector bodies, and major employer and employee organisations. The interviews formed the initial phase of a national ARC-funded project on recognising the skill in jobs traditionally considered low-skilled. Interviewees were asked what they thought a skilled job was and how they arrived at that definition; about changes over time in ideas about skill; and about how perceptions of skill affected debates and policy in their own areas and more generally. The interview transcripts were analysed to draw out key themes. On the whole, strong support was expressed for a view that all jobs contained skill, but it was noted by several people that their organisations used systems for allocating resources based on parameters that did not accord with this view. The interviewees discussed the effects of perceptions of skill on funding, on qualifications and on migration policies, as well as effects on self-esteem among workers. The findings provided a useful backdrop for subsequent phases of the project, which have been based around nine occupations across several industry areas.
Description:
The purpose of this report is to use ideas gained from ten other national apprenticeship systems to put forward options for the Indian system. These countries are Turkey, Indonesia , Egypt, South Africa, Australia, Canada, USA, England, Germany and France. The report of the international phase of the research project is separately available. The latter includes individual country case studies containing detailed information about the systems in these other countries [in addition to an Indian case study] presented ina common structure, a cross-case analysis, and a proposed framework for a model apprenticeship system.
Description:
The purpose of this report is to use ideas gained from ten other national apprenticeship systems to put forward options for the Indian system. These countries are Turkey, Indonesia , Egypt, South Africa, Australia, Canada, USA, England, Germany and France. The report of the international phase of the research project is separately available. The latter includes individual country case studies containing detailed information about the systems in these other countries [in addition to an Indian case study] presented ina common structure, a cross-case analysis, and a proposed framework for a model apprenticeship system.
Description:
This project was undertaken with funding from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank. It was designed to inform the redevelopment of the Indian apprenticeship system. Government officials wanted to consider features of good practice from around the world. Ten expert international researchers were identified and provided case studies about their own countries’ apprenticeship systems; a cross-case analysis produced a framework for a ‘model apprenticeship system’. Measures of success for apprenticeship systems were also identified.
Description:
This project was undertaken with funding from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank. It was designed to inform the redevelopment of the Indian apprenticeship system. Government officials wanted to consider features of good practice from around the world. Ten expert international researchers were identified and provided case studies about their own countries’ apprenticeship systems; a cross-case analysis produced a framework for a ‘model apprenticeship system’. Measures of success for apprenticeship systems were also identified.
Description:
Educational research has long been the subject of lively and agitated debate, not least because of its diversity. Ranging in scope from academic development and broad-scale policy research through to student engagement and discipline-specific research, it includes methods of traditional academic inquiry and investigations and also less traditional modes of research. However, the topography of Australian educational research and the characteristics of the people who undertake this complex body of work are currently unclear. This paper explores some of the complexities of the Australian research community, drawing on the findings of a national online survey of academics who identified as researching in the field of education from within and outside education schools and faculties. The survey attracted 504 responses from 38 of Australia's 39 universities, and just over two-thirds of respondents were located in a school or faculty of education. We draw on the results to answer the questions of who is undertaking educational research and who how they might be supported. We utilise a conceptual model that 'segments' the educational research workforce represented by the survey respondents, and we conclude by indicating strategies that might be utilised to address research barriers indicated by educational researchers.
Description:
An Australian ‘Expert Panel on apprenticeships’ worked during 2010-11 to propose sweeping changes to the Australian apprenticeship and training system which would have removed the access of workers in large segments of the economy to publicly-funded training. One suggestion was the establishment of a ‘national custodian’ who would decide which occupations were to get funded training and which were not. The eventual policy outcomes of this attempt, by a combination of interest groups and academics, to ‘guard’ access to funded training, are not yet known. However a minor policy change has already removed employers’ incentive payments for Certificate II qualifications. A similar process has been taking place during 2011 in England, where similar alliances are opposing the expansion of the apprenticeship system to broader sections of the economy. This paper analyses policy documents, and statements by academics and people from other research institutions, to examine, and attempt to theorise, their attempts to deny funded training to workers. These arguments are tested against the broader apprenticeship literature and the implications of these seemingly elitist arguments on the policy objective of social inclusion through VET.