An exploratory study into work/family balance within the Australian higher education sector
- Authors: Pillay, Soma , Kluvers, Ron , Abhayawansa, Subhash , Vranic, Vedran
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Higher Education Research and Development Vol. 32, no. 2 (2013), p. 228-243
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- Description: The higher education landscape is undergoing major transformation, with a significant impact on the work and family practices of academics and professional staff. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the extent to which (1) time-related, (2) strain-related and (3) demographical variables impact on the work/family balance of academic and professional staff in Victorian universities and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes. Our findings reveal that university employees experience greater work/family imbalance. The results of this research demonstrate how the three constructs contribute to work/family imbalance in academia, especially within the university sector. This paper is believed to be the first to explore work/family balance from an Australian cross-sectoral perspective. It provides an agenda for future theory and research to increase understanding of work/family balance from a cross-sectoral perspective.
The delicate dance: the assessment implications of awarding students vocational qualifications within university degrees
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Bush, Tony
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Higher Education Research & Development Vol. 25, no. 4 (2006), p. 387-402
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- Description: This paper explores the implications for assessment of embedding qualifications from the vocational education and training (VET) sector within university qualifications. As VET qualifications are now all competency based, assessment in the two sectors is quite different, since universities have generally eschewed competency‐based training and assessment. A general discussion of the issues is followed by the results of a small‐scale research study carried out in the VET discipline area itself, with participants drawn from the AVTEC list of VET teacher‐educators. Telephone interviews were conducted with nine Australian university academics involved with such qualifications; and data were extracted from a broader study of students who had undertaken the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training embedded within degrees and graduate diplomas in VET at one of these universities. It is clear that there are many assessment challenges involved with the practice of embedding, which have not yet been systematically addressed.