Living in a 2.2 World: ERA, Capacity Building and the Topography of Australian Educational Research
- Authors: Seddon, Terri , Bennett, Dawn , Bobis, Janette , Bennett, Sue , Harrison, Neil , Shore, Sue , Smith, Erica , Chan, Philip
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Technical report
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- Description: Early in 2011, the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) established a joint working party to create a strategic plan for strengthening national research capacity in the field of Education. This proposal followed the publication of Excellence of Research in Australia (ERA) 2010 results, which revealed that the national average weighting of Australian research in Field of Research 13 (FoR 13) - Education was well below the 'world standard' rating of 3.0. Moreover, the 2010 ERA data demonstrated that we had no up-to-date picture of who is involved in educational research, what their strengths are, or how they relate to one another. As an input into strategic research capacity building in Australian educational research, this project begins the process of documenting who 'we' are as educational researchers. The research described within the report used an ecological model to address the project's overarching question, which was: What is the topography of Australian educational research?
Possible futures for the indian apprenticeship system: Options for India.
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Kemmis, Ros Brennan
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Technical report
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- 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.
Understanding the psychological contract in apprenticeships and traineeships to improve retention
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Walker, Arlene , Kemmis, Ros Brennan
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Technical report
- Relation: National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation Program
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- Description: Attrition in apprenticeships and traineeships is an ongoing concern for employers and government alike, with completion standing at around 50% on average. One possible explanation for this high attrition rate that there is mismatch between the respective expectations of apprentices/trainees and employers. This research use the concept of psychological contract, that is, the perceived mutual obligations betweens employers and employees of themselves and each other, to test this explanation.
ILO survey report on the National Initiatives to Promote Quality Apprenticeships in G20 Countries
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Tuck, Jacqueline
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Technical report
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- Description: While the level of educational attainment has been rising globally in the past decades, in many countries education and training systems struggle with adapting to rapidly changing skill needs in the fast evolving labour market. The resulting skills mismatch exerts upward pressure on youth unemployment rates with young people opting for jobs that do not match their qualifications which in turn limits their salary and progression prospects. At the same time, businesses, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, face critical skills shortages as they seek to expand. Unemployment affects youth almost three times more than adults. As such, it is crucial to implement measures to improve the employability of young people. It is in this context that the International Labour Office (ILO), with the support of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, launched the Skills that Work Project: Improving the Employability of Low and Middle-Skilled Workers in February 2017. The project aims to promote quality apprenticeships as an effective means to provide young people from diverse backgrounds with labour market relevant skills, and exposure to the work environment and a smoother transition into employment. Quality apprenticeships are known to facilitate the school-to-work transition of youth as they offer employer-led skills development opportunities that lead to nationally recognised qualifications. As a result, policymakers increasingly rely on apprenticeships to address skills mismatch and youth unemployment. In fact, the G20, L20 and B20 have committed to promote apprenticeships. In this light, we believe it is timely and helpful to take stock of good national initiatives to improve apprenticeships and make the knowledge widely available as part of our continuous efforts to support evidence-based policymaking. The project also provides support to the design and implementation of quality apprenticeship programmes by providing a concise set of key information and practical tools. It is our hope that this report contributes to the promotion of quality apprenticeships by facilitating policy discussions and enhancing our knowledge base of various initiatives that have been tested in the G20 Member States.
Enterprise registered training organisations : research project funded by Australian Research Council and ERTOA : final report : executive summary
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Smith, Andy , Walker, Arlene
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Technical report , Report
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- Description: This is an overview of a national research project which set out to evaluate the benefits, challenges and outcomes for all stakeholders of the delivery of vocational education and training (VET) qualifications by Enterprise RTOs (ERTOs). The project had three main research questions: • What are the benefits and challenges for companies associated with training through their own ERTO? • What are the benefits and challenges for workers associated with ERTOs? • What is the equivalence of workplace-delivered qualifications among companies and with qualifications delivered in educational institutions? The project aimed to be of benefit at several levels as described below: • For workers, the research set out to examine whether the availability of qualifications through ERTOs offers the chance of a high-quality qualification and improved career prospects and life chances. • For companies, the research hoped to provide firm evidence about the outcomes for their workers and quality features of their training compared with other companies and with institutional-based qualifications. • For industries and for Australia, the research set out to build an evidence base about the efficacy of this type of training, to assist in the shaping of government policy.