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JACE: Abstracts
Volume 8, Number 2, 2003
On-the-job training in Scotland: Its contribution to social exclusion
Recent results from the Scottish Household Survey show that at any one time
over 18 per cent of Scottish employees are engaged in some form of on-the-job
training. The majority of this training is unaccredited and is not recorded in
any official education statistics. Overall rates for men and women are similar.
After initially high rates of training for the youngest employees, rates for men
decline steadily whereas those for women remain stable into middle age, perhaps
as a result of retraining for returners. The employees who receive most
on-the-job training are full-time, in managerial or professional occupations and
already have some formal qualification. The self-employed, the part-time, the
unskilled and the unqualified miss out. Training on-the-job could have a role in
promoting social inclusion for the least-advantaged employees. But more research
is needed to learn what training is being delivered and what policy levers could
be pulled to influence who receives
it.
Theory, research and practice – the problematic appearance of ‘pedagogy’
in post-compulsory education
This article explores the problematic nature of pedagogy and pedagogic
effectiveness in post-compulsory education – the politics of the discourse, the
challenges to pedagogic “old-think” by the new learning, and the methodological
difficulties of measuring outcomes as attention moves from the theatre of
instruction to the setting of application. It takes as its starting point a
study commissioned by the UK’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme to
review and document the evidence base for pedagogic effectiveness in the
different field of post-compulsory education. The article unpicks the many
different reasons why the scope and framing of this study doomed it to a kind of
failure, and why the TLRP’s research agenda aroused the passions of many
educational researchers outside the mainstream. Concerns centred on TLRP as a
manifestation of the new research orthodoxy and its preoccupation with
evidence-based research, and the limitations of this orthodoxy in engaging with
innovative thinking about new forms of teaching and learning.
Inquiring into lifelong learning
The Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee of the Scottish Parliament
has conducted an inquiry into lifelong learning and produced both an interim and
final report (Scottish Parliament, 2002a, b). The inquiry had a number of
strands to it, including a wide-ranging consultation on a number of questions.
In this article, the findings of the inquiry itself are not discussed – rather
the authors discuss the feasibility of, and constraints intrinsic to, inquiring
into lifelong learning. The authors suggest that the evidence base for policy is
relatively under-developed and that the research that does exist points to the
multi-faceted complexity of lifelong learning as both a means and end of policy.
Drawing policy conclusions from the current research evidence base may therefore
be premature. This discussion is situated within some of the wider debates about
evidence-informed policy and practice.
Retaining and supporting mature students in higher education
An increasing proportion of the United Kingdom’s (UK) full-time
undergraduate student population is mature. However, the reasons as to why these
students leave higher education early are under-researched. Based upon research
conducted in the North East of England, this article contributes to the closure
of this gap as it highlights a number of issues that impact upon the retention
of mature students. These issues include finance, a lack of preparedness for
higher education and timetabling. The North East’s six universities have
responded to these issues by introducing systems of support that span the
student lifecycle.
Widening access to higher education – an Australian case study
In this paper the authors trace the development of equity within the
Australian higher education context over the latter part of the last century. In
particular they focus on the ways different perspectives
(liberalist-individualist and social democratic) have shaped what has been a
dramatic increase in the number and diversity of students accessing higher
education in Australia .The adoption of a specific perspective has influenced
the formation of policies concerning equity and consequently the way
universities have responded to the pressures to accept more and different
students. These responses are captured under two main headings – ‘restructuring
the entry into higher education’ and ‘changing the curriculum within higher
education’. Several examples of current programs and procedures based upon these
are explained.
The paper concludes with the identification of three ‘dilemmas’ which have emerged as a result of the development and implementation of equity processes and procedures in higher education in Australia. These are: (a) While there has been an increase in the number and range of students accessing higher education, this has been accompanied by a financial cost to the more disadvantaged students, a cost which has the potential to exacerbate equity principles. (b) For one of the first times in the history of higher education, a focus is being placed on its teaching and learning functions, as opposed to its research functions. The problem is that those universities that have been obliged to broaden their base radically have also been obliged to review their teaching and learning practices without any budgetary compensation. (c) A third consequence of these changes relates to the life of a traditional academic. Universities that have been at the forefront of ‘changing their curriculum’ to cope with more diverse student groups (open and distance learning) have seen the loss of ‘lecturer autonomy’ as they work more as members of teams and less as individuals.
Learning plans as support for the development of learner identity: a case
study in rural western Canada
The development of a complex, multi-faceted sense of self can increase
student achievement and self-confidence. Individualised learning plans link the
personal and social identities of students with the academic curriculum, mapping
a pathway to activities appropriate to needs and goals and the development of an
increasingly complex sense of self.
