Net*Working 2004 - focus on youth
This blog supports one of the online events in the "15-19 year old" strand of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework's Net*Working 2004 online conference.
The VETNETwork conference concluded this afternoon with a great summing up by Tasmanian educator, thespian and much appreciated conference MC, Mr Frank Bansell from the Department of Education, Tasmania.
BRAVEHEART
The double edged sword of success
I have been privileged to participate in this conference. The intense goodwill, the optimism and belief are, at times, overwhelming - I have been truly humbled by the level of commitment and the stories of success.
But something is gnawing away at me. I used the Braveheart metaphor very advisedly. Why? Well - this VET in schools movement is one that seems to have occurred through a groundswell from the people - not the politicians or bureaucracies, It has been built on the back of the goodwill , passion and sense of social jsutice of individuals and groups of practitioners and has grown in significance and profile.
What I hear now seems to indicate that, like Dave Turner's allusion this morning to F Scott Peck's The road less travelled - the path is becoming increasingly travelled and is in a position to become the main highway, so well worn and wide the traffiic has made it. Sid Sidebototm's 4 land highway analogy for the government's policy direction seems to confirm this .
Institutionalisation and bureaucratisation can be welcomed - the popular cause has gained momentum. how wonderful to hear politicians and public servants speak our words back to us. However - therein lies a danger! The double edge. We don't awant to blunt the sharp edge that got us here. how do we capture and mainstream the stuff that Dave Turner, Liz Schneyder, Neer and others were talking about but at the same time maintain the diversity and responsiveness to local needs that makes the work dynamic and indeed cutting edge.
Some of what we have heard and seen throughout this conference is affirming of our practice - some mantras are emerging - many of whihc we have herd before. The challenge is, I believe, about getting to the next level. It seems to me that issues of sustainability, systematisation and continued innovation and responsiveness are critical topics for professional dialogue policy and implementation. Perhaps the next national conference might pick up on these themes.
Thank you for your cameraderie, your professionalism - you hve made my job easy and enjoyable - I hope you keep your sabers sharp, continue to rattle them and serve the greater good. It has been an honour riding with you. I can't wait to get home and tell my 16 year old daughter what I learned at school today!
[loud applause!]
Several of the sessions at the NCVER Research Forum/VETNETwork conference referred to this in different ways.
For example Tony Greer from DEST quoted statistics around snapshots of the activities of 15-19 year olds eg
- 71% in full time education
- 15% employed full time
- 3% unemployed
- 4% not in labour force (eg parenting, disengaged)
However, when the 20-24 year old age group is included in the data and a longitudinal view is taken, it is clear that many make successful transitions albeit after false starts.
Two key indicators of long term success are
- full time completion of year 12
- full time employment post school
The most at-risk group are
- 6% of the school leaving cohort
- those who by age 19 have only been involved in marginal activities (ie part-time work, unemployed, not in labour force. Each year 15000 young people join this group
[link to this item posted in Net*Working discussion forum Friday 19-Nov-2004]
One of the three NCVER forum workshops on November 16, 2004, examined the issue surrounding TAFE and School collaboration. In the introduction to the session, it was suggested that getting TAFE and VET in Schools to co-operate was like mixing oil and water. It doesn't have to be like this but it often is.
At the extremes of attitude myths are:
- extreme TAFE perspective: " Schools are stealing our Cert 1 and Cert 2 students"
- extreme VET in Schools perspective: " TAFE is stealing our senior secondary students"
Examples of duplicated facilities sitting side by side in the one community was used to illustrate the point.
FACT:
Enrolments of 15, 16, 17 year olds are growing faster in ACE/VET and hobby/recresational sectors as a pathway to life long learning. The audience expressed some disquiet at the narrowness of only looking at TAFE/VET in Schools and not other providers.
The following four points summarised the views of one of the discussion groups:
1. NEW FUNDING MODELS AT NATIONAL AND STATE SYSTEMIC LEVELS
A barrier to collaboration is the current funding model which effectively puts VET in Schools and TAFE in competition for students. If 15-19 year olds were treated equally, whether in academic, VET or other areas of learning, there would be a level playing field
It takes resources to develop collaboration and current funding models sometimes take away resources from one of the aprtners
2. POLICY AND COMMON VISION
Policy needs to reflect a common vision for education and training for 15-19 year olds across all sectors. This vision needs to be learner-centred and embrace the notion of personalised learning
3. EXAMPLES OF HYBRID MODELS AT PRACTIONER LEVEL
Although there are many barriers to large scale collaboration between TAFE and VET in Schools, there are numerous examples of collaborative arrangements at the local anbd practitioner level. Many of these are a case of necessity being the mother of invention.
4. ISSUES
- There is a need to open up communication and develop trust between VET in Schools and TAFE teachers.Relationships need to develop so that stereotypcial myths are dispelled
- leadership by school principals is a crucial factor in effective collaborations. SImilarly, leadership in TAFE can allocate resources to support VET in Schools
- there is tension between the social justice agenda in providing appropriate pathways for learners and the perception of VET as a second rate option for learners. This is shifting but remains an issue in many areas. For example many schools market themselves as traditional and academic as a way to address the loss of students to private schools.
[link to this item posted in Net*Working discussion forum 19-Nov-2004]
This program helps students develop a sense of community and citizenship through a community work placement program. This program takes the students into the Mater Hospital's Special School for children where a learning program can be interupted by the need for an operation or other such treatment. The students also have placements in nursing homes and with the Meals on Wheels program and are involved in preparing, organising and participating in the 'Out of the Box' Festival at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
This program extends the students' abilities to relate to a range of people. Many of the students for example may have little experience at talking to elderly people or have an understanding of the frustration of someone suffering from dementia.
Partnerships for Productivity and Industry Induction Models give an innovative and dynamic way of broadening students knowledge of industries, training opportunites and career pathways. The Partnerships for Productivity model has six steps and is a community, education and industry model:
Step 1 Identify the stakeholders taking into account what your focus area is
Step2 Identify relevant training package/s area and develop partnership agreement and roles and responsibilties
Step3 Identify and define the delivery methos or combination of delivery methods you will use
Step 4 Collaborative development of training plans/programme content. Identify programme focus units of competency for trainees and employees
Step 5 Identify and define your intended programme outcomes for stakeholders
Step 6 All stakeholder evaluate the partnership - do you need another stakeholder group represented?
This model aims at sustainability through having the partners involved with clear roles and identifies industries that there are skill shortages in so there is an inherent benefit to the industry. The wool industry was the focus of this initial project.
The industry induction model is an eleven day program that takes the students from "the boardroom to the factory, the research laboratory to the farm, the warehouse to woolshed and the tractor to the computer". The program guides students from the classroom to the world of work. Two days are spent on Workplace communication and OH&S, three days on industry, TAFE and University visits, a five day work placement and a follow up day for evaluation and goal setting session.
www.dest.gov.au
www.ruralskills.com.au
Tasmania Leads the Way at VET Conference
Paula Wreidt, Minister for Education opened the conference by elaborating on how Tasmania has become a national leader in the delivery of Vocational Education and Training in Schools, with more than 25% of year 11 and 12 students now participating in a VET program.
Media release at http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=12935
No Set Paths
Neer Korn, Heartbeat Foundation
Neer is a frequent commentator on social issues and is widely published. He is an expert on young people's attitudes to financial sector. He is a social researcher with a focus on youth. Neer presented a refreshingly optimistic and positive perspective on youth. Quoting from the conference website:
His conference presentation, No Set Path, focusses on understanding the career mindset of today’s youth. In this multi-media presentation, Neer Korn brings to life the attitudes and opinions of young people based on hundreds of focus groups and thousands of interviews across Australia. Among the insights:
- Personal optimism – global pessimism.
- What generation gap? Why teens regard their parents as heroes.
- A DIY generation – self-reliance in an era of mistrust.
- No set path – responding to job insecurity and a new economy.
- The on-line divide.
- The power of mentorship.
His multimedia presentation is available for download here (WARNING: 7.5 MB). This was a simple but effective presentation style - slides with little text (title - 2-4 dot points) and 5-7 images, accompanying narrative of stories illustrated by videoclips which were on the slides as images. Text version of the slides with annotations follows
No Set Path "How do I know? Just by talking to people....... 60-70 major studies looking at broad social areas. All the work is qualitative and about learning from that" SLIDE: Reality bites young Older people consider young people to be unlucky and that they are under more pressure There is a sense internationally of being rudderless and thus the culture of fear post the millenial optimism. That fear is often not substantiated by the facts. Who can you trust: Sense of not controlling anything. Healthy cynicism is turning into unhealthy disdain SLIDE: What Generation Gap? Parental Push - can add to pressure and give them no time to just hang out Small rebellions - young people can't afford to rebel any more - the rebellious stereotype is not as prevalent as perceived SLIDE: Change Masters A day ahead - young people feel overwhelmingly optimistic about their personal capacity to deal with the challenges. This is empowerment through freedom of choice. Personal optimism, global pessimism The technology divide - downside is possibly in area of technology. Neer's sense of this is that those with access to connectivity is the source of the divide. Young people connect online because it is not safe to do it outside. They are master multitaskers SLIDE: A DIY Generation SLIDE: Shine SLIDE: The dream - Working without Chains Thought starters Neer's presentation resonated with the boomers in the audience and helps place some of the "Digital Kids" commentary (eg Prensky, Jukes) in a broader social context.
Social trends seeing and hearing from young people, it is clear that young people are masters of change and our approach to them needs to change equally. The change in young people over recent years is significant. Young males in prticular have been much more expressive representing the changed environments.
No certainties: what makes this generation so different from previous on is the lack of certainty compared to earlier generations - home, family, career. Measure of success at age 30 is to have achieved 2 out of 3. Today's society is all about doing it yourself. (Video clips of young people illustrated this)
BUT
young people are very optimistic about their own capacity
My parent, my hero - young people appreciate the effort of their parents
Media and technology masters - can deconstruct and reconstruct. They are much savvyer than baby boomers eg popularity of The Simpsons as most popular show for teens and early 20s. Dysfunction but in culture of love. Don't appreciate phony messages. DIgital native concept. No platitudes, no formulas, no perfection but show how to get through it. This is their reality
No set path - all there for the taking but no set route. Charles Handy clip " don't look for a job, look for a customer", "I don't mind changing jobs" "I expect to change jobs"
Commodities not jobs - continuous reskilling - somewhat selfish
Whatever it takes
No stigmas - quite social conservatives, no stigma to any job. Jobs seen as stepping stone. Partially a post PC response. Believe in fairness and equality. They want to find the individual within themselves and nurture it.
A special talent
Earning kudos - they want rewards beyond material ones. Need to reward other than academic and course related achievement
Icons who did it their way - people who have carved their own way, often overcoming adversity
The univeral aspiration for all ages
Less money, more rewards (I did it myself)
- men and women are re-evaluating priorities and valuing balance and freedom
"Not just mum"
"Beware the Boomers" - turning passion into practice. Strongest empowerment is for women. Ageism is the last boundary in society and bommers will revolutionise that in the next few years!
A selected reading list of NCVER publications was provided to Forum delegates and has now been added to the NCVER website. Quoting from the website:
| Title: | Young people and VET: Selected reading list |
| Authors: | NCVER |
| Publication date: | 17 November 2004 |
| Publication type: | Other |
|
Annotated reading list available at http://www.ncver.edu.au/pubs/Young_peoplePubsList.pdf (PDF 152 KB) | |
This National Council for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) Research Forum examines the topic of Young People and VET: options, impact and implications
Information about the event - quoted from the NCVER site: http://www.ncver.edu.au/events.html [accessed 16-Nov-2004]
"In conjunction with the 2004 VETnetwork national conference.
The number of school-aged people participating in VET programs is increasing and there are now many options available to them. But what do we know about these young people? What VET choices are they making and where does their VET program lead them? How do the various VET programs for school-aged people interplay and affect the broader VET system?
The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has chosen the 2004 VETnetwork national conference to present the latest research on school-aged people and VET including:
Key researchers from around Australia will make presentations and delegates will be able to discuss what the research means for them and debate topical issues."
PDF of final program http://www.ncver.edu.au/files/youngpeopleFINAL.pdf
Steve McVey, a 2004 Flexible Learning Leader has developed a website about the great innovations being trialled in the West for VET in Schools.
Flexelearning Virtual Campus
The Emergence of Flexible Education Options @ Mandurah Senior College
Check it out at
www.flexelearning.net/flexiblelearningleaders2004
This blog has created a new way for tracking the participants' journey. They started making a print based journal but the blog will, I think, takeover in popularity over the remaining weeks of the year! One reason that they like it is they can all work on it at the same time.
http://skate-project.blogspot.com/
VET in schools - Building an online bridge - first attempt (25/08/04) and Moving from a simple bridge to a more complex stone bridge (27/9/04)
The story of a LearnScope project that involves schools collaborating in partnership with TAFE.
http://learnscope.flexiblelearning.net.au/LearnScope/projects.asp?category=33&DocumentId=6190
http://learnscope.flexiblelearning.net.au/LearnScope/projects.asp?category=33&DocumentId=6348
(article in AFLC 28-Sep-2004 re Cybertots Toolbox)
Our project is building on the integration of the Cybertots Tool box into the teaching and learning programs at Sevenoaks Senior College. The focus of the project is for staff to develop the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to deliver the Certificate 11 Community Services.
Full article: http://learnscope.flexiblelearning.net.au/LearnScope/projects.asp?category=33&DocumentId=6355
(newsbyte on AFLC 27-Sep-2004)
Starting this month, high school students preparing for the college entrance exam will be able to use personal gadgets to study instead of textbooks on the bus or subway.
Korea's leading online education firm will launch services providing lectures via personal multimedia player (PMP) through a business alliance with Iriver.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200409/kt2004091718000412350.htm
(LearnScope (?) project report - 13-Sep-2004)
"We’ve come a long way. The more we find out, the more we realise there is to find out and the more we realise that other people have already done things! However, there is an increasing demand for educational applications for mobile devices......"
Full article: http://learnscope.flexiblelearning.net.au/LearnScope/projects.asp?category=33&DocumentId=6286
A Flexible Learning Framework case study, by Ann-Marie Kelly, a 2003 FLexible Learning leader
"Hendra Secondary College in Brisbane has established a flexible learning centre, upskilled teachers through professional development, developed policies and procedures and invested in technology and infrastructure. A/Principal Ann-Marie Kelly says technology is yet to be fully utilised in schools and the potential is enormous."
Download case study: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/casestudies/casestudies/hendra_school_qld.pdf
A follow up article was published in Edition 6 of The Knowledge Tree
http://flexiblelearning.net.au/knowledgetree/edition05/html/gp_kelly.html
NCVER case studies to support "Pathways from rural schools: Does school VET make a difference? (Feb 2004)"
Supporting documentation for this report includes 3 case studies - from Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.
"Three case studies illustrating rural school VET pathways are provided, drawn from the Tasmanian, South Australian and Western Australian clusters. These clusters were chosen as case studies for different reasons: the Tasmanian cluster illustrates in some detail the main pathways for both school VET and non-VET students and highlights a variety of benefits of work placements for school VET students; the South Australian case study demonstrates the value of school VET programs provided as a pathway to local employment and the crucial role of work placements in these programs; and the Western Australian case study highlights a range of primary industry pathways as well as other pathways from school VET."
Multimedia and IT for Rural and Remote youth
This is a 2004 Tasmanian LearnScope Project which is included in the e-touring Tasmania showcase site at Net*Working 2004 (click on Launceston and scroll down to the Multimedia and IT project - lots of resources there including assignment examples).
The project has a website at http://etouring.tafe.tas.edu.au/designmm/index.htm
This is an example of VET teaching in an unstructured way which puts the students are put in charge of their learning eg students are asked to storyboard a film and film it and from that, they are assessed against the competencies (for Multimedia).
Using technology supports our youth programs in a variety of ways. The following is just a snapshot of what the programs offer.
Youth Programs at South West Institute of TAFE
We have a range of programs that cater for the various needs of the young people who come to us. There isn’t ‘a one size fits all’ solution. The variables in need are great.
Youth Access Re-engagement Project (YARP)
This project works on an outreach model and starts as a one to one tutor situation. Depending on the student’s needs and confidence this might take place in their home, a neutral location or at TAFE. Students have an Individual Learning Plan which covers education, work, social and community, financial and recreational goals. Technology supports this program through multimedia in the use of digital and video cameras and the use of computer programs and internet research. It must be stressed that the focus of this program is on the re-engagement of the young person with further education and training, and also with the teacher/mentor, to assist them with their goals.
YARP students often integrate into our Get Your Skills together Course (GYST), other TAFE courses, employment, or return to mainstream secondary education.
Get Your Skills Together (GYST)
This course works as an on campus course with the students involved in Computing, Recreation, English, Maths, Building, Hospitality and Art/Multimedia. This program runs for eighteen weeks and students are involved in the vocational electives as tasters to help them decide on their pathways. They also have the opportunity move into the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) as a pathway from this course.
Business Linkages
This project has been brought together through a broad community partnership. There are two groups operating from this project; a teen mums’ group and a skate park equipment group. The project group is delivered predominantly from the Community House. The teen mums’ group has been a great success with the members increasing their confidence having presented to secondary schools the reality of being a young mum and by putting together a brochure identifying the needs and of a young parent. The skate park group have conducted a field trip, have been involved in sourcing and ordering materials, tracked their journey digitally and in a project book, participated in a radio show and are organising a presentation to be presented at meetings and to their school community and have created a blog. The groups are both led by a project worker and teachers support and assess the learning outcomes.
Flexibility through mobile learning (use of PDAs etc) has gained momentum globally and is the focus of many of the 2004 Flexible Learning Leaders. The Knowledge Tree edition 6 carries several articles on the topic:
This toolbox resource should become a hit with the young people as it tackles the personal development issues such as body image, sex, hygiene and diet. The great animation and sound is a big plus. Check it out at http://flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/series5/519.htm .
Remember to view the teacher's guide to get an overview of the toolbox and advice on how to use it.
This blog is co-authored by Janine Bowes and Lu Butler who are facilitating an online event at the Net*Working 2004 conference. We are experimenting with this use of a blog to supplement the online discussion forum that will be the core activity of the event. Our initial thoughts are that the blog can be used to highlight relevant examples that can be used in the discussion and also to capture some synthesis and summary of the event including additional links.
As co-incidence would have it we will also be attending an in-person conference (NCVER Research Forum and VETNETwork) in Hobart at the same time which is also focussed on youth and we aim to bring some of that conference to the group as well.
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