Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemA Review of the changes necessary to ensure the successful implementation and maintenance of a competency based training and assessment program into the Australian Customs Service( 1995)This review examines the changes necessary to to ensure the successful implementation of competency based training and assessment into the Australian Customs Service as recommended by the "Review of the Australian Customs Service and Australian Customs Service - Report of the Consultancy for a Human Resource Development Plan" completed in November 1993.
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ItemAccommodation and resistance: the adult and community education sector response to competency-based training 1985-1995( 1996)The thesis examines the Adult and Community Education (ACE) sector response to Federal Government vocational education and training reforms, and particularly Competency-Based Training, during the period 1985-1995. The government, motivated by its inability to meet a burgeoning demand for vocational training, has courted ACE authorities and adult educators to gear more of their educational effort to meeting workforce needs as a partner in a generously funded national reform process. The characteristics which define ACE as a separate sector and the rationale for, and claimed benefits of, the vocational education and training reforms are documented. It is shown that much of the reform process and CBT, in particular, is at odds with the ideologies, purposes and education traditions of ACE. These differences and the manner in which the reforms have been imposed, have kindled a massive debate and polarization of opinion about educational philosophy and practice in Australia. Obstacles to the successful implementation of reform are examined from an ACE perspective. These include: a perceived lingering ignorance and prejudice about ACE within government and other education and training sectors, the deliberate avoidance of criticism and debate about CBT by government agencies, a shifting new training discourse which has displaced valued language in education, and a perceived inadequate economic rationale for the CBT approach to education. In addition, a number of claims about the value of the CBT doctrine are challenged and discussed, including its unsuitability for all curriculum, the inadequacies in the notion of 'competence' and finally, the view argued by CBT proponents, that there is no difference between education and training. Evidence is also offered to demonstrate the substantial successes and benefits of the VET reform process, including those for ACE students. However, although the ACE sector has accommodated many of the changes, it has continued to oppose CBT, in particular, seeking a more holistic approach to curriculum. One response to this, which is described in the thesis, was the development of a Competency-Based Learning model between 1992 and 1994, which, for hundreds of adult educators, accommodated their concerns about CBT, in that it provided options, flexibility, a defined holistic description of learning and most of all, it respected the key tenets of adult education ideology.
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ItemA study of changes in competency-based assessment processes or departures from official competency-based assessment( 2000)In this study the researcher has identified and explained the processes of competency-based assessment (CBA) in Safeway Supermarket Ltd at Australian Standards Framework level two and level three programs. The study investigates any changes in processes or departures from that which is stated in official CBA documents and identifies the extent to which the implementation of CBA fulfils its stated intentions. The study starts by describing how competency-based assessment has been presented as a strategy by governments to enhance the productivity of Australian industry and its citizens and how competency-based assessment is grounded in Evaluation Theory. A naturalistic form of enquiry, is used to describe the processes and practices of CBA at Safeway Supermarkets. The study focused on the following research questions: � What is CBA in Australian Vocational Educational and Training policy documents? � How does assessment take place in practice in Safeway Stores? � What is the workplace assessor's view of CBA in Safeway Stores? � What changes have been made by assessors in the implementation of CBA? � How have assessors been trained in CBA at Safeway in Australia? � Is the training sufficient? The study found that participants responded to the introduction of CBA into Safeway Supermarket Ltd as a positive step, although it was found that Safeway is still in the very early stages of implementing CBA into the three contexts studied. The study concludes by surfacing issues in the field of CBA and Vocational Education and Training (VET).