Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemThe pedagogic device: the relevance of Bernstein's analysis for VET(Centre for Learning and Work Research, Faculty of Education, Griffith University: Australian Academic Press, 2005)This paper explores the relevance for VET of Basil Bernstein’s analysis of the structuring of knowledge and the framing of pedagogic practice. Bernstein argued that education was not a passive relay for external power relations. Pedagogic practice is an important structuring mechanism for power relations in the way in which knowledge is classified and framed. Towards the end of his life, Bernstein argued that the ‘official’ recontextualising principle in education was derived from ‘genericism’, itself based on new concepts of work and life. He says this is a socially empty concept, and results in identities constructed as market identities in which actors recognise themselves and others in the materialities of consumption. I apply Bernstein’s analysis to VET policy in Australia.
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ItemHow markets distort decisions to undertake education, vocational knowledge, provision and qualifications(University of Technology, Sydney, 2005)This paper argues that neo-liberal market-oriented reform to vocational education and training (and also other sectors of education) is much more than a tool for intensifying the work of VET teachers, through making them more 'responsive' and their institutions more 'effective and efficient'. The aim of these policies is the creation of the 'market citizen'. This leads to transformation of subjectivities and the way in which individuals develop and shape their sense of identity, their orientation to their vocation, their relationship to knowledge and practice, and the way in which they recognise themselves and others (Bernstein, 2000; Ball, 2003). The 'generic skills' sought by government and employers are market-oriented skills. This changes the focus of education and training from preparing students for a vocation to preparing them for markets. As a consequence, vocational knowledge is downplayed. Market reforms also distort the nature of provision, the structure and focus of qualifications, and the way in which employers decide to provide, and individuals to undertake, further education and training. This paper presents an alternative model, which argues that learning for work needs to go beyond work, that learning needs to be oriented to a vocation, and that learning needs to occur over a variety of contexts (and not just learning at work).
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ItemExcellent measures precede measures of excellence(Australian Universities Quality Agency, 2006)This paper identifies quantifiable indicators that might enhance the national evaluation of learning and teaching in Australian higher education. It begins by setting out a framework suitable for guiding the identification and selection of indicators. After a brief critical review of current indicator possibilities, it defines a number of possible indicators that might be developed. The paper works from the premise that as greater significance is placed on the outcomes of measurement, we need to place greater significance on measurement itself. It is imperative that appropriate and contemporary analytical methods are used, and that evaluations are developed in ways that ensure that the basic availability of data does not dictate the approach.