Recent Research

A track record for WERC

Margaret Somerville

October, 2002

Ethnographic research methods

Margaret Somerville has a long track record in using ethnographic research methods beginning with major Indigenous community based projects producing Ingelba and the Five Black Matriarchs (Allen and Unwin, 1990) and Sun Dancin’ (Aboriginal Studies Press, 1994). In 1997 she gained a Large ARC SPIRT grant (1997-2000) in collaboration with Yarrawarra Aboriginal Corporation to produce educational materials for their ecotourist enterprise. Five books were produced and a further grant was given by ATSIC (2001) to produce educational worksheets for teachers at primary, secondary, and adult levels for use in association with the books. This work will be further extended with a Large ARC grant Connecting the Dots, (2002-2005) to the Gumbaingirr Nation region.

Industry collaboration

Margaret Somerville was part of a three person team (with Dymock and Brennan) who received a Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Initiative Award for a Strategic Links with Industry Project in 1999. The project had several successful outcomes including workplace learning forums, an e-journal, two new courses in training and development and ongoing research in the aged care industry and mining industries.

A second industry based collaborative project, a SPIRT APAI, was awarded in 2000 for research into workplace training needs in an early childhood setting.

Research in workplace learning

Margaret has been conducting research in the area of workplace learning and in particular, learning safety, in the mining and aged care industries. She has been particularly interested in how gendered subjectivities and work cultures impact on learning and practising safety. She is also involved in research about informal learning in the workplace, the application of the learning organization and how to change work cultures so that learning is embedded in the practices of the organization.

Research collaborations

Collaborative research into masculine work cultures and learning safety in mine work was carried out in 2001 with Dr Lena Abrahamssen, University of Lulea, Sweden.

Margaret is currently involved in a collaborative project with Catholic Care of the Aged, Hunter Region, to investigate workplace learning in their aged care facilities. This is the first stage of a larger project exploring the application of the learning organisation concept in public rather than corporate organizations.

Recent publications in the area of workplace learning

Somerville, M. and Abrahamsson, L. (forthcoming) ‘Trainers and Workers Constructing a Community of Practice: masculine work cultures and learning safety in the mining industry’, Studies in the Education of Adults.

Somerville, M. (forthcoming) ‘‘Working’ culture: expanding notions of workplace cultures and learning at work’, Pedagogy, Culture and Society.

Somerville, M. (forthcoming) “Tracing bodylines: the body in feminist poststructural research “, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.

Somerville, M. (forthcoming) ‘Gender Perspectives in Workplace Learning’ in Gerber, (Ed) Improving Workplace Learning, Addison, Wesley, Longman, Sth Melbourne.

Somerville, M. 2002. ‘Learning potentials and limitations under globalisation in aged care workplaces’. In International Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol 14, No 2, pp68-76.

Somerville, M. 2002. ‘Changing Masculine Work Cultures’. Refereed Conference Presentation and Publication, 10th Post-Compulsory Education and Training Conference, Centre for Learning and Work Research, Griffith University.

Somerville, M. and Bernoth, M. 2001. ‘Safe Bodies: Solving a workplace learning dilemma’. Refereed Conference Presentation and Publication, 9th Post-Compulsory Education Conference, Griffith University.

Somerville, M. 2001. ‘New times, gender and workplace learning: new research in the aged care industry, pp 174-187 in Refereed Conference Publication, 2nd International Conference Researching Work and Learning, Calgary.

Somerville, M. 1997. ‘Workplace Literacy and Power: Preliminary Investigations’. In Literacy and Numeracy Studies: An International Journal in the Education and Training of Adults, 7, 1.

Ralph Catts: DEST and CAUL projects

Ralph Catts has a long record in program evaluation and in the role of generic skills in adult and workplace learning. He has completed commissioned research for DEST (with S Gelade and R Gerber) into effective adult education practices for mature age disadvantaged learners, and has evaluated educational programs for Indigenous Australians in remote areas for the Queensland Dept of Education and for the former Commonwealth Dept of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Generic Skills, and in particular, Information Literacy, has been the focus of several studies. He has focused on the assessment of Information Skills and is currently developing bench mark tools for use with the CAUL Information Literacy Standards.

Research in Workplace Learning

Ralph was the Principal author of a study of the effects of training in small regional retail firms which was undertaken for the former ANTA Research Advisory Council. He also was part of the project team that evaluated the implementation of the Standards for Workplace Trainers and Assessors.

Information Literacy around the World

Ralph contributed a chapter on assessment of Information Literacy (IL) in Higher Education to the keystone publication with the above title edited by Bruce and Candy (2000). He has subsequently accepted invitations to deliver papers on the assessment issues in IL in forthcoming International Conferences in Australia and in Scandinavia.

Recent Publications in Adult Education:

Securing Success Good Practice in Training People Aged 45 and Over. (2002) with Gelade S and Gerber R. Contract research Report to DEST, publication pending Ministerial approval.

Rhetorics and Realities: Equating the delivery of Indigenous VET to the demands of its context - Commonalities from two research Projects (2002) with S Gelade, Refereed paper, AVETRA Annual Conference, Feb 2002

ACE Provision in Southwest and Central Queensland. Report commissioned by Queensland DETIR. Principal author, with C Arden, M Hornigold, and R Jewell, June 2000

An Evaluation of programs for VET in Remote Area Schools. A DETYA commissioned report, Joint with K Purnell, April 2000.

An Evaluation of the RATEP Program. (with Hornigold, M., Smith L, and Fredericks, B) Report to Education Queensland, Dec 1998.

The Training Culture in Small Enterprises (invited paper) Dept of Employment, Training and Industrial Relations, Brisbane, 1998.

Action Learning Group Report on Strategies for Inclusive VET Staff Development. (with Andrews, A; Clivert S, et al) ANTA Report, Sept 1998.

Reviewing the Competency Standards for Assessment and Workplace Trainer (with Griffin, P; Gillis, S., and Falk I) AVETRA National Conference, February 1998.

The Role of Key Competencies in School to Work Transition. Paper presented to International Labour Market Conference, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1997.

Recent Publications in Information Literacy:

Issues in the Interpretation of the Australian Information Literacy Standards (2002) Refereed paper at 2nd International Lifelong Learning Conference, Yeppoon, June 2002.

Assessing Information Literacy. Chapter 20 in Candy, P and Bruce C (2000)

Information Literacy Around the World. Charles Sturt University Press, NSW.

Validation of the Relational Model of Information Literacy refereed paper presented at the International Lifelong Learning in Higher Education Conference, Yeppoon, July 2000.

Assessing Models of Information Literacy Selected Papers from 10th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning (with M Appleton). Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, Florida, April 1999

Teaching and Learning Strategies. Selected Papers from the 9th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning (with M Appleton), Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, Florida, April 1998

Information Literacy Education - Delivering The Goods. Paper presented at Living the Future II conference, Tucson, Arizona, (Appleton, M., Orr D., and Catts R.), April 1998.

Dr. Bob Boughton, Ph.D.

For most of the last twenty years Bob Boughton has worked mainly with Indigenous community-controlled organizations, in Central Australia. His research and teaching focuses on links between education, development and social change. His major research interests are Indigenous adult and vocational education, links between education and health development in Indigenous communities, and the history and theory of popular adult education. Recent projects and publications in these areas are set out below.

Indigenous adult and vocational education

Recent projects in include:

· The Phase One Report of the Mid-term Review of Australia's national vocational education and training policy for Indigenous peoples, Partners in a Learning Culture, done with Deborah Durnan under contract to National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).

· Taking Control: Indigenous Secondary Education in Central Australia

· Two projects for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) examining adult and workplace education issues and outcomes in Indigenous communities

· Projects with the Federation of Independent Aboriginal Education Providers. Reports: www.koori.usyd.edu.au/FIAEP/

Recent publications:

· Beyond Equity? Indigenous Peoples rights and the national VET system, with Deborah Durnan. Chapter in forthcoming NCVER publication on equity issues in VET, edited by Kaye Bowman.

· Succeeding Against the Odds. The outcomes obtained by Indigenous students in Aboriginal community-controlled colleges. With Deborah Durnan. Adelaide: NCVER 1999

· Alternative VET Pathways to Indigenous Development. Adelaide: N.C.V.E.R. 1998 www.ncver.edu.au

Education and health

Work on links between education and health, funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health in the NT included both action research projects and the design, delivery and evaluation of education and training programs for Indigenous Primary Health Care Services. Publications in this area include four occasional papers of the CRC, available at www.crc.ath.au

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Popular education history and theory

Another major research interest is in the history of adult education, especially its more radical or marginal forms associated with social and political movements. Current research collaboration with Dr Mike Brown from RMIT, Dr Peter Rushbrook from CSU and Teri Merlyn from UTS in Sydney, examines the way vocational education systems and independent labour movement education programs develop quite different kinds of education programs based around their different constructions of a good worker. This historical analysis throws new light on how we view what is currently known as the training reform agenda in Australia, including its links to earlier ideas about scientific management and industrial efficiency. Publications on the history of adult education and social movements include:

· "The Workers' University": Australia's Marx Schools & the International Communist Movement's Contribution to Popular Education. In J. Crowther, V. Galloway and I. Martin (eds) Popular Education: Engaging the Academy (forthcoming).

· Constructing the Good Worker: A Dialogue in Progress. With Brown, M., Merlyn, T., & Rushbrook, P. In J. Searle & D. Roebuck (Eds.), Envisioning Practice-Implementing Change. Proceedings of the 10th Annual Internatinal Conference on Post-compulsory Education and Training (Vol. 1, pp. 156-163). Brisbane: Australian Academic Press, 2002.

· The Communist Party of Australia's Involvement in the Struggle for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People's Rights 1920-1970. In R. Markey (Ed.), Labour and Community: Historical Essays (pp. 263-294). Wollongong: University of Wollongong Press, 2001

· Does Popular Education Have a Past? Pp 1-27, in B. Boughton, T. Brown and G. Foley, New Directions in Australian Adult Education. Sydney, UTS Centre for Popular Education Monograph, 1997. Downloadable at www.ala.asn.au/conf/debate/PopEdpast.pdf

Paul Reader: Visual art in adult learning

As MEd. Honours research, I examined the impact of tertiary art education in the lives of visual art graduates. Through this work I became much more interested in art as a form of adult learning. In NSW nearly 21% of enrolments in Adult & Community Education (ACE) are in visual and performing arts courses, until very recently, by far the largest subject area in ACE, attracting over 37,000 enrolments annually. (NSW BACE 1999)

It is common to think of the adult education discipline as more concerned with adult literacy, workplace training and community education, because so rarely does visual art feature within the discipline's published research. In the past visual art has been discussed in other ways; such as art history or theory, or the sociology or psychology of art. In proportion to the popularity of art making, very few researchers have turned their attention to art as adult learning.

Within the School of Professional Development and Leadership there are now a growing number of researchers interested in art as it relates to areas like peace studies, feminist research, the environment, early childhood development, workplace-learning in theatre, and of course my area of interest, adult education. What this shows is that the study of art is no longer just the preserve of art schools in a structure of international "cultural management", galleries and museums. The educational research context of UNE provides a new context for examining art making, performance and associated learning.