not waving but drowning: practitioner- research in challenging vocational seas dr. laurie miller...
TRANSCRIPT
Not waving but drowning: practitioner-research in
challenging vocational seasDr. Laurie Miller Address
presented to
Queensland Council for Adult Literacy Conference
by
Dr Peter WaterhouseBrisbane, Friday 20th October 2006
436-438 High StreetNorthcote VIC 3070Phone: (03) 9486 [email protected]
Neutral and Objective
“scientists firmly believe that as long as they are not conscious of any bias or political agenda, they are neutral and objective, when in fact they are only unconscious.”
(Namenwirth cited by Lather 1991, p.10)
What is it to be literate?
What is it to be literate? We have to draw our own maps, trace our own histories, acknowledge our own debts and consider ways not taken.
(Meek, 1991, p.234)
Social concepts such as literacy
and poverty are integrally tied to
their labels. Like jelly and sand,
they are without intrinsic shape,
defined and redefined by the
vessels that hold them. Who isliterate depends on how we
define literacy …
Literacy is a
social concept
Breathing Life into Training
Cambourne’s Law
Whatever makes the teaching easy for the teacher
will probably make the learning more difficult for the learner … and the inverse …
Whatever makes the learning easy for the learner
will probably make the teaching more difficult for the teacher.
“The industry standards weight skills, prioritise processes and profile elements using some generic dip stick based on the way things usually happen in industry. But nowhere ever seems to be usual ...”
Virgona 1996
“In the varied topography of professional practice, there is a high, hard ground overlooking a swamp. On the high ground, manageable problems lend themselves to solution through the application of research based theory and technique. In the swampy lowland, messy, confusing problems defy technical solution”.
Donald SchÖn 1987, p.3.
We’ve got to look at the competencies and what they mean to the company ... What’s the outcome we want and they [the VET Providers] have to work towards that.
Townsend, Waterhouse & Malloch 2005
TAFEese & VETlish
“ if we cannot understand people, that is we cannot construe their construction, then we may do things to them but we cannot relate to them ”
Kelly 1955
Easy unconscious learning
Difficult, conscious unlearning…
There is a real challenge in holding back, questioning assumptions and what we already know …
This strategy identifies nine interrelated essential skills, they are:
• critical thinking• information literacy• computer literacy• multimedia literacy• visual literacy• financial literacy• numeracy• spoken and written
communication• social literacy
Expressing my opinion
Learning skills
Communication
Unpacking & Re-packing
Teamwork
Problem solvingOld
skills
Listening skills
Planning
New skills
Technology
Old skills
Unpacking & Re-packing
Expressing my opinion
Learning skills
Communication
Teamwork
Problem solving
Old skills
Listening skills
Planning
Technology
New skills
Experience Re-defined
Creating Synergies
Principles of ACE
pedagogy
Dimensions of ACE pedagogy
The Teacher The Teaching The Place The Curriculum
Focus on learners & their needs
Is engaged with learners and their learning on a personal level
Is developmental (starting from where learners are at and consciously helping them to progress)
Embodies collective values: commitment to education, to community service, to sector itself
Prioritises learner needs through creative assessment
Continuous learning for work and life
Is reflective & open about own practice and professional learning journey
Is largely (but not exclusively) experiential
Is a strongly networked community of teaching and learning practice
Is oriented towards generic skills for employment, life and further study
Building learning on and within real-life contexts
Is able to improvise and take risks
Fosters skills of critical literacy
Is community-owned and is engaged in community building locally
Is contextualised ( local, community, individual issues, interests and needs)
Sharing power - empowering people & communities
Is aware of relations of power
Includes various strategies to empower learners
Led by management committed to enabling learning processes & staff needs
Is negotiated wherever possible
Many roads to learning
Is patient and able to put trust in the learning process
Is multi-layered and eclectic
Creates a sense of belonging
Opens pathways through accredited, non-accredited and enrichment programs
A Framework for ACE Pedagogy
“Dear Director”
Concluding …
“Muddling through” – thoughtfully, sensitively, caringly …
Redefining vocational – a calling, vocare- vocal, voice, vocabulary …
Carefully considering everything …
And putting our selves into practice
For further information contact: Peter Waterhouse
Managing Director Workplace Learning Initiatives
Pty. [email protected]
Phone: 03 9486 8600www.wli.com.au
436-438 High StreetNorthcote VIC 3070Phone: (03) 9486 [email protected]
‘Para-literacy’? Parallel ?
From the Greek, Parallelos
Alongside & one another
tutor
Para-professionals & professionals
cook
chef
medic
medic
doctor
draughtsperson
architect
teacher
Conceptual Pyramid
Reading the world always precedes reading the word, and reading the word implies continually reading the world ... this movement from the world to the word and from the word to the world is always present, even the spoken word flows from our reading of the world.
(Freire 1983:10)
Reading the world