Australian Journal of Adult Learning

Vocational education practitioners must participate in professional development (PD) activities so they may implement contemporary teaching practices to support their students. Long-term, social types of activity are best because they benefit individuals and groups of practitioners and the training …

Informal learning activities and workplace learning constitute a substantial part of a PhD student’s knowledge as an adult. It is essential to define the concept of workplace learning and the roles and responsibilities of doctoral students clearly and transparently while explaining how doctoral cour…

In an ever-changing world of work, workers are expected to maintain currency of changes through lifelong learning to sustain employment and transition into new jobs or occupations-as the need arises. Adult workers rely on affordances from societal, workplace, community and educational institution so…

There are growing expectations that tertiary education graduates will be ready for working life, that is, possessing the capacities to participate effectively in an occupational practice in a specific work situation. Yet, graduates are often unprepared to fulfil this expectation. In response, tertia…

Common sense in practice was a significant finding of a qualitative narrative research project investigating the professional practice and learning of police in an Australian police jurisdiction. Police officers in this research emphasised common sense as an intrinsic attribute of policing. Concepti…

Executive summary Adult community Education (ACE) is a recognisable education sector that offers accessible lifelong learning opportunities that are learnercentred and needs based. The Australian ACE scan profiles the sector in terms of its programs, features and provider types. The scan outlines AC…

Current trends in workforce development indicate the movement of workers within and across occupations to be the norm. In 2009, only one in three vocational education and training (VET) graduates in Australia ended up working in an occupation for which they were trained. This implies that VET enhanc…

Transformative learning theory is a dominant approach to understanding adult learning. The theory addresses the way our perspectives on the world, others and ourselves can be challenged and transformed in our ongoing efforts to make sense of the world. It is a conception of learning that does not fo…

Higher education is facing new challenges in preparing students for the workforce. As demands increase for students to differentiate themselves when seeking employment, it becomes necessary for higher education and vocational providers not only to understand these challenges, but also to provide a p…

Childcare workers play a significant role in the learning and development of children in their care. This has major implications for the training of workers. Under new reforms of the childcare industry, the Australian government now requires all workers to obtain qualifications from a vocational edu…

This paper examines the underlying assumptions that competencybased frameworks are based upon in relation to leadership development. It examines the impetus for this framework becoming the prevailing theoretical base for developing leaders and tracks the historical path to this phenomenon. Research …