Collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to Indigenous Australians in a remote community

Australian universities have demonstrated heightened investment in the concept of work-integrated learning (WIL) as a strategy for enriching student experiences while providing pathways leading to better employment opportunities. These endeavours are mainly for enrolled post-secondary students, both...

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Main Authors: Pearson, Cecil, Daff, S.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.apjce.org/files/APJCE_12_2_125_145.pdf
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22561
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author Pearson, Cecil
Daff, S.
author_facet Pearson, Cecil
Daff, S.
author_sort Pearson, Cecil
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Australian universities have demonstrated heightened investment in the concept of work-integrated learning (WIL) as a strategy for enriching student experiences while providing pathways leading to better employment opportunities. These endeavours are mainly for enrolled post-secondary students, both local and international, and managed by academic staff of universities that are sited in urban centres enabling linkages to industry. The content of this paper describes a vocational educational programme for Indigenous Australians with elementary and lower secondary school experience. This programme embraces all the various forms of WIL, is undertaken in a remote locality in northern Australia, and although the key objectives of the programme are closely aligned with Australian university WIL-cored courses (i.e., enrichment, employment), a salient difference is university academic personnel and staff of other registered training companies travel to the remote industry centre to deliver the programme content to the participants. Data from the programme, now approaching its fourth year, are presented and discussed to reveal challenges and opportunities for industry, academia, and the community. A concluding section advances the initiative as a promising alternative to existing traditional models, which has potential to substantially improve Indigenous Australian employment levels and lessen the persistently reported socioeconomic disadvantages of Indigenous communities in remote Australia.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-225612017-01-30T12:32:15Z Collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to Indigenous Australians in a remote community Pearson, Cecil Daff, S. mining employment Indigenous Australians vocational programme Australian universities have demonstrated heightened investment in the concept of work-integrated learning (WIL) as a strategy for enriching student experiences while providing pathways leading to better employment opportunities. These endeavours are mainly for enrolled post-secondary students, both local and international, and managed by academic staff of universities that are sited in urban centres enabling linkages to industry. The content of this paper describes a vocational educational programme for Indigenous Australians with elementary and lower secondary school experience. This programme embraces all the various forms of WIL, is undertaken in a remote locality in northern Australia, and although the key objectives of the programme are closely aligned with Australian university WIL-cored courses (i.e., enrichment, employment), a salient difference is university academic personnel and staff of other registered training companies travel to the remote industry centre to deliver the programme content to the participants. Data from the programme, now approaching its fourth year, are presented and discussed to reveal challenges and opportunities for industry, academia, and the community. A concluding section advances the initiative as a promising alternative to existing traditional models, which has potential to substantially improve Indigenous Australian employment levels and lessen the persistently reported socioeconomic disadvantages of Indigenous communities in remote Australia. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22561 http://www.apjce.org/files/APJCE_12_2_125_145.pdf Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education fulltext
spellingShingle mining employment
Indigenous Australians
vocational programme
Pearson, Cecil
Daff, S.
Collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to Indigenous Australians in a remote community
title Collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to Indigenous Australians in a remote community
title_full Collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to Indigenous Australians in a remote community
title_fullStr Collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to Indigenous Australians in a remote community
title_full_unstemmed Collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to Indigenous Australians in a remote community
title_short Collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to Indigenous Australians in a remote community
title_sort collaborative delivery of work-integrated learning to indigenous australians in a remote community
topic mining employment
Indigenous Australians
vocational programme
url http://www.apjce.org/files/APJCE_12_2_125_145.pdf
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22561