skills shortages and industry renewal

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Skills shortages and industry renewal rethinking work and occupational knowledge when recognising prior learning Sue Shore: Charles Darwin University Victoria Whitington and Carol Thompson: University of South Australia 1

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Skills shortages and industry renewal. rethinking work and occupational knowledge when recognising prior learning. Sue Shore: Charles Darwin University Victoria Whitington and Carol Thompson: University of South Australia. Context of the reform: early childhood provision. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Skills shortages and industry renewal

rethinking work and occupational knowledge when recognising prior

learning

Sue Shore: Charles Darwin University

Victoria Whitington and Carol Thompson: University of South Australia

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Page 2: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Context of the reform: early childhood provision

• The need for a skilled and knowledgeable early childhood workforce (OECD, 2006).

• The link between teacher qualifications/training and outcomes for children (Kelley & Camilli, 2007; Siraj-Blatchford, 2003; Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford & Taggart, 2010)

Industry renewal – a good idea in theory, what happens in practice ?

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Page 3: Skills shortages and industry renewal

The ECE COAG policy agenda

National Quality Framework•Universal Access requirement – all four year olds will have a 4 year early childhood degree qualified teacher for 15 hours per week, including all long day childcare services•Preschools included in licensing and accreditation (> 2012)•Approved early years learning framework, and development of a national curriculum for children from 5 to 15 years of age

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Page 4: Skills shortages and industry renewal

The South Australian context

• Preschool teacher qualifications 79% have an early childhood qualification 21% have Junior Primary (children 5-8 years)

qualifications

• upgrade needed to provide two aspects of occupational knowledge: 4 year training; and early childhood occupational knowledge

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Page 5: Skills shortages and industry renewal

The Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECD) upgrade project goals

An upgrade program was negotiated with DECD to recognise : a ‘gap’ in knowledge associated with the older 3 year and

more recent 4 year awards in the field; the specialised knowledge associated with early childhood –

as distinct from primary and junior primary development; teachers’ prior (and lifelong) learning which had not always

provided seamless pathways to accredited learning; priority areas consolidated by DECD: early brain

development and working with Indigenous children and families; and

the need for flexible delivery, and opportunities necessary to address rural and remote teachers PD needs.

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Page 6: Skills shortages and industry renewal

The program at UniSAThree intakes over 3 semesters, 87 teachers in total:

Equivalent to 12 months full time study (8 courses), mostly taken part time;

Adapted from an existing in-service early childhood education degree program

Federally funded scholarships Recognition of prior learning (RPL) for a maximum of three courses

in the award; All external/online delivery with some intensive workshops; Core course in ‘foundation skills’; early brain development; working

with diversity, including Indigenous children and families Distinguish early childhood and primary school occupational

knowledge - see the following chart

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Page 7: Skills shortages and industry renewal

The Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (In-service) program

Courses Students without ECE qualifications

Students with ECE qualifications

Foundations for Professional Learning

Brain Development in the Early Years

Education, Change and Society

Developing a Play Curriculum Birth-8 Years

Children Developing in Context 2

A selection of electives to address participants professional interests and contexts individual interest

No electives chosen if 3 courses granted for RPL

Three electives available if granted 3 courses of RPL

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Page 8: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Foundations for Professional Learning EDUC 5138

• Introductory course - recognised the transitions associated with competent professional people, with busy working lives, returning to graduate level university study – and so the differences in associated occupational and academic literacies.

• Bridging a ‘gap’ between educators as learners and educators as workers.

• Provided a supportive and interventionist approach to interrogate teachers’ previous professional learning

• Assignment structure: two assignments, an RPL application and an academic essay using their workplace (school, kindergarten, child care centre) to synthesise the implications of professionally learning and workplace learning literature for developing a culture of learning at their site. 8

Page 9: Skills shortages and industry renewal

‘Generous work’ (Smith 2005, 151-2)

Navigate tensions, responsibilities and outcomes of related but different learning: professional learning; workplace learning (on-the-job), professional development, induction, informal learning and mandatory updates by thinking about teachers’ work differently.

anything done by people that takes time and effort, that they mean to do, that is done under definite conditions and with whatever means and tools, and that they may have to think about. It means much more than what is done on the job.

include[s] a whole range of activities that are unpaid, not by any means done exclusively by women, …[an] underground of unpaid and invisible work that people don’t recognise as work nor as a contribution to the economy.

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Page 10: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Data sourcesAssignment 1: a claim for RPL; Assignment 2: an essay. Both

assignments required demonstration of academic literacies• Text responses about their sense of competence during the face-to-

face intensives, focussed on their learning and academic literacies). • Evaluation activities at different points during the course: early on

when uncertainty was high and later, after receiving feedback on assignments and talking with colleagues and staff about ideas presented in the course.

• University course evaluations –institutionally de-identified questions presented to students at the end of the course.

• A de-identified table of data extracted from the RPL applications. • Transcribed semi-structured teaching team discussions exploring

the overall conceptualisation and management of the project and reflective analyses of teaching and learning in EDUC5138.

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Page 11: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Profile of participants• 64% indicated that they were experienced teachers, with ten or

more years in the field, and 33% had 20 or more years. • 66% had a non-early childhood teacher qualification• 34% had a 3 year early childhood teacher qualification• Current roles: 36% preschool teachers, 48% directors/principals,

7% early childhood consultants, (9% did not indicate)

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3 Total

Metropolitan 9 14 13 36Rural 18 8 15 41Remote 5 2 3 10 32 24 31 87

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Page 12: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Structure of the discussion

Occupational knowledge documented Reflections on generous work Negotiating academic literacies Navigating home/study/life balances

Two emergent tensions Splitting words: voluntary and mandatory

workplace renewal Time, choices and new learning experiences

Further issues: skills shortages and industry renewal

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Page 13: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Professional knowledge documented in RPL applications

Domain Frequencies/percentages

Research and inquiry-based practice 14 (5.9%)

Indigenous teaching and education 13 (5.5%)

Curriculum 49 (20.7%)

Pedagogy 56 (23.6%)

Leadership 59 (24.9%)

Children’s development 9 (3.8%)

Community and family engagement 22 (9.3%

Other 15 (6.3%)

Total 237 (100%)Summary of domains of RPL claims including frequencies

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Page 14: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Reflections: ‘generous work’ and RPL

• Obvious curriculum areas identified PLUS wide range of expertise.

• Open design and creation of ‘work’ boundaries presented challenges: Appreciation of cyclic approach I prefer working in defined framework the total package was important in order to create the context for

future learning I learned to think about myself in a different way I have a vast range of skills and I often don’t stop and appreciate it Chip away at it... do the readings... do the activities/tasks and in

time all the elements will fall into place – do more, panic less. Trust the process, enjoy the process

I have gained the ability to articulate the work I do

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Page 15: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Negotiating academic literaciesThe usual challenges:How do I meld my ideas with current research without plagiarising?Some big words – trajectories in ECE; epitimology (can’t even spell it!)

The ICT environment:ICT skills not great. Had trouble unloading my appendicesHow to read effectively, quickerI had to [learn to] negotiate around the UniSA website

Collaborative learning with colleaguesThe collaborative approach to my learning – affirmation, networking/discussing ideas with the cohort who is on common groundThe opportunity to listen to others identify their skills: it made me re-think mine

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Page 16: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Managing competing demands It was hard to calm my head to take on board the

course requirements when other things at work were screaming at me

I need to make time to study on my one day off instead of going into work to catch up on paperwork!

I passed the first assignment under great duress of juggling three jobs and working more than full time

and also I found myself talking about the World Bank at the

breakfast table16

Page 17: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Pressures and in/voluntary participation

Some were very optimistic and embraced the learning – albeit were still challenged:I’m focussed on me (and what I can get out of the process) rather than feel frustrated about “what is imposed”. It’s really about perception, at the end this was my choice.I have learned to get on with the task (not procrastinate) and to time manage – this requires discipline Others, however, were less optimistic and were more bruised by the experience: I thought I was a competent teacher, but found out I was an incompetent student’I have experience that should be recognised at graduate levelI am incredibly anxious about many things – getting my readings read, answering the questions, writing the assignments (especially and finally the results) There were also thoughtful reflections about learning: I am equipped to complete this course despite a few concerns initiallyI still have a lot to learn about EC methodologies

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Page 18: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Just show me vs pedagogical advice vs make it easier to submit a claim

I prefer working within a defined, specific framework. The RPL very difficult. The head work required to define my own topic

Show a claim, how it is done … still feel confused/very unsure Questions could be placed on sticky notes so that thread of input

can be maintained rather than the jumping everywhere and responding to one group of people

Learning and Teaching Unit input – clear digestible, useful, linked well with where I am at as a student

Presenting concepts then revisiting based on participants’ needs/feedback

Logical sequence to material, the pace of the workshop Time to ponder, question, receive answers and re-ask the same

questions for more clarification

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Page 19: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Making time for lifelong professional learning

Previous limited professional development opportunities in the past are likely to have informed teachers’ initial responses to, and capacity to engage in university study:•professional development becomes a pragmatic exercise of attendance.•balancing a culture of lifelong learning against mandatory completion of a minimum five day professional development requirement.•time needed to balance work, family and study; to reflect on new learning rather than just ‘doing’.

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Page 20: Skills shortages and industry renewal

Making ‘slow time’ for learning

• Teacher acceptance of participation in learning that takes time and deep engagement as an ongoing part of their professional role

Excellent opportunity to audit my teaching and learning history and present findings to a critical audience. I have increased my professional articulation. My thinking skills are now working at a more sophisticated level which is happily stimulating

I enjoy the readings. They encourage me to think about my practice and the learning journey I have travelled

The program has made me more argumentative in defence of children’s rights.

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Page 21: Skills shortages and industry renewal

The future: structural and career directions

• Federal Government agenda is towards the horizontal integration of services and education in the early childhood years and this will require advanced professionalism as teachers will be in sites with social, community and health workers who need to reach into each other’s knowledge bases as well as maintaining their own professional area.

• Vertical integration is also underway so that children are more likely to be on the same site as both older and younger children, birth to 12 or 18 years in some cases.

There is a need for early childhood professionals to have the capacity to meet, operate effectively within, and also be creative and lead in this new education and care context. Recognition of ECE ‘work’ needs substantial rethinking for this complex context .

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