Abstract
This chapter draws on research conducted between 2008 and 2010 that explored what happens when knowledge developed to regulate and manage training delivered in Australia is exported to another jurisdiction with a quite different regulatory framework. The focus of investigation was on the mechanisms, strategies, and tools deployed to enable Australian VET knowledge practices to respond to the needs of systems, training institutions, and individuals in these new contexts. This process of transfer and adaptation was explored through three case studies. On the basis of the empirical data analyzed in each model, a classification of transnational activities is proposed according to six dimensions of transfer activity – mechanism, drivers, key actors, purpose, context, and outcomes. The mechanisms used in each of the case studies are analyzed according to the theories of globalization of business, regulatory arrangements and knowledge management. The chapter concludes by positioning transnational vocational education and training (VET) in the context of global developments since 2010 including UNESCO’s efforts to define the role of national and international standards in a global education and training environment and the work of WorldSkills International to define global skills standards.
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Notes
- 1.
Data was not available for offshore activities of private providers.
- 2.
- 3.
Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions are the government providers of VET in Australia.
- 4.
The fact that the teachers adapted quickly and effectively was, according to officials interviewed, largely due to the quality of the Australian educators involved in the project and their capacity to work in a cross-cultural setting.
- 5.
Bendigo-Kangan TAFE was also involved in the training as a subcontractor to RMIT University.
- 6.
IELTS is a widely accepted English language test that assesses candidates’ skills in four skill categories of listening, reading, writing, and speaking. The candidates will be given a score from 1 to 9 for each part of the test and the average produces an overall band score. The acceptable score bands for academic and professional organizations generally start from 6 for “competent user.” The scores 7–9 refer to “good user, showing the candidate maintains an operational command of the language”, “very good user, explaining the candidate has a fully operational command of the language”; and “expert user, showing the candidate has a full operational command of the language.” IELTS is jointly owned by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and Cambridge English Language Assessment (British-Council 2014).
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World Reference Levels of Learning Outcomes Experts Meeting 23–24 April 2015 IIEP Institute 7–9 rue Eugène-Delacroix, 75116 Paris Draft agenda
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Finnish research into the attributes and characteristics associated with vocational excellence (Nokelainen and Ruohotie 2002, 2009) and a subsequent study of competitors at the 2011 WorldSkills International Competition showed that medal winners scored higher on attributes such as perseverance, time management, self-reflection and motivation, and interpersonal and intrapersonal skills than non-medal winners (Nokelainen et al. 2012).
- 13.
Represented in each specification under the categories of Work Organization and Management and Communication and Interpersonal Skills
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For example, problem-solving in visual merchandizing, innovation creativity, and design in graphic design
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Such as fabrication and assembly in mobile robotics and using industrial controllers in mechatronics
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- 18.
Australian training has been quite radically deregulated over the past decade. As more private, for-profit training institutions gain national accreditation and access to state and commonwealth government funding, regulators are responding with ever-tighter regulatory requirements in order to address a scandalous level of corruption (ABC 2015a, b; ASQA 2016).
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Rahimi, M., Smith, H. (2017). Management of Knowledge in International VET: Diversity of Practice from Laos, Kuwait, and China. In: Tran, L., Dempsey, K. (eds) Internationalization in Vocational Education and Training. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47859-3_7
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