Workskills data and insights - Aotearoa NZ

 The Tertiary Educaiton Commissiont (TEC) announces the launch of a common platform for sharing Ohu Mahi (Work Development Councils (WDCs) date.

Te Mata Raraunga has been created by the Workforce development councils (WDCs) to collect, integrate and organise vocational education and workforce data on a central platform. Data from each of the WDCs is collated. Trends and analysis across the industries each WDC represents on workforce demographics and regional distribution and information on learners is represented. WDC plans, information on their council and a workforce information platform for some WDCs plus access to various resources are featured. The site is thus a 'one-stop' shop for information on each WDC, their strategic direction over the short term and news. 

2021 review

Well, the year turned out more settled than envisaged as Aotearoa continued to work within the constrains presented by Covid-19. Borders remained closed and for much of the year, things progressed as per normal. However, the arrival of the Delta strain in August saw a brief return (in Christchurch) to level 4 before moving quickly down to Level 3 and then 2. Auckland has borne the brunt of the incursion, having been in ‘lockdown’ since August and a slow movement back to a ‘reduced’ Level 3 at the end of November and ‘release’ into the wider country from mid-December.

On the work front, Te Pūkenga released consultation documents for their ‘service concepts’ (July) and then their operational model(October). My institute has been proactive with submissions and hope these add to the consultative process as Te Pūkenga’s bedding-in progresses. The main item which will affect my work in the future, is the consolidation of all of Te Pūkenga’s capability development into a ‘single hub’. I interpret this to mean that the management of capability development will be centralised but local units will carry out the work.

Not as much programme development work this year, given the move towards unified/master programme approach adopted by Te Pūkenga. The beginning of the year saw support for 4 degree programmes in the Creative Industries Department. Ongoing support of the Diploma in Agricultural Management (L5) continues.

On the research front, the majority of my energies have been put into editing the book “Innovations in Aotearoa New Zealand Vocational Education and Training (VET)” now renamed to “Reshaping Vocational Education and Training in Aotearoa New Zealand” and scheduled for publication by Springer next year. In addition to managing the project with Dr. Nicolas (Nyk) Huntington, I have also co-authored the first and last chapters in the volume and lead authored the ‘project-based learning’ chapter.

A book chapter was submitted in October towards the Handbook of Asia-Pacific Adult Learning. The chapter discusses recognition of current competency (RPL) in the Aotearoa NZ context.

Co-editorship with Profession Sarojni Choy on the International Journal of Training Research has also provided much learning. We are starting to come to grips with the process and the rather clunky journal editing platform, appointed 4 new associate editors, worked with AVETRA to update the journal’s scope, and also reviewed/refreshed the list of scholars who make up the editorial board.

Work has also begun in my now larger team due to small restructure of ‘capability’. My team of learning designers/educator developers, resource advisors and learning technology advisors now combined with adult education section and the corporate capability development unit to provide a more consolidated approach for academic and organisational capability. The new capability section is now part of the People and Capability Division and aligns better with the proposed Te Pūkenga organisation structure. This team will need some major professional development, going forward, to ensure we are able to keep ahead of the game and provide leadership and guidance to our teaching departments as Te Pūkenga moves towards provision of more flexible, open, and distributed/networked learning approaches.

All in, a busy but productive year 😊 I am looking forward to a couple of weeks post-Xmas, walking, biking, and botanising in Southland. 

NZIST - publication of work stream reports

The reports from the workstreams set up to inform the establishment of the NZ Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST) are now available.

A very short timeframe is provided for feedback by 15th of June.

The reports are from the 7 workstreams which include:
- the learner journey mapping
- a model to engage with employers and communities
- education services and online learning (2 workstreams into 1 report) of most relevance to my current work as it proposes centralisation of much of of the work of my current section - programme and curriculum design and online delivery
- work-based learning centred around the merger of Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) and the polytechnics (ITPs) and how Workforce Development Councils will work.
- new academic architecture - setting out the academic board/committees structure and reporting lines.
- international education.

Feedback is invited for the direction of the various proposed models, frameworks and structures including agreement/non-agreement, gaps and issues.

Will digest the relevant reports over the weekend and do a summary next week.

Flavor - the science of our most neglected sense - book overview

Presently, drafting an article on 'learning to taste' as an output for one of the eassessment for learning sub-projects.

The book -  Flavor:the science of our most neglected sense. Holmes B. (2017). W.W. Norton and Co.
I worked through the book - borrowed from the local library - over the last week or so.

The author's home page  indicates his experience as a science writer, so the overall tone and style of writing is accessble to the layperson.

The book has gathered positive reviews - from a chef's perspective and from the processedfoodsite.

There are 8 chapters in the book, covering the essentials of understanding how humans (and mammals) taste. There are some good insights across the book, as the author explores the history, science and sociology of taste and flavour.

The central arguement is of the complexity of flavour and its role in enhancing human's quality of life. Visits to wineries, restaurants, flavour compound industry producers and food sensory laboratories are described and connected to the 'science of taste and flavour'. There is discussion on why we enjoy certain foods and why we find some to be unpalatable - the contribution of nurture is just as important as nature. The many dimensions of taste - including mouthfeel, smell and sound are introduced and extended. The various aspects of flavour - salt, sweet, sour, bitter, umami are all explored.

In summary:
- we eat with our eyes - so the colour and complementary presentation help enhance our eating pleasure.
- Smell plays a large role in taste and may consist of smell and 'flavour'
- holistic presentation help - therefore seafood tastes better when we are by the seashore or if the dish is presented with the sound / and smell of the sea.
- much of our taste preferences are cultural and learnt although there are some underlying biological foundations for individual's taste - some people do not have as many taste buds and do not taste the intensity or spectrum of flavours. People who dislike brocolli for example, are often 'super' tasters and need to surmount their initial over whelming of their taste senses to appreciate brocolli!

All in, the book is essential reading for anyone seeking to better understand the mechanisms and quirks of one of the least understood and underated of human senses.

Vocational education : Professor Stephen Billett's latest book

A hardcopy of Professor Stephen Billett’s new book ‘Vocational education: purposes, traditions and prospects’ arrived in the library just as I got back to work a month ago.  Usual preview also available on Google books. As much of the content is relevant to my research, I have put time  into working through the book.

In this book, Billett argues for better recognition/respect of the role of vocational education. To support the assertion he begins by undertaking a review of the positioning of vocational education through analysis of its historical roots, both in Western (Greek, Roman) and Asian (Chinese) traditions. Discussions continue by unpacking the connotations of the terms 'vocations' and 'occupations'. The historical valuing of vocations is contrasted to the more prosaic acceptance of the need for people to undertake paid work in the form of occupations. Of interest, is the collation of an argument for the deliberation of not only vocations but occupations as a calling. Thereby, closing the loop with regards to occupations and vocations, with some individuals, transforming their occupations into vocations.

The various economic, social and political pressures and continuous reforms within vocational education are then overviewed and brought together in the next few chapters on the development and purposes of vocational education.

Then a useful chapter, introducing, substantiating and describing the vocational education curricula as intended curriculum as decreed by standards setting bodies, enacted curriculum by those who deliver the learning required to take up a vocational occupation and the experienced curriculum as how learners/students encounter and engage with the learning. Parts of this are summarised in Billett’s keynote presentation last year at the Industry Training Federation’s (ITF) NZ vocational education research forum. The concept is useful when we assess the impact of vocational education on students who are being prepared (through pre-trade or university education) for work. Does the intended curriculum actually meet the needs of industry and is the curriculum as experienced by learners, actually sufficient preparation for the realities of work?


Overall, a scholarly book written for an academic audience. It provides good overview of the present state of affairs in the vocational education field. Vocational education is something governments require to assist with the training of a ‘skilled’ workforce. Yet, vocational education is more than ‘just training’, it prepares people for occupations , in turn providing livelihoods for many. For some, occupations are not just a job, but a means to also attain fulfilment. As vocational educators, we need to think through our objectives. Are we training? or educating? Does preparation for work also need to include many non-work related skills that help people become 'who they want to be and become'?  So, in a sense, the book raises many questions about vocational education's role - for individuals, society or humanity?

Emerging approaches to educational research - book summary

Through browsing through another new book in the CPIT library, I started to work through the first few chapters in greater detail. The book is ‘the Sage handbook of workplace learning’ edited by Margaret Malloch, Len Cairns, Karen Evans and Bridget N. O’Connor. Chapter 2 by Professor Paul Hager on ‘theories of workplace learning’ provides a good overview of the three approaches , the theories influenced by psychological theories, socio-cultural theories and post-modern theories. So, time to update my knowledge on the post-modern theories through an ebook from the CPIT library ebook collection. The book is edited by Professor Tara Fenwick, Professor Richard Edwards and Peter Sawchuk and called ‘emerging approaches to educational research’. Fenwick presents a summary at the University of Technology last month.

This book provides a good introduction to why research approaches have shifted and moved towards trying to understanding the diverse nature of learning and the various contexts learning take place in. The book introduces, describes, discusses and evaluates the ‘sociomaterial’ research approaches or ‘four arenas’ for future educational research. The four arenas are complexity theory, cultural historical activity theory (CHATs), actor-network theory and spatiality.

Each of the four arenas is based on recent dissatisfaction with the inability of research frameworks to capture, study and explain ‘how people learn’. Each proposes frameworks / methods to try to account for the many material / non-material contributions towards how learning occurs. There is generally no ‘right or wrong’ answer coming through using any of the four arenas as research frameworks. Hence, the use of ‘post-modern’ as one categorisation for a raft of research approaches that go beyond the usual ‘qualitative/quantitative’ debate.

The common premises of the four arenas are:

Not dependent on the individual as being the sole focal point of study

Challenge relationships/binaries on which our understandings of ‘practice’ are founded

Challenge notions of context as being where the action is and allowing for a wider range of ‘contexts’ to be recognised

do not take reductionist stances but recognise the continuous dynamic nature of learning

acknowledge the complexity and ‘mess’ that represents the ‘real-world’.

Accept that learning is fundamentally difficult to pin down or to explain.

For me, the above represents some of the steps I have taken as a teacher/researcher, moving from trying to grasp the ‘known’ to understanding that the ‘known’ is slippery, dependent not only on context but on social/historical/ontological factors and attempts at explanation are always going to be incomplete. The above also challenge my grounding as a ‘socioculturalist’ in trying to explain learning as an ‘equilibrium’ between social affordances and individual agency with contributions from the various social relationships individuals encounter. Shifting towards a post-modern framework requires unpacking my current belief systems and evaluating another new way of looking at things.

There is a helpful explanation of the terms used in ‘knowing organisations:practice-based approach’ (book by Nicolini, Gherardi and Yanow) by Svabo – titled – ‘materiality in a practice-based approach’ also relevant to the ‘emerging approaches to educational research’ book.

The Phd journey - reflections

All good things come to an end :) although for me, the continuation of the researcher/academic journey now truly begins. I started tentatively on a Phd in mid-2003 with a preliminary meeting with my associate supervisor and my primary supervisor. After exploring the feasibility of investigating cognitive apprenticeships, I muddled through with the proposal to do a longitudinal study of apprentices. The proposal was accepted in 2005, with the thesis entitled - Belonging, becoming and being bakers: The role and processes of apprenticeship. Data collection began mid-year 2005 and continued to the beginning of 2008 as I collected data in the first, second and third year of apprenticeship. Then, over the next two summers and most Saturdays of 2009 and 2010, the dissertation writing proceeded, with my supervisor Stephen Billett, providing much support as I got to grips with academic writing. Over the beginning of 2011, the final edits were made, interrupted by the Christchurch earthquakes. I submitted in mid-July and the examiners reports, which are very supportive and positive, came through at the end of September. Revisions as required by the Griffith University Chair of examiners came through in October and I submitted these with the accompanying paperwork mid-October. This morning, an email from the post-graduate office confirms all revisions accepted and provided instructions for sending in bound copies of the thesis.


I now use the skills I have learnt over the Phd process on a daily basis. The transition from bakery tutor to researcher has been a long but mostly gradual learning curve. Many of the skills and dispositions of a baker have transported well into becoming a scholar. In particular, the need to

• Complete adequate preparation – in baking to understand the function of ingredients and to plan the process flow before beginning . In academia, to have sufficient grasp of the relevant literature and to organise one’s argument.
• Maintain momentum – in baking, many processes are required at timely intervals, hence the need to plan a workable workflow so that processes are spaced out through the shift. In research, there is still a need to establish a realistic timeline and to stick with it. Otherwise, other activities start to take precedent.
• Keeping at it – diligence and attention to detail are important aspects of baking. This is required to keep track of all the nuances inherent in the baking process. In research, there is also a need carefully and reflectively collect and analyse data and to hone the craft of academic writing. The initial writing is not difficult if one is prepared but fine tuning a piece of writing does take dogged persistence and hard work.
• Continual learning – consumer demands continually drive the craft of baking. Bakers have to meet ever changing customer demands and this along with the vagaries associated with working with ingredients like flour and yeast, lead to continual learning opportunities. In becoming a researcher, the demands for continual learning are also ever present. There is the need not only to keep up with the literature, but to learn new research methods as projects evolve and new ways have to be found to find answers to research questions. Added to this is the learning required to keep up with technology, including data analysis software and the many ways to now access, evaluate and archive digital literature.

For almost 30 years in baking and teaching baking, I learnt something new each and every day. In becoming a researcher, the same holds true. So the continual learning to meet various challenges are the things that enrich my life and in doing vocational education research, I hope to help contribute to the improvement in the lives of others. So my next goal is to focus on dissemination as research is not much use if only accessible to the few who read academic journals or attend presentations at discipline specific or academic conferences.