Academic literature on the topic 'Technical education Victoria'

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to trace the restructure of the Victorian Education Department in Australia during the years 1980-1992. It examines how the restructuring of the department resulted in a generational reorganization of secondary schooling. This reorganization culminated in the closure of secondary technical schools that today continues to have enduring effects on access and equity to different types of secondary schooling. Design/methodology/approach – The history is based on documentary and archival research and draws on publications from the State government of Victoria, Education Department/Ministry of Education Annual Reports and Ministerial Statements and Reviews, Teacher Union Archives, Parliamentary Debates and unpublished theses and published works. Findings – As an outcome the restructuring of the Victorian Education Department, schools and the reorganization of secondary schooling, a dual system of secondary schools was abolished. The introduction of a secondary colleges occurred through a process of rationalization of schools and what secondary schooling would entail. Originality/value – This study traces how, over a decade, eight ministers of education set about to reform education by dismantling and undoing the historical development of Victoria’s distinctive secondary schools system.

IntroductionAlmost 78 000 women gave birth in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 2019. While most births occurred in metropolitan Melbourne and large regional centres, a significant proportion of women birthed in rural services. In late 2016, to support clinicians to recognise and respond to clinical deterioration, the Victorian government mandated provision of an emergency training programme, called Maternity and Newborn Emergencies (MANE), to rural and regional maternity services across the state. This paper describes the evaluation of MANE.Design and settingA quasi-experimental study design was used; the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model provided the framework.ParticipantsParticipants came from the 17 rural and regional Victorian maternity services who received MANE in 2018 and/or 2019.Outcome measuresBaseline data were collected from MANE attendees before MANE delivery, and at four time points up to 12 months post-delivery. Clinicians’ knowledge of the MANE learning objectives, and confidence ratings regarding the emergencies covered in MANE were evaluated. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) assessed safety climate pre-MANE and 6 months post-MANE among all maternity providers at the sites.ResultsImmediately post-MANE, most attendees reported increased confidence to escalate clinical concerns (n=251/259). Knowledge in the non-technical and practical aspects of the programme increased. Management of perinatal emergencies was viewed as equally stressful pre-MANE and post-MANE, but confidence to manage these emergencies increased post-delivery. Pre-MANE SAQ scores showed consistently strong and poor performing services. Six months post-MANE, some services showed improvements in SAQ scores indicative of improved safety climate.ConclusionMANE delivery resulted in both short-term and sustained improvements in knowledge of, and confidence in, maternity emergencies. Further investigation of the SAQ across Victoria may facilitate identification of services with a poor safety climate who could benefit from frequent targeted interventions (such as the MANE programme) at these sites.

Abstract:Health and medical informatics education has meanwhile gained considerable importance for medicine and for health care. Specialized programs in health/medical informatics have therefore been established within the last decades.This special issue of Methods of Information in Medicine contains papers on health and medical informatics education. It is mainly based on selected papers from the 5th Working Conference on Health/Medical Informatics Education of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), which was held in September 1992 at the University of Heidelberg/Technical School Heilbronn, Germany, as part of the 20 years’ celebration of medical informatics education at Heidelberg/Heilbronn. Some papers were presented on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the health information science program of the School of Health Information Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Within this issue, programs in health/medical informatics are presented and analyzed: the medical informatics program at the University of Utah, the medical informatics program of the University of Heidelberg/School of Technology Heilbronn, the health information science program at the University of Victoria, the health informatics program at the University of Minnesota, the health informatics management program at the University of Manchester, and the health information management program at the University of Alabama. They all have in common that they are dedicated curricula in health/medical informatics which are university-based, leading to an academic degree in this field. In addition, views and recommendations for health/medical informatics education are presented. Finally, the question is discussed, whether health and medical informatics can be regarded as a separate discipline with the necessity for specialized curricula in this field.In accordance with the aims of IMIA, the intention of this special issue is to promote the further development of health and medical informatics education in order to contribute to high quality health care and medical research.

This paper examines how the British administration of the Federated Malay States (FMS) developed Normal Class to improve teacher training in English schools from 1906 to 1917. The 1902 Education Act, which made significant provisions for secondary and technical education and led to the rapid growth of training colleges in England and Wales, had an effect on the development of teacher training for English schools in the FMS. Following the suggestion of R.J. Wilkinson, Normal Classes for the training of assistant teachers commenced in January 1905 at the Victoria Institution. Initially, students from Victoria Institution and the Methodist Boy’s School were used to test the effectiveness of Normal Class. The success of Normal Class at Victoria Institution led to the opening of more such classes in the states of Perak, Melaka and Penang. Teacher training was emphasized to not only improve the quality of education in English schools but also to attract foreign investors to advance the economy especially of urban areas. This article focuses on the implementation of Normal Classes in Selangor and Perak. It has been found that, prior to the First World War, Normal Classes in Kuala Lumpur turned out to be more successful than in Perak. Teacher training in Kuala Lumpur, the administrative centre of the FMS, was desired to increase the number of local officials capable of speaking English in government departments. There was also considerable demand among capitalists for Normal Classes in English schools.

As in Australia school education is the responsibility of State Governments, this article will consider two computer systems in the Australian State of Victoria. The article takes a socio-technical stance to examine two computer systems currently in use in schools in Victoria: CASES21 and the Ultranet. After describing these systems, the article makes use of actor-network theory to explore the actors involved in their creation, development, implementation and use (or in one case non-use), and the networks they established in doing so. It looks at the associations involving both the human and non-human actors and how these contributed to successful adoption and use of these systems. A comparison of two systems within the same organisational environment allows a unique perspective on the formation of networks. The ANT approach permits an understanding of the difference in adoption where very few factors differ between the cases.

Purpose – It is widely acknowledged that the computer has caused great societal changes over recent years, but the purpose of this paper is to relate specifically to those due to the use of computers in education and teaching about computing. The adoption and use of computers in education was very much a socio-technical process with influence from people, organisations, processes and technologies: of a variety of human and non-human actors. Design/methodology/approach – This paper makes use of actor-network theory to analyse these events and their educational and societal impact. Data were collected from published sources, interviews with those involved at the time, discussions and from personal experience and observations. Findings – Computers have, of course, had a huge impact on society, but particularly in relation to the use of computers in school education there was a different societal impact. Some of this related directly to education, some to school administration and some to student attitudes, experiences and knowledge. Research limitations/implications – The paper investigates the development of early courses in computing in universities and schools in Victoria, Australia. The paper does not, however, consider the use of computers in university research, only in education. Practical implications – The paper describes the significant educational events of the era from punch-card tabulating machines in the 1930s to micro-computers in the late 1980s, and investigates the relationship between the development of courses in the Universities and those in the more vocationally oriented Colleges of Advanced Education. It examines whether one followed from the other. It also investigates the extent of the influence of the universities and CAEs on school computing. Social implications – The advent of the computer made a significant impact on university and school education even before the internet, Google, Wikipedia and smart phones in the late 1990s and 2000s. Computers in schools cause a rethink of how teaching should be handled and of the role of the teacher. Originality/value – This paper investigates the history of computers and education in both universities and schools in Victoria, Australia over the period from the 1930s to the early 1990s. It considers how and why this technological adoption occurred, and the nature of the resulting educational and societal change this produced. Primary and High School use of computers did not commence until the 1970s but prior to this there is a considerable and interesting history associated with the development of Higher Education courses relating to computing.

The central arguments in this thesis rest on two premises. Firstly language and context are intimately bound up in the social construction of workplace gender inequalities. Secondly, organisational understandings and management of women�s access to employment opportunities and rewards in modern bureaucratic organisations are constituted through discourses or systems of organisational knowledges, practices and rules of organising. This study uses the concept of discourse to account for the productive and powerful role of knowledge and language practices in constituting the organisational contexts and meanings through which people make sense of and experience complex organisations.

This research project examined the diffusion of change within one Victorian TAPE Institute by engaging action research to facilitate implementation of e-mail technology. The theoretical framework involving the concepts of technology innovation and action research was enhanced with the aid of Rogers's (1983) model of the diffusion of the innovation process. Political and cultural factors made up the initiation phase of innovation, enabling the research to concentrate on the implementation phase of e-mail Roger's (1983) model also provided adopter categories that related to the findings of a Computer Attitude Survey that was conducted at The School of Mines and Industries Ballarat (SMB), now the University of Ballarat—TAPE Division since amalgamation on 1st January 1998. Despite management rhetoric about the need to utilise e-mail, Institute teaching staff lacked individual computers in their work areas and most were waiting to become connected to the Internet as late as 1997. According to the action research reports, many staff were resistant to the new e-mail facilities despite having access to personal computers whose numbers doubled annually. The action research project became focussed when action researchers realised that e-mail workshop training was ineffective and that staff required improved access. Improvement to processes within education through collaborative action research had earlier been achieved (McTaggart 1994), and this project actively engaged practitioners to facilitate decentralised e-mail training in the workplace through the action research spiral of planning, acting, observing and reflecting, before replanning. The action researchers * task was to find ways to improve the diffusion of e-mail throughout the Institute and to develop theoretical constructs. My research task was to determine whether action research could successfully facilitate e-mail throughout the Institute. A rich literature existed about technology use in education, technology teaching, gender issues, less about computerphobia, and none about 'e-mailphobia \ It seemed appropriate to pursue the issue of e-mailphobia since it was marginalised, or ignored in the literature. The major political and cultural influences on the technologising of SMB and e-mail introduction were complex, making it impossible to ascertain the relative degrees of influence held by Federal and State Governments, SMB's leadership or the local community, Nonetheless, with the implementation of e-mail, traditional ways were challenged as SMB's culture changed. E-mail training was identified as a staff professional development activity that had been largely unsuccessful. Action research is critical collaborative inquiry by reflective practitioners who are accountable for making the results of their inquiry public and who are self-evaluating of their practice while engaging participative problem-solving and continuing professional development (Zuber-Skerritt 1992, 1993). Action research was the methodology employed in researching e-mail implementation into SMB because it involved collaborative inquiry with colleagues as reflective practitioners. Thoughtful questions could best be explored using deconstructivist philosophy, in asking about the noise of silence, which issues were not addressed, what were the contradictions and who was being marginalised with e-mail usage within SMB. Reviewing literature on action research was complicated by its broad definition and by the variability of research (King & Lonnquist 1992), and yet action research as a research methodology was well represented in educational research literature, and provided a systematic and recognisable way for practitioners to conduct their research. On the basis of this study, it could be stated that action research facilitated the diffusion of e-mail technology into one TAPE Institute, despite the process being disappointingly slow. While the process in establishing the action research group was problematic, action researchers showed that a window of opportunity existed for decentralised diffusion of e-mail training,in preference to bureaucratically motivated 'workshops. Eight major findings, grouped under two broad headings were identified: the process of diffusion (planning, nature of the process, culture, politics) and outcomes of diffusion (categorising, e-mailphobia, the survey device and technology in education). The findings indicated that staff had little experience with e-mail and appeared not to recognise its benefits. While 54.1% did not agree that electronic means could be the preferred way to receive Institute memost some 13.7% admitted to problems with using the voice answering service on telephones. Some 43.3% thought e-mail would not improve their connectedness (how they related) to the Institute. A small percentage of staff had trouble with telephone voice-mail and a number of these were anxious computer users. Individualised tuition and peer support proved helpful to individual staff whom action researchers believed to be 'at risk', as determined from the results of a Computer Attitude Survey. An instructional strategy that fostered the development of self-regulation and peer support was valuable, but there was no measure of the effects of this action research program, other than in qualitative terms. Nevertheless, action research gave space to reflect on the nature of the underlying processes in adopting e-mail. Challenges faced by TAPE action researchers are integrally affected by the values within TAPE, which change constantly and have recently been extensive enough to be considered as a 'new paradigm'. The influence of competition policy, the training reform agenda and technologisation of training have challenged traditional TAPE values. Action research reported that many staff had little immediate professional reason to use e-mail Theoretical answers were submerged beneath practical professional concerns, which related back to how much time teachers had and whether they could benefit from e-mail. A need for the development of principles for the sound educational uses of e-mail increases with the internationalisation of education and an increasing awareness of cultural differences. The implications for conducting action research in TAPE are addressed under the two broad issues of power and pedagogy. Issues of power included gaining access, management's inability to overcome staff resistance to technology, changing TAPE values and using technology for conducting action research. Pedagogical issues included the recognition of educational above technological issues and training staff in action research. Finally, seventeen steps are suggested to overcome power and pedagogical impediments to the conduct of action research within TAPE. This action research project has provided greater insight into the difficulties of successfully introducing one culture-specific technology into one TAPE Institute. TAPE Institutes need to encourage more action research into their operations, and it is only then that -we can expect to answer the unanswered questions raised in this research project.

Fundamental educational change is necessarily an outcome of authentic participation confirmed in community struggle against defined forms of oppression: this is the proposition explored in the course of the three case study experiences presented here. Similarly, the contexts, conditions and terms of participation are considered with regard to defining the character of authentic 'political' success.

This thesis examines economic growth and change across the city of Melbourne over the 2000s. In the late 1970s to early 1980s, and again in the early 1990s, Melbourne was seen as having a bleak future, as a consequence of the deindustrialisation occurring in the city throughout the late twentieth century. However, Melbourne grew rapidly at the start of the twenty-first century, renewing its profile globally and attracting population. This thesis examines the factors behind the rise of Greater Melbourne over the 2000s, and specifically the rapid revival of the central city area of Melbourne. The study assesses the relevance of economic geography theories (the Global Cities hypothesis, the World City Network (WCN) and agglomeration economies) in relation to Melbourne’s economic growth. Globalisation related theories concerning knowledge cities and workers are also considered.

The foundation for a productive, efficient and effective workforce is high quality and relevant training and ideally, educators, policy makers and the industry practitioners should agree on what should be included in training programs. This chapter discusses views of automotive trainees about whether or not they believed their training was directed appropriately towards work within the automotive industry of the future. Data was collected from automotive trainees located in Kenya and Australia. Data was obtained by use of questionnaires and analyzed with both quantitative and qualitative foci. The questions asked regarded the emphasis of training, the content of training, the facilities in training and coping with technological change in the workplace. Data were discussed according to three themes on generic skills, adequacy of training to work requirements and training facilities. In both countries, it was found that there is a need for more realignment of training offering to the future industry requirements. It is recommended that a consultative approach should be used in the training programs design with a view to reducing the gap between industry requirements and training offerings.

This chapter is an extract from a study that examined how institute-based automotive training in the retail, service and repair (RS&R) sector could be made more responsive and effective to the changes in workplace demands and new technology. It dealt with the promotion of vocational relevance in the training of motor mechanics in the contexts of a changing world and emergent working conditions. It was an applied learning study that followed a comparative case study research design aimed at advancing reciprocal lessons between the two regions of Kenya and State of Victoria, Australia. The research was propelled by the fact that technology used in this area is now changing faster than at any other time in modern history and is impacting upon most of the human lifestyles. This chapter deals with a summary of the main issues that were researched. Specifically the chapter deals with relevance of institute-based automotive training, stakeholders’ involvement in programs development, and program transfer from one region to another: and learning for work and at workplace. It highlights the views if trainers, trainees and industry practitioners on equity in program development, relevance to workplace requirements and ownership of the automotive training programs. It was found that Australian trainers felt somehow sidelined in the program design while the Kenyan trainers complained of being left alone by relevant industry in the program development venture. None of these two cases produces optimal results since participation in program design should be equitably distributed among the stakeholders.

Chapter 6 explores tensions surrounding the mentoring of trainee physicians. Victory odes articulate an ideal of mentoring as an enduring, influential, and even transformational relationship focused on building character and moral judgment rather than technical skill. At the same time, the odes expose concerns that actual mentoring can fail to achieve this ideal, and instead prove to be elitist or more focused on obtaining immediate results than fostering independent agents. Mentorship has re-emerged as a key factor in the development of modern physicians as increased attention is paid to measuring the outcomes of medical education and humanistic competencies within medicine are revalued. Mentorship should certainly be fostered, but care must be taken to design mentorship programs that are inclusive and that develop independent agents.

This article discusses the importance of the formation of interrelationship in solving tactical tasks using success mechanisms in the process of forming tactical thinking for the application of fighting techniques in duels. It is well known that in the theory of armwrestling, it is customary to single out tactics for achieving success, in which patterns of contact interaction with an opponent in a duel are accumulated, allowing purposefully changing and controlling competitive actions to achieve victory. The purpose of the study is to identify, influence, education of psychological qualities of hand wrestlers on the results of competitions with the use of sports equipment. The results of the study are an indicator of the development of tactical thinking by athletes at competitions. Conclusions. The allocation of tactical skills, success mechanisms and tactical tasks in tactical thinking allows you to concretize the tactical thinking of a hand wrestler. Applying tactical skills, a handyman can apply techniques of technical actions intentionally and at the same time not being late, but even ahead of the opponent. Thus, the means and methods used in the training process to develop tactical thinking at the initial stage of preparation had a positive effect on performances. Biomechanical mechanisms of success are, first of all: 1) deliberate or reciprocal movements of the wrestler, which the opponent uses to his advantage; 2) the relative positions of the wrestler (body, arms, legs) in grapples, stands, etc. – which gives spatial advantages when conducting wrestling techniques; 3) inertial characteristics of movement, which set an irreversible character when performing actions and while the athlete can change them, he will already lose the confrontation. They also include mechanisms for the use of distance, tempo, rhythmic and other characteristics of biomechanical interaction of wrestlers. Psychophysiological mechanisms of success are based on the use of psychomotor, coordination and emotional reactions of the opponent, and also include hidden and open influence on his mental mechanisms of orientation and movement control.

This paper describes the experiences of Victoria University in adopting and adapting web-based technology to enhance the teaching of SAP’s ABAP programming language. The involvement of SAP relates to Victoria University integrating Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems into their curricula and research programs through a strategic alliance with SAP. The SAP technical infrastructure facilitates the development of courses using Internet technology and has particular suitability to the teaching of programming. This paper describes the Web-based technologies used and how they have been adapted to improve both the teaching of programming and management of assessment. Each technology is discussed and advantages identified with possible future research developments put forward.

In 1963, Robin Boyd wrote about a post-war “rapprôchement” between the disciplines of structural engineering and architecture. Etymologically, the term suggests the movement of two entities that draw closer to each other, either in an unprecedented fashion or resuming a suspended interaction. World War II and the “anxieties and stimulations” of the post-war period, to use Boyd’s expression, accelerated the process of overcoming longstanding educational and professional disciplinary barriers. They were the driving forces behind what he denominated the “great structural-functional idea” of the 1950s. Architecture schools embraced modernist/functionalist ideals, producing graduates with considerable technical knowledge - true “romantic engineers.” The global post-war fascination with unconventional structures played its part. Occasionally, Antoine Picon argues, architecture’s “symbolic and aesthetic discourses” walk a “strictly technical path.” Under the banner of Le Corbusier’s Esthétique de l’Ingénieur, architecture and engineering converged. New technologies made collaborations with engineers habitual. According to Andrew Saint, however, partnerships were rarely affairs of equals since “architectural jobs came to architects first.” The diversification and growing number of engineers also transformed them into a labour force, Picon suggests, affecting their prestige and, possibly, their historiographical fortune. Scholarship on post-war Melbourne architecture has generally privileged the architect as the protagonist in the creation of innovative structures, only occasionally acknowledging consultants. This does not reflect the concerted nature of design commissions and frequent evanescence of disciplinary boundaries. This paper aims to highlight the major playing grounds for this alignment within design professions. It also hints at the complex relationship between the contributions of Victorian engineers and their recognition by post-war newspapers and architectural journals, opening the analysis of Melbourne’s post-war architecture to the discourse of professional representation and arguing the importance of “unbiased” histories of the built environment.