The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has awarded five research grants in the 2013 open-category funding round to conduct research relevant to the contemporary tertiary education and training environment.
Ms Sue Fergusson, NCVER’s General Manager, Research, said the National VET Research (NVETR) program seeks to investigate research priorities which have been agreed by stakeholders in Australia’s training system – namely governments, employers and training providers – through a commissioned research program.
The research projects, which cover a broad range of subjects with final papers due to be published in 2015, include: an historical examination of tertiary education in Australia, to inform future directions; two projects which look at structures of support available to students, either with a disability or for apprentices transitioning into work; a project which considers assessment methods for apprentices, to identify best practice; and one which seeks to understand the motivations and repercussions for VET providers that deliver associate degree and degree qualifications.
Ms Fergusson said there was a highly competitive group of proposals from leading research consortia and the selection panel had to carefully weigh proposals according to how they might add to the existing body of knowledge.
“Projects are selected by the NVETR selection panel, which comprises representatives from government, industry, the tertiary education sector and training organisations. A two-stage selection process is used and the panel is initially asked to shortlist the proposals. The final selection occurs at a face-to-face selection panel meeting,” said Ms Fergusson.
The following have been awarded research grants under NCVER’s National Vocational Education and Training Research (NVETR) program:
- A binary system of tertiary education: past ideas and contemporary policy – Lead researcher: Ms Francesca Beddie, Francesca M Beddie & Associates
- Competency completion: impacts on assessment, assessors and workplace supervisors – Lead researcher: Mr Hugh Guthrie, Work-based Education Research Centre, Victoria University
- Supporting students with disabilities: Exploring individual and system-level approaches – Lead researcher: Dr Ellie Fossey, La Trobe University
- VET providers delivering associate and bachelor degrees: Issues and impacts – Lead researcher: Professor Victor Callan, Callan Consulting Group
- Young Australian apprentices: Structures of support and wellbeing – Lead researcher: John Buchanan and Catherine Raffaele, Workplace Research Centre, University of Sydney, with Nick Glozier from The Brain and Mind Research Institute.
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