Starting from scratch: teacher to researcher and back again

Berwyn Clayton has been involved in the VET sector for over 25 years. After beginning her career as a teacher, Berwyn became a pioneer in promoting the value of research. With a record of over 30 publications and 25 conference papers or journal articles, Berwyn has created an impressive body of knowledge, particularly in areas such as assessment and the capability of the VET workforce. Berwyn is also dedicated to supporting and mentoring new researchers, in particular those who were formerly VET practitioners, as she was. Berwyn is currently the Director of the Work-based Education Research Centre (WERC) at Victoria University.

It was these attributes that saw Berwyn named VET Researcher of the Year, and give a keynote speech at the National Centre for Vocational Education Research’s 2011 National VET Research Conference (No Frills). This speech provides an insight into Berwyn’s journey into VET research and demonstrates her hallmark presentation style using pictures (chosen for their amusing as well as didactic impact) to guide us through the story. Her messages are directed at practitioner researchers.

Key messages

• Research can help practitioners to find solutions to persistent problems — the itches that irritate them at work — or at least help them to better understand the issues.

• Researchers need consciously to go beyond their comfort zone and look impartially at issues from a different perspective, including that of their potential audiences.

• Practitioner researchers need to seek out mentors and they need to ensure they find the time to write up their work, so that it has a chance to influence practice beyond their immediate circle. That influence may take many years to be felt.

• Practitioner researchers should be prepared to cope with adverse reactions to — and sometimes misuse of — research findings.
  
  

Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER