Transitioning between vocational and university education in Australia: the impact of the vocational education experience on becoming a university student (original) (raw)
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In this paper we provide a framework for conceptualising transitions from Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes to Higher Education (HE), by bringing together Bourdieu's and Bernstein's theoretical approaches with the view to attend to the often side-lined epistemic and pedagogical parameters. We utilise the Bourdieusian tools of field, habitus and capital to capture the relational, material and cultural aspects of HE transitions. In using a Bernsteinian lens we shed further light into how social agents acquire differentially structured and valorised knowledges and develop a sense of themselves as hierarchically positioned knowers. The metaphor of transitional frictions is utilised to capture the ongoing struggles that students with a VET background experience as they make the transition to HE. We argue for the need of widening epistemic access and putting in place enabling pedagogies that can ease these transitional frictions, thereby potentially increasing the chances of successful HE participation and completion.
Tertiary Student Transitions: Sectors, Fields, Impacts of and Reasons for Study--Support Document
National Centre For Vocational Education Research, 2012
This document was produced by the author(s) based on their research for the report Missing links: the fragmented relation between tertiary education and jobs, and is an added resource for further information. The report is available on NCVER's website: http://www.ncver.edu.au. The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government, state and territory governments or NCVER. Any errors and omissions are the responsibility of the author(s).
Australia’s dual sector universities and transfer from vocational to higher education
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This chapter highlights the Australian tertiary education system that is divided into vocational and higher education systems. It provides information on student enrolment and participation in the vocational and higher education systems as well as the fields of study. It analyses the transition from vocational to higher education and provides evidence that dual sector universities support this transition more successfully than other universities.
Experiencing the transition from an apprenticeship to higher education
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It is the intention of the UK government to enhance progression routes for apprentices to higher education. However, little research has been carried out into why former apprentices pursue higher education or the experiences of this transition. This paper seeks to redress this gap by reporting three case studies of former apprentices who had completed or were completing a higher education in England. Each case study represents a different route to higher education: progressing to a full time higher education course; pursuing a part time route to sustain full time employment; and undertaking a career change during the transition to higher education. The paper addresses their experiences of the apprenticeship, the decision-making to progress and the perceived outcomes of their transition so far. Analysis draws on Fuller and Unwin's expansiverestrictive framework and conceptual lenses for understanding learning. The findings revealed that although their apprenticeships were restrictive in different ways, progression was pursued for a number of reasons involving the context in which apprenticeships were completed, the relationship to their employer and their understanding of learning. Experiences of boundary crossing were particularly associated with more complex descriptions of personal transformation and learning as becoming.