Simone Volet

Western Australia is experiencing a substantial shortage of skilled labour. The State Government is committed to increasing participation in the workforce across the board, through schemes such as the Plans 4 Jobs, especially because of the current severe skills shortage in the economy. The State Government is also committed, through the four principles of civic values, fairness, equality, and participation enshrined in the WA Charter of Multiculturalism, to promoting the full participation of all groups in all aspects of our community – social, economic, and civil – and to removing any systemic barriers to full participation. This commitment is also embodied in the multi‐departmental Policy Framework for Substantive Equality. Aside from equity, denying equal opportunity also engenders resentment and hostility within our community, diminishes human value, and denies the state the full benefits of all its members’ talents. The cost of discrimination accrues to those who are denied opportunity and to the society which tolerates discrimination. Members of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) communities in this state, in particular those from new and emerging communities, do not currently participate in apprenticeships and traineeships in significant numbers; this is regrettable and it is recommended that measures be taken to remedy this. The Western Australian Department of Education and Training (DET) commissioned this report to investigate barriers to apprenticeships and traineeships confronting people from CaLD backgrounds, and to recommend strategies to improve their participation in apprenticeships and traineeships. The project was undertaken by the Australian Academy of Race Relations (AARR) at Murdoch University, for DET, during the period July – November 2005. DET has many good programmes to promote apprenticeships and traineeships, including to members of CaLD communities. However, the array and complexity of these can be daunting, resulting in a lack of awareness of all the programmes available.

Australia currently has on its university campuses one of the highest proportions of international students of any country in the world. This report reveals a fairly strong separation between the local Australian students and the international, mostly Asian, students. It offers an examination of the evolution of official Australian policy towards international students, reviews relevant research literature, reports on students' experiences, and describes some successful Australian university initiatives aimed act fostering interactions. It offers observations on what is being done, what kinds of principles and strategies seem to be important and suggests some future directions for research.

This study investigated the extent to which some Australian organisations are actively creating environments in which opportunities for learning are openly valued and supported and are built - where possible - into the immediate workplace environment. Included were seventeen organisations which have introduced approaches designed to encourage employees to build and to share knowledge in the workplace. In particular, the project focussed on: the ways in which learning has been prioritised within organisations to encourage continuous improvement and growth; the range of organisationally supported processes and practices that give people opportunities to learn in the course of their work, and that are a part of their immediate, workplace environment; the ways in which a learning culture has been facilitated and supported as part of the change process in a range of organisations. The case studies of these organisations describe - but do not evaluate - their learning in the workplace processes and practices. While those studies concentrated on Western Australia, the literature review took a national and international approach.

This report presents the results of a project undertaken by Murdoch University in collaboration with the Hyatt Regency Perth and the Matilda Bay Brewing Company. The purpose of the project was to investigate the links between structural and cultural organisational change, workplace learning and quality improvements. The study identified a number of key elements which influence the links between organisational change, learning opportunities and quality improvements. In addition the study also highlighted the critical role that organisational cultures play in the process of change and identified possible conflicting values which can emerge when organisational change is perceived as reducing labour requirements.

This publication is extracted from a larger report, 'Asia literacy: implications for the vocational education and training sector'. The primary objective of this study was to assess the demand by export-oriented enterprises for training in Asia literacy to assist the vocational education and training sector in determining how best it might respond. The report is divided into three parts: Part I consists of a literature review and telephone interviews with relevant TAFE personnel; Part II consists of an industry survey and analysis, supported by selected business interviews , and a newspaper survey of advertised vacancies; and Part III summarises the findings of the study and presents some concluding remarks. The findings reveal a significant increase in the number of export oriented companies (including TAFE colleges) moving into the Asia-Pacific market and an increasing awareness of the relationship between Asia literacy and export success.

This report contains the results of an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded collaborative project between Murdoch University and the International Division of TAFE WA. It provides a unique insight into international students' reflective accounts of their experience of studying at TAFE and living in Western Australia, and their attitudes towards educational exchange between their countries and Australia. The study was based on a model with two major assumptions - that for future educational association between Australia and their home countries students must return home satisfied with their TAFE experience; and that prospective students received their first source of information about TAFE from past students. The main aim of the study was to examine these assumptions and to obtain suggestions from past students for improving the conditions for TAFE international students. The results strongly supported both assumptions, and student responses were then used as the basis for a set of recommendations. As the survey was conducted in 1993, it is possible that some of the issues raised in the recommendations have subsequently been addressed by some of the colleges. Appendices include the preliminary results of the 1994 cohort.