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Helen Rainbird visit

Helen Rainbird, Professor of Human Resources Management, Birmingham University Business School, visited Sydney and Melbourne in May 2007 as a guest of the NSW Department of Education and Training.

Rainbird's specific area of expertise is workplace learning - the range of learning opportunities available in organisations, including but not limited to, formal and institution-led training. Her publications have focused on the comparative research exploring opportunities and constraints.

In Melbourne, Professor Rainbird was hosted by the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training at Monash University. For further enquires regarding Melbourne events please email CEET directly.

While in Sydney, She gave presentations on her research in the UK public sector, and was a guest at the national Women in Adult and Vocational Education (WAVE) conference: Changing conditions of working lives in C21st. (see picture at right, with Caroine Alcorso, NSW DET).

NSW DET Conference: Workplace Learning and the Role of VET

Visitng UK professor, Helen Rainbird was keynote speaker at the NSW DET one-day conference, were she was joined by Australian researchers and workforce development specialists from industry.

She provided a critical overview of workplace learning, focusing on how opportunities for learning and development are influenced by work organisation and workplace relationships. She emphasised the importance of recognising employees' own learning aspirations, and facilitating informal learning as well as training.

Other speakers addressed complementary themes, including Richard Cooney, who described contemporary automotive workplaces, Peter Waterhouse and Giselle Mawer whose research explored what small employers want from VET and how they perceive skill development.

Andy Smith described work in progress on the link between high performance workplaces and VET. Caroline Alcorso and Kim Windsor discussed industry-wide models for workforce development (the skill ecosystem approach) and VET practitioners, Pauline Hart and Mary Jones provided snapshots of good practice.

Conference multi-media resources

You can read the discussion overview and the transcriptions, listen to the speakers (), and download the PowerPoint presentations by clicking on the names and icons:

Helen Rainbird: Workplace learning in context - how organisations and individuals intersect.
Rainbird answers question on the cost of education, training and development.
Rainbird answers question on engaging learners.
Richard Cooney: Employee training and global production systems: recent developments in Australia's automotive industry.
Cooney answers question on formal and informal learning.
Pauline Hart: TAFE NSW workplace provision in the automotive industry.
Speakers answer question on supervisor engagement.
Giselle Mawer: VET and workplace learning - complementary or parallel universes?
Peter Waterhouse: Customised or custom built? - Re-thinking the role of VET in workplace learning.
Waterhouse answers question on tools and resources to help employers navigate VET.
Waterhouse and Mawer answer question on the challenges of building diverse skills in VET organisations.
Mary Jones: Transferring learning between the classroom and the workplace - a case study involving Indigenous students
Andrew Smith : The role of human resource management in improving outcomes from training and workplace learning.
Caroline Alcorso and Kim Windsor: Structuring workplace learning partnerships in an intervention-free environment.
Windsor answers question about skill ecosystem and public dollars.
Windsor answers question on improving the quality of training through the Skill Ecosystem model.
Introduction to concluding session by John Buchanan.
John Buchanan; question about what governments should ask employers.
Buchanan discusses the importance of place.

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