Gemma Louise Piercy

Preparing to teach in the lifelong learning sector

Introduction From January 2013 STA Tutor Courses (Swimming, Aquacise, Lifesaving, First Aid and Pool Plant) will include the Level 3 PTLLS Award. National Tutors that deliver these courses will need to hold a formal teaching qualification or complete a Level 4 PTLLS Award; STA are offering this as a distance learning option. Listed below are:  Level 3 PTLLS assignment criteria with guidance  Level 4 PTLLS assignment criteria with guidance  PTLLS Distance Learning Assignment Completion Procedure  Marking Grade Guide

Women’s participation in education and training in New Zealand: is the ‘learn while you earn’ option accessible to all?

Strong education and training systems are viewed as a route to increased labour market participation for groups that have traditionally been excluded from, or marginalised in, the labour market. Engagement in the labour force for such groups has both individual and societal benefits. However, while this emphasis on an increased role for the state in education and training is encouraging, commentators have questioned the ability of ‘Third Way’ discourse to meet the unique needs of women, given the absence of explicit feminist dialogue in wider discussions on associated policy and practice. Informed by this critique, this article aims to evaluate changes in education and training policy and practice in New Zealand since 1999, in terms of the extent to which it enhances opportunities for women’s participation in education and training.

Becoming oneself: dimensions of Bildung' and the facilitation of personality development

As a person who has only one language, English, I am always curious about words for which there is no easy translation particularly in my field of vocational education and training. For example, th...

Social work and human services best practice

enunciated are worthy of some evaluative analysis in the context in which you operate and then they can be explored further in the profiles. An option is to select from the concrete examples of the profiles one or more examples that parallel or have similarities with your own, and then examine the principles and practices displayed. This is a volume that probably should be read in conjunction with the earlier version. But primarily it is a volume to be ‘used’. For the writers of the volume that means in drawing up the plans and profiles of your institution for the purpose of making an assessment of it. But the volume in the pages describing the principles or detailing the profiles provides also the opportunity to revise assumptions about one’s practices as a teacher, administrator, principal or dean. Two examples of this particular exercise that the reviewer has undertaken are recorded. On page 22, the point is made about generating ‘enough meaningful information’ in the assessment of student learning. How do we know what is ‘enough’ or too much or too little? And how do we know whether the information is really ‘meaningful’ and to whom? On page 32 in one reference to the US Military Academy, there is a clear and precise explanation of measures to assess the student learning in the prescribed learning domains of the academy. The process appears to be appropriate but the issue is raised for the reviewer about other goals that may be relevant to the professional behaviour of these military officers of the future but that are not included in the list for assessment? Measuring and assessing may continue to be challenging tasks in schools, colleges and universities. Not only what but how to assess and then what to do with the information gained will continue to be problematic for these educational organisations that remain in the twenty-first century.