Matthew Flynn

Industry–school partnerships: boundary crossing to enable school to work transitions

Industry–school partnerships (ISPs) are increasingly being recognised as a new way of providing vocational education opportunities particularly in industries where there are skills shortages. However, there is limited research investigating their impact on school to work transitions. This paper reports on a government-led ISP, the Gateway to Industry Schools Program, established in Queensland, Australia. Central to this initiative is the Resources Academy, a lead organisation for 28 schools and 17 multinational sponsor companies. This research adopted a qualitative case study methodology and draws upon boundary crossing theory as means to understand a Minerals and Energy ISP. We distinguish four types of boundary crossing mechanisms, which partners navigate in ISPs. The main findings were that boundary crossing mechanisms assist ISPs to develop industry-based contextualised curriculum and to prepare school students for employment.

Dimensions of Effectiveness and Efficiency: A Case Study on Industry-School Partnerships.

Internationally, the delivery of vocational education and training is being challenged by increasing skills shortages in certain industries and/or rapidly changing skill requirements. To respond to this challenge, rigid and centralised state bureaucracies are increasingly adopting partnerships between schools and industry as a strategy to encourage school-to-work transition programmes to address the local labour market demand. Drawing on experiences in Australia, this paper reports on a case study of government-led partnerships between schools and industry. The Queensland Gateway to industry schools initiative currently involves over 120 schools. The study investigated how two commonly used partnership principles were understood by the Gateway to industry partners. Twelve school–industry partnerships from four industry sectors were analysed in terms of the principles of ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’ derived from the public–private partnership literature. The study found that some evidence of partnership activities associated with efficiency and effectiveness may be assigned to Gateway schools projects. However, little evidence was found that the above underlying principles were addressed systematically. Some of these partnerships were tenuously facilitated by individuals who had limited infrastructure or strategic support. Implications are that industry–school partnership stakeholders would benefit from applying partnership principles regarding implementation and management to ensure the sustainability of partnerships.

Opportunities and Risks of Digital Business Model Innovation for Behemoths in Consulting

This chapter focuses on the opportunities and risks of digital business model innovation for large incumbents in the consulting industry. It summarises a study analysing major themes observed by large organisations currently leading in the industry and analysis potential future scenarios, specifically focusing on opportunities and risks of new business approaches in this industry.

Sustaining Partnerships between Schools and Industry: A Minerals and Energy Case

Internationally, there is a growing body of research on industry-school partnership, particularly regarding the principles that contribute to effective and efficient partnership models that facilitate vocational-industrial education. However, there are very few articles in the literature that seek to understand the sustainability of industry-school partnerships. Hence, this paper adopted ecological system principles as a framework for understanding the threats that impact on the sustainability of such partnership arrangements. The author reports on a large-scale government led industry-school partnership, the Gateway to Industry Schools Program, established in Queensland, Australia. Central to this initiative is the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy QMEA, a lead organisation for 34 schools and 12 multi-national sponsor companies. This research used an explanatory case study methodology sourcing data through interviews and documents. The main findings were that resilience and adaptive capacity are critical principles for the sustainability of ISPs.