The International Specialised Skills Institute is proud to welcome the second intake of VET International Practitioner Fellows for 2022. These talented educators join us from various esteemed higher education organisations around Victoria and will receive funding from the Department of Education & Training to research innovative ways to promote best practice in the Victorian VET sector.
Successful candidates must focus on one of the Department of Education and Training’s priority areas. These are: to promote quality training with meaningful connections to ongoing industry needs and alleviating any gaps between disadvantaged learners and education outcomes.
Paul Wilson’s Fellowship is to gain information from European countries that are currently researching and supplying hydrogen gas for consumers. The Australia government is targeting renewable technologies and resources. This had an immediate effect on the gas industry making moves to develop hydrogen gas for our consumers.
Lizzie Knight’s Fellowships will focus on 3 main outcomes: how to delivery new blended delivery models of VET to students in regional settings, how digital skills can support VET achievement and how social learning experiences support vocational up-skilling.
Stephanie Goetze-Thies Fellowship will provide the opportunity to research how trauma informed and strengths-based teaching can be applied in a variety VET contexts and how teaching staff are supported through staff professional development.
Sue Robinson’s Fellowship’s intends to connect with leading training providers in the unique skill of Visual Merchandising. As major innovative in global retail redefines the digital and physical landscape, Sue aims to capture best practice and to create meaningful, transformative learning experiences.
John Flett’s Fellowship will study applied research techniques used in the agricultural and energy sectors by a Canadian polytechnics. He plans to visit Olds College, Red River College Polytech and Saketchewan Polytechnic, as well as attend the 2023 World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics Congress in Montreal. The findings and their application to a Victorian educational context will be shared with educators, researchers and decision makers.
Lucia Prinzi’s Fellowship will research Trauma Informed Teaching Practice within Adult Education, which further develops her practice as a teacher of Domestic Family Violence, Trauma Informed Practice and Reflective Practice. Students often find these subjects triggering, and that leads to lower engagement in learning.
Rohit Gupta’s Fellowship will investigate why newly arrived migrants (from the past 4 years) experience poorer education outcomes. Rohit will travel to countries that have a similar migration pattern as Australia and research new methods to engage with migrants in the Vocational Education & Training sector.
Jane Collins’ Fellowship research aims to explore the different strategies used to integrate support for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) students into the delivery of Vocational Education.
Andrew Hardiman’s Fellowship aims to explore American and Canadian models of VET delivery to school students. Andrew will meet with a number of education directorates in the east coast of USA along with industry groups to see how they best engage and educate school students vocationally.
And last but not least, Joanna Humphries’ Fellowship will research Australian, Victorian and international evidence-based best practice which demonstrates measurable impact and outcomes in formal pathways which support student transition from pre-accredited to accredited training. It will identify opportunities for creating sustainable inclusive learning pathways into pre-accredited training and from pre-accredited to accredited training to better prepare individuals for employment. Further, it will identify the critical success factors which can be replicated and applied to the Victorian TAFE and ACFE environments.
We look forward to working with these talented educators in the coming 12 months.