Fostering applied research and innovation in TAFE
Innovation / Applied research – journey
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Higher education in TAFEs
Research/scholarship debate
Conference in Basque Country 2014
International examples of applied research capacity in similar organisations
Tour to Canada in 2015
TDA Applied research Symposium in Canberra in 2016
Observations
1. Australian TAFE institutions undertake significant applied research so part of the
strategy is to firstly name and claim
2. Whilst there is funding available it is limited and competitive with universities.
Observation from the Canadians is that there are challenges around:
 Student capacity
 Faculty capacity
 Industry partner willingness and capacity
 Institution capacity
3. There is also a question of how funded applied research meets the needs of the
industry/SME partner and not just the needs of the institution – outside in
approach
4. We need talented applied research co-ordinators and managers who understand
the difference between applied research and pure research and the role of VT
providers
5. The experience in Canada is that the colleges bring particular assets and
attributes to social innovation research
Observations
6. The applied research undertaken is pertinent to all qualification levels across the
Institute
7. Question your motive. Does applied research need to be only for colleges to
morph into universities?
8. Applied research could be used to differentiate TAFEs and other providers in an
increasingly crowded market
9. True learning enterprises are not about patents and publication but about
productivity for the economy
10. E. L. Boyer’s scholarship model is a suitable model for TAFEs undertaking higher
education
11. The applied research in Canada is an example of partnerships between industry,
staff, students and stakeholders
12. Possibility for international applied research
13. A 20-15 overnight success
Observations
14. Research program architecture is a mix of talent, winging it and connection with
partnerships
15. Colleges such as TAFE bring particular assets and attributes to social innovation
research
16. Question about the role of peer review or an equivalent in applied research
Innovation + Applied Research + TAFE
TAFE
We need to be the makers of our
own destiny with applied
research
Research and Innovation
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Prime Minister’s Innovation Agenda
Higher Education and pure research focussed
No place for VET providers in Innovation Agenda
Canada Model
Need to set our own agenda and future
Innovation is…..
Pure research is useless;
innovation is gold
Moodie, G 2006, Vocational education
institutions' role in national innovation, Research
in Post-compulsory Education, 11 (2), 131-140.
Innovation, especially process and
incremental innovation, depends on a
skilled workforce……it is enterprises, not
governments, which are at the heart of the
innovation process. Enterprises take new
ideas, turn them into a product or service
and then market the result. In turn, they
need the right people with the right skills
and knowledge to help them do this.
People are the innovators.
Guthrie, H & Dawe, S 2004, Overview, in S Dawe (Ed.), Vocational
Education and Training and Innovation: Research Readings, NCVER,
10-19.
……is the implementation of a new of
significantly improved product [good or
service], process, new marketing
method or a new organisational method
in business practices, workplace
organisation or external relations.
OECD 2005, Oslo Manual, 3rd Edn., OECD and European
Commission, Paris.
Innovation and the VET system
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Innovation in VET providers – pedagogy, systems, products – multiple case
studies
Link between VET and innovation – mainly conceived in terms of skills
development and workforce productivity
Tenuous policy and government support and the position ascribed to VET in the
national innovation system
Investment - $9,717.0m budget (2015/16) for Australian Government support for
science, research and innovation:
– higher education sector receives the largest share (35.8%), plus additional
funding through multi-sector programs
Department of Industry. 2014. 2015-2016 Science, Research and Innovation Budget Tables
Innovation and the VET system
“..despite the weight of
academic evidence from the
innovation studies discipline the
VET system is almost entirely
excluded from Australian
government innovation policy”
Toner, P & Dalitz, R, 2012, Vocational Education and
training: the ‘terra incognita’ of Australian innovation
policy, Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation, 30(4),
411-426.
Applied research
Basic research is experimental or
theoretical work undertaken primarily
to acquire new knowledge of the
underlying foundation of phenomena
and observable facts, without any
participation application or use in Applied research is also
mind.
original investigation in order
to acquire new knowledge. It
is, however, directed
primarily towards specific
practical aim or objective.
OECD, 2002, Frascati Manual, 6th Edn.,
OECD Publishing
Fostering applied research
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Scholarly practice
Boyer Model
Scholarship policy and guidelines:
– Organisational and social resources, including funding, time, opportunities for
dialogue
– Work practices that produce, share and validate scholarly outputs
– Workplaces, developing a culture of scholarly practice and organisational
responsiveness
– Organisational and individual capacities
‘applied research and development is not
something for which the VET system has a
reputation, bit it’s occurring in many colleges. This
is a specific but unharnessed VET capability which
could be developed more fully to assist in the
innovation capacity of the nation’
Whittingham, K 2003, Going Boldly into the Future: Skills and Australian High Technology
Start-up Enterprises, NCVER.
Scholarship – Boyer’s model
Boyer advanced a redefinition of concept of scholarship as four separate yet
overlapping functions.
Type of
scholarship
Purpose
Measures of Performance
Discovery
Build knowledge through
traditional research
• Publish in peer-reviewed forums.
• Producing and/or performing creative work within established field.
• Creating infrastructure for future studies.
Integration
Interpret and bring new
knowledge to original research
and make connections across
disciplines
• Preparing a comprehensive literature review.
• Writing a textbook for use in multiple disciplines.
• Collaborating with colleagues to design and deliver a core course.
Application
Apply knowledge to create new
understandings and aid society
and professions to address
problems
• Serving industry or government as an external consultant.
• Assuming leadership roles in professional organisations.
• Advising student leaders, thereby fostering their professional
growth.
Teaching
Study teaching models and
practices to achieve optimal
learning
• Advancing learning theory through classroom research
• Developing and testing instructional materials.
• Mentoring graduate students.
• Designing and implementing a program level assessment system.
Boyer
Earnest L Boyer
 By believing themselves to be what they are not, institutions fall short of being
what they could be.
 Because higher education in our current type of institution is so poorly defined and
ill understood, we need to create our own meaning and interpret its significance to
higher education.
 Rather than imitate the research university or arts and sciences model, we should
be viewed as a institutions that blend quality and innovation
Boyer, EL 1990, Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching and Learning, Jossey Bass, San Francisco.
Scholarly Practice
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Scholarship in mixed sector – wrestle between VET culture and deep rooted
higher education tradition
Unease between scholarly practice and research
What we are doing at Holmesglen:
 More than teaching and learning
 Not just activities but an institutional scholarship approach
 Opportunities for investigative and leadership roles within the academic
community
 Must convey a sense of engagement with knowledge, peers or individual practice
 Time to name and claim what we do in the applied research
 Establish Centre for Applied Research and Innovation
Conclusions
Much activity is :
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Local
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Ad hoc
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Disconnected to policy and funding
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Not systemic at this stage but through TDA and VTA becoming more systemic
Conclusions/Recommendations
Gavin Moodie recommends a role for vocational education institutions in stimulating
innovation if they take the following six steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Emphasis innovation; eschew research
Develop a distinctive role in the national innovation system
Act locally, learn globally
Form multiple partnerships
Establish a national network of vocational education innovation institutes
Act in the long term
Moodie, G 2006, Vocational education institutions' role in national innovation, Research in Post-compulsory Education, 11 (2),
131-140.
Conclusions/Recommendations
To enhance the links between the VET sector and business innovation in Australia,
Richard Curtain makes two suggestions:
1. Access to government research and developmental funding, focusing on
processes and development rather than pure research, would bring the VET
sector closer to business innovation.
2. Government research and development funding to the VET sector could be solely
focused on small and medium sized enterprises.
Curtain, R 2004, Innovation and vocational education and training: lessons from leading innovation systems, in Dawe, S (Ed.),
Vocational education and training and innovation: Research readings, NCVER, 42-58.