This international conference with the theme “Work and learning in the era of globalisation: challenges for the 21st Century” gathers together researchers from across the globe. Our very own Linda Simon, Annette Bonnici, Sarojini Choy, Stephen Billett and Francesca Beddie are all presenting (and perhaps others and my apologies if I have overlooked someone).
I invite you to keep an eye here on the Hub for updates each day.
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Day two of the conference with a very broad agenda. I will just mention here two highlights.
Don’t forget if you want to see the full program (and the papers) www.http://rwl2015.com.
The keynote given by Associate Professor Lee Yew Jin focussed on Singapore’s current policy initiatives regarding skills development. The ‘flagship’ program of Skills Future has some features which we in Australia might admire. The most impressive aspect of the keynote was, IMHO, the sincere and sustained planning put into skills development by the $ingapore government and community. The $ sign is borrowed from the Associate Professor’s presentation as he was making the point that the skills future project sits firmly in the Department of Trade and Industry. $ingapore recognises the success it holds against international benchmarks such as school completions, high average wage levels and post secondary education completions. Given the success of the post Second World War period, there is a feeling that “Skills Future” ‘may be the secret weapon we need for the new landscape’. I left with an indelible impression that our northern neighbours take very seriously this area of social agency.
The second stand out for me today was the reference to Industry 4.0. I don’t know about you but it is the third time in a week that I have heard this term. See http://www.siemens.com/digitalization/. The focus of the research being done in University of Paderborn and University of Bielefeld in Germany is on organisational development, learning cultures, sociology of digitization and organisational justice. It is well worth a read at http://www.rwl2015.com/sym-papers.html
Hope to bring you more tomorrow.
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The keynote speaker on day one, Professor Emeritus Raewyn Connell, provided an analysis of the impact of the neoliberal world in teachers’ work. The analysis expanded to include a discussion on the nature of neoliberalism influences on the post-colonial, global north imperialist nature of research publications. Raewyn cited statistics on the number of published works worldwide which showed the incredible imbalance to the United States and the United Kingdom.
The presentation included a thought-provoking challenge to researchers to consider research in a variety of forms from writers from the global south. The importance of using such research when considering the issues facing the majority if those present at this conference, ie those from the global south including Australia, was highlighted.
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