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As neoliberal reforms take hold in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia, there is renewed interest in the quality of teaching practice. However, despite the value of practitioner inquiry to the quality of teaching in schools, scholarly practice in higher education, and established links between the quality of teaching and outcomes for learners and between practice-based inquiry and pedagogic innovation in VET, the practices has received little attention. The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of a college-wide culture of scholarly activity to learners, enterprises, VET institutions, educators and the national productivity agenda.

Drawing on the education literature, empirical examples of scholarly activity drawn from the authors’ experiences of working with VET practitioners, this paper asks what constitutes research and inquiry in VET, why should these practices be integral to educative practice and what value do they bring to the sector? In addressing the questions, the authors explore how research and inquiry is defined in the literature and draw on three empirical examples of scholarly activities to provide a national, institutional and individual view. A discussion about the value of scholarly activities to VET stakeholders and how the practices might be fostered and sustained concludes the paper.

The paper concludes that practice-based scholarly activities in VET cultivate rich potential for renewed and innovative pedagogies that improve outcomes for learners, respond to industry demands for innovative skills, build “pedagogic capital” for VET institutions, enrich the knowledge base of policy makers and build resilience and professionalism. The authors conclude by positioning VET educators as scholars in their own right along a continuum of scholarly activity and posing the proposition that when valued, scholarly activities are practices for new times that will build a strong and vibrant profession for the future.

This paper brings together the authors’ experiences of working with VET practitioners as the authors engage in scholarly activities. While each vignette was drawn from a formal research project in each case, the paper itself was not structured around a formal research activity, although a small survey was undertaken for vignette 1. This poses limitations to the findings of the study. However, the purpose of the paper is not to be conclusive but to forward an argument for more scholarly activity in VET in order to promote further research and debate.

This paper contributes to the current debate in Australia about the quality of teaching in VET and the sectors’ capability to produce “work-ready” graduates. It brings to the fore the value of scholarly activity for educators, learners, industry and communities, VET institutions and the broader national innovation agenda. As such, it has relevance to all VET stakeholders, most particularly policy makers, leaders and practitioners in VET.

This paper aims to analyse, through the lens of learning network theory, ways in which external VET practitioners work within private enterprises to promote learning within these organizations.

The paper is based on analyses of six case studies in two Australian States, each comprising a vocational education institute and an enterprise. In total, 34 interviews were held with four groups of participant – TAFE managers and practitioners, enterprise personnel and worker‐learners – from different industries.

The paper finds that the overlaying of an external learning system on existing learning systems brings inevitable tensions that need to be carefully managed. VET practitioners working in industry operate in two worlds with very different cultures. They need to learn how to work within different power structures, how to build around existing work and learning networks, and how to mesh in with the flow of enterprise work. In the process of working with company staff, and crossing boundaries, they may well be creating a “third space” in which new meanings can be, and have to be, constructed that go beyond the limits of either site.

The paper shows that understanding these ways of working has practical implications for VET managers and practitioners, company staff and policy‐makers in terms of how human resources are managed and how different parties work together.

The paper shows two objectives: a relatively new focus in the research literature and an extension of learning network theory in terms of external learning systems.

In the 1990s, one of Australia's police services moved from a centralised, academy‐based system of training towards a more integrated model of professional development. As a consequence, probationary constables spent reduced time in the police academy (6 months) before moving into the workplace for 18 months of work‐based learning. This paper explores how those changes affected the ways in which probationary constables are viewed and accepted into the workforce. A useful model for this exploration is that of legitimate peripheral participation, as advocated by Lave and Wenger in 1991. Although Lave and Wenger acknowledge that peripherality, rather than being a negative term, allows for an understanding of inclusion into a community of practice, there is still a long journey to be travelled before full acceptance is accorded to the newcomer. By exploring the “voices” of the probationers and their senior officers, the conflicts and difficulties that arose during their work‐based probation and the negotiations required to help develop competent police officers, it is possible to trace the journey of probationary constables from periphery to a more central acceptance. This paper explores how the probationary constables were viewed and accepted into the workforce to become full and trusted members of a community of practice.

Proposes to provide a description of the factors that underlie retention and to develop a model of the process of retention.

A qualitative study was conducted in a selected number of occupational areas. Interviews were conducted with apprentices and trainees employed under a contract of training; apprentices/trainees who had recently completed their contract of training; employers/workplace supervisors and teachers/trainers.

Provides information about a range of factors and how they combined to shape the process of retention. Recognises that some of the identified factors are more amenable to interventions to enhance retention than others.

The study did not attempt to cover all occupations in which apprentices are employed, or to provide any ranking of importance of factors in relation to the retention process. The study encourages a holistic understanding of the process of retention and emphasises the dynamic nature of this process over the period of a contract of training.

A useful source of information for those concerned with designing interventions that target factors that are most amenable to promoting enhanced retention in apprenticeships.

This paper addresses the often neglected process of retention and offers some guidance in the design of interventions to promote retention in apprenticeships.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which Canadian lesbians and gay men manage their non‐hegemonic identities in organizations, given the relative paucity of qualitative data in the area, the importance of work as a site for identity projects in the contemporary west and growing pressure on employers to attend to sexual orientation as part of diversity management initiatives.

Data were gathered through 16 semi‐structured interviews with lesbian and gay workers from three Canadian cities.

The data emphasize the importance of organizational environments in which queer people feel able to integrate their identity at work with their identity in the rest of their lives. Role models were identified as especially important in this regard, particularly for women who talked of the organizational “double jeopardy” of being female and a lesbian.

Although the data reported here are not generalizable, it is worrying that they echo many earlier studies on the negative aspects of lesbian and gay workplace experience. One key implication is that those employees who conform most closely to what Butler calls the heterosexual matrix are less likely to experience problems related to their sexual orientation.

This paper indicates several themes which are not extensively travelled in the existing literature, including the suggestion that coming out to colleagues is easier if one is in a long‐term relationship, as well as a sense that having to negotiate such disclosure simultaneously enhances work‐related interpersonal skills.

By celebrating tourism destinations through cruise collections, luxury brands open to new influences. They may develop deeper connections with certain geographical areas, but may also challenge the quintessentially national dimension of luxury brand culture. The best example of synergies between a luxury fashion brand and tourism destinations are the Christian Dior cruise collections with Maria Grazia Chiuri at the helm. This chapter is to understand how cruise collections may enhance luxury fashion houses' brand culture through the connections they develop with tourism destinations. Further, the chapter assesses the extent to which destinations can benefit from the exposure provided by luxury fashion brands' cruise collections.