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Company information is of considerable importance to the business community, but finding the right information is not easy. There are many possible information sources in a variety of formats which are often difficult to identify and control. Accurate and current guides to information sources are important and a prototype hypertext guide to sources of company information has been developed to examine the feasibility of utilising this technology to overcome some of the limitations of paper‐based guides. COMPInfo has been developed using GUIDE software. The structure of the system and the way in which this attempts to fulfil the requirements of a good company information guide are discussed. The advantages and problems of the prototype are considered, along with areas in which further development of the structure would be beneficial. In spite of its limitations, COMPInfo indicates that hypertext technology could provide a viable solution to the problems of producing an effective guide to the complex field of company information.

Trade unions, like many other membership‐based social movement organisations, are confronted by the challenge of growth and revitalisation. Declining membership numbers, an increasingly restrictive legislative framework, and dramatic changes in modes of employment have combined to challenge many unions to rethink the way they work. In response to these challenges some unions adopted what has been referred to as the “organising model”, comprising new methods of recruiting, campaigning, educating, fostering activist members, and developing community and international alliances. It is changing the way union staff work, and requires a new understanding of their roles. The purpose of this paper is to examine an organising campaign conducted by one of Australia's largest unions.

The paper draws on semi‐structured interviews with a pivotal group of lead organisers, union reports and planning documents, participant observation, and published data on the major private child‐care employer.

The efforts to organise the child‐care workers proved successful and a new collective agreement was endorsed, confirming for the union that its approach could work. However, the model remains new and whether it achieves the desired outcomes of changing the culture and ways of union work, creates new learning opportunities and activates new layers of workers, is yet to be seen.

There is a burgeoning literature on new organising approaches. There are fewer detailed descriptions of the practice of organising and its impact on organisational change and learning. Therefore case studies such as this, which locate the decision to organise this sector, reports on how the campaign unfolded, and discusses the union's interest in understanding the learning associated with these new ways of working, provide an opportunity to examine connections between the theories and practices of organising.

This paper aims to examine the nature of learning discovered by recent graduates participating in a symphony orchestra‐initiated development program that is designed to nurture them through the transition to becoming professional orchestral musicians.

Using a qualitative case study approach, the authors interviewed developing musicians and professional musician mentors individually and in small groups using a semi‐structured protocol. Interviews were audio‐taped and transcribed. The authors also observed musicians working together in rehearsal and in concert performance and reviewed documents on the development program, the organisation and the Australian performing arts industry.

The findings suggest that learning is better conceptualised as an embodied constructed experience with others in context. What the authors call “guided contextualising” differs from conventional discussions of skill‐based novice learning and mentorship. For musicians, the competency that is being developed is one of learning how to become, forming a sense of identity as broader musical citizens as well as becoming members of more instrumental communities.

The design and structure of the program (and alternatives emerging overseas) suggest possibilities for new collaborations towards “a living curriculum” between higher education and industry.

Rather than “employability”, the concept of “graduateness” for young adults is formative and transformative, a process that involves the seeking of various forms of identity and contextualised learning that transcends self. “Becoming” practitioners together in generative ways enhances fitness for professional practice and develops a commitment to lifelong learning.

The purpose of this paper is to contextualise historically transnational labour experiences within guest worker programs in Canada and to provide a conceptual foundation for analysing work, learning and living relations with special attention to agricultural workers.

The research is based on a critical review of the literature as well as secondary analysis of existing research on agricultural guest workers in Ontario, Canada.

The authors argue that the structural conditions for these particular forms of work, learning and living relations have a long historical trajectory that dates back in North America to the nineteenth century. They outline a long trajectory of convergence of American and Canadian policies in this regard. In terms of work, learning and living experiences we show how shaped by race, class and citizenship relations, as well as by the learning that infuses their reproduction, intensification and contestation.

The article sheds light on a system of transnational labour that is emerging in a wide range of economies around the world, but which has not, to date, been widely analysed in work and learning literature.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the adequacy of UNESCO policy in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. People working in the informal economy in the Global South are looked at as a starting point.

The paper examines UNESCO/UNEVOC documents, the UNIFEM report on the “Progress of the World's Women”, development literature, and case scenarios from Southern Africa.

There is a mismatch between policy and the reality on the ground. Changes in policy and provision are necessary if a social justice agenda is to be met.

The approach to TVET planning and provision should shift in three ways: from an emphasis on the formal to the informal economy; from work defined as employment to work as livelihood activities; and from sustainable development to sustainable livelihoods. The paper argues that five conditions should be met so that TVET can begin to include workers from the informal economy.

The paper defines “work” more inclusively, focuses on education and learning in the informal economy, and challenges notions of sustainable development in favour of sustainable livelihoods.

This paper discusses insights from a study of women working, or seeking or preparing for work, in the information technology (IT) field. At issue is how and whether alternative career pathways and informally acquired skills and knowledge, as well as the operation of gender in learning and work, are acknowledged by employers, colleagues and participants themselves.

Using the qualitative technique of life and work history, this study mapped varied learning pathways of women working in the IT field. We used a feminist approach to explore this field, which is characterised as both highly masculine and filled with opportunities for all workers, including women.

Juxtaposing categories present in the data, such as female and male, formal and informal education, work and learning, hard and soft skills, and centre and periphery, we establish that binary constructs are both persistent and tenuous.

Our analysis challenges assumptions about educating the global workforce and the learning pathways within the IT field. Moreover, it suggests the usefulness of further qualitative research on this topic in other geographic locations or fields of work.

In questioning epistemological and social binaries, our analysis contributes to the re‐theorisation of conceptions of knowledge and learning. In moving from an either/or to a both/and understanding of them, we offer a different way of talking about how they can be understood.

This paper draws on research which began in 2006 with students in a graduate course on rural education. Its purpose was to find out what graduate students saw as current issues of rural education, how that compared to the literature, and what they thought supporting agencies such as government and universities needed to be doing to advance rural education. This paper focuses on presenting the findings and initiating a dialogue that leads to further conceptual understanding of ruralness.

The inquiry design and implementation is grounded in theories of constructivism and personal practical knowledge.

Some of the more common issues for participants in the study such as, curriculum delivery; bussing; teacher training; insecurity in teacher allocations; and threats of consolidation, are synonymous with the literature. The data also points to the need for research in rural schools and rural communities which is set within a rural‐based theoretical framework.

The study is conducted within the context of one Canadian province using participants from one specific setting. Therefore, the findings represent a localized instance of both curriculum research and literature review.

The study may serve to illuminate issues which can be expanded and become more global in its practicality.

The paper provides an example of curriculum research that is founded on the work and learning experiences of students and their instructor. This knowledge can play a significant role in determining future curriculum design; curriculum implementation; teacher training, recruitment, and retention while enhancing community development in rural areas.

Does having alcoholic parents make you more susceptible to alcohol problems? Why do some people develop drink or drug problems while others in the same family do not? How much can genetic research tell us about why drink and drugs can affect people in so many different ways? With genetic research discovering increasing links with behaviour we invited two of the leading addiction and gene researchers to explain the science. Tamara Phillips and John Crabbe uncover the ever‐emerging world of genetic research and addiction theory.

In a body adapted to travel through a fluid medium, the combination comprising: a control surface; hinge means for hinging said control surface to said body for controlling the movement of said body; a tab connected to said control surface for up and down movement at the trailing edge of said control surface; spoiler means connected to said control surface for movement up and down to project respectively above and below said control surface at a given point spaced between said hinge means and said trailing edge to leave an area of said control surface aft of said spoiler means over which a negative pressure is developed establishing a hinge moment that overcomes the hinge moment established by positive pressure in front of said spoiler means and by drag forces caused by said spoiler means; and means inter‐connecting said tab to said spoiler means to move said tab down when said spoiler means is moved up, and to move said tab up when said spoiler means is moved down, whereby the net hinge force moment acting on said control surface as a result of fluid flow thereover is increased over a given range of control surface deflexions as compared to the hinge force moment available over said same given range in the absence of said spoiler means.