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This article seeks to provide a school perspective on the nature and quality of the partnerships which schools form with businesses in order to deliver work placements and workplace learning in Australia. It found that the ability of schools to engage with external partners depended on the ability of school leaders to define and communicate the role of VET within the school and its broader community. This dependence on individuals and leadership is vulnerable to changes in key personnel and the informality of some of the processes and relationships can lead to problems in monitoring, evaluating and replicating programs. Our study shows that a balance is required between carefully documented processes and the flexibility required to operate programs successfully. The study also noted the tension between the perceived needs of the school and those of industry. A successful partnership 1 Corresponding author necessarily requires school flexibility-in the decisions as to what programs should be offered and how work placements and timetabling should be organised.

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Responding to the increasing numbers of students who now study across more than one of the traditional sectors of education and training, this research explored quantitative differences in conceptions of learning between students who had entered university study on the basis of a VET qualification, and those who had entered on a basis of previous university studies. Using the Conceptions of Learning Inventory the research also used gender as an independent variable. While some differences were shown between the previously-VET and previously-university students and some differences between genders these differences were characterised by low to moderate effect sizes only. The authors conclude that the quantitative differences are not particularly important, but that qualitative research may indicate differences in kind between the conceptions of learning of the two groups. Introduction and contextPost-secondary education in Australia, along with much of the rest of the planet, is undergoing significant change and re-alignment between the sectors. Over the past couple of decades post-secondary education has been represented by three identifiable formal education sectors: the adult and community education (ACE) sector; the vocational education and training (VET sector), strongly represented by the publicly funded Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions; and the university sector. In this paper we will be focussing on two of these sectors -VET and university.The focus on these two sectors is the result of a considerable blurring of the boundaries between the sectors expressed in a number of different ways. While it was originally developed to provide sub-degree VET at Certificate and Diploma levels, a number of the TAFE institutes are now offering vocational degrees at the Bachelor, Graduate Certificate, and Graduate Diploma levels -previously the province of the higher education university sector. The vocational degrees in TAFE institutes do not adopt a competency approach to assessment. A second form of 'blurring' is occurring with the movement of students between the sectors. Harris, Rainey and Sumner (2006) have provided evidence that movement between the sectors has been a feature of policy at legislative level for some years; they also provide evidence that the transfer is frequently made between the sectors by individual students. That movement is both ways. University graduates access the VET sector for further vocational related

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There is a recent advocacy for students to experience their learning as personalised, but this expectation poses challenges for teachers tasked with addressing prescribed curricula. In this article, we draw on relevant literature and our analyses of three case studies to propose a framework within which teachers can achieve both goals. We first clarify what we mean by personalising learning, noting problems in how it is currently conceptualised and enacted. We suggest that any attempt to support students to personalise their learning needs to be contextualised within broader curricular goals, and that its developmental nature entails progressions in specific learner capabilities, and therefore the need for students to be supported in this process. In proposing a framework for this support, we focus on general principles around the what and how of this process rather than on particular discipline areas.

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Increasing complexity towards harnessing the power of ICT on all levels has created uncertainty about higher educational technological capabilities and adequate strategies to develop e-readiness. In this study, an empirically grounded higher education e-readiness questionnaire in the domain of higher education was developed and validated. Exploratory factor analysis (n = 120) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (n = 336) was done which was presented in two forms; covariance model and the structural model. The covariance model showed that the 5 indicators ("Innovativeness", "Infrastructure", "Collaboration", "Learning flexibility", "Student experience") and assigned 24 items were important e-readiness dimensions from the learners' point of view. The structural models validated the previously extracted factors along with their indicators. As a practical tool, the e-readiness tool could assist institutions towards identifying issues that contribute towards e-readiness thereby formulating strategies accordingly. An example of how it can be used as a practical tool is presented in this paper.