Strong education and training systems are viewed as a route to increased labour market participation for groups who have traditionally been excluded from, or marginalised in, the labour market. Engagement in the labour force for such groups contributes to a better quality of life for the individual and has the added benefit of helping to address the demographic imperative to maximise the pool of available labour in the face of a shrinking workforce. However, while this emphasis on an increased role for the state in education and training is encouraging, commentators such as Stalker (2000) have questioned the ability of Third Way discourse to meet the unique needs of women, given the absence of explicit feminist dialogue in wider discussions on associated policy and practice. Informed by this critique, this article aims to evaluate changes in education and training policy and practice in New Zealand since 1999, in terms of the extent to which it does-or does not-enhance opportunities for women's participation in education and training. In doing so, the article will firstly examine how changes to the nature of work lead to the need for greater inclusion of marginalized groups. Second, the changes to education and training policy and practice to facilitate greater inclusion will be outlined. Third, a small case study will be provided that demonstrates how these changes and their implications for women have been recognized by a provider of traditional trades-based education and training.
The tertiary education reforms have placed considerable pressure on Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), which are now required to assume "new roles as strategic leaders in skills and training needs for the industries under their coverage” (Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities (STEP) 2003-04. p. 21). This paper argues that the STEP requirement can lead 10 productive relationships between ITOs and established research organisations. It considers the new context within which ITOs now operate and offers an illustrative case study of the sort of research that can result from collaborative relationships. Specifically if reports on research commissioned by the New Zealand Industry Training Organisation (NZ/TO), which covers dairy manufacturing, meat processing, and leather processing, as part of its strategic planning. The research reported includes: an analysis of the industries covered by the NZ/TO and their economic significance: the impact of an ageing workforce and other demographic on the labour market and ifs implications for NZ/TO industries: the impact of technological change on the labour market: and some of the consequences of the continuing integration of the global economy.
The bricolage of discourses that is part of the mystory approach offers a way to make sense of disparate resources relevant to the study of everyday life. These resources can include popular culture and social media materials, interviews and observations, and academic literature. Here, I explain what mystory is, as well as how and why I fused together personal (autoethnographic), popular and different kinds of academic discourses as bricolage. By layering difference discourses (popular, field-based, academic) with personal reflections (memory), I created coherent narratives that explicitly answered research questions. By weaving these different discourses into distinct patterns of thinking and writing, I found a way to balance my voice alongside the voices of my research participants and other artifacts of their world of cafés, roasteries, coffee, and the Internet to overcome writers’ block. As such, this is also a story of how I found my voice through autoethnography.
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