There is renewed interest in better aligning vocational education and training and higher education to enable students to move between, and draw from, both sectors. This is not a new concept, with a long history of policies, research projects and reports examining and promoting pathways between the two sectors.

This research explores the idea of whether the student placement process — where an individual is placed in a workplace to hone their new skills — can contribute to innovation in the host organisation.

This paper reflects on a quandary encountered by researchers examining the history of competency-based education at a TAFE institution in South Australia.