• Australian Flexible Learning Framework

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05 July 2011The VET sector encompasses a highly diverse range of learning sites and settings that extend from formal classrooms to workplaces. It also attracts a highly diverse range of learners. This is particularly true now that the Australian Government has instigated its ‘learn or earn’ policy in relation to the Youth Allowance. Many of the at-risk young people who have opted out of traditional schooling are now expected to access VET courses through TAFE and other service providers. This creates a heightened need for the VET system to find ways of engaging disengaged young learners.

What do we mean by disengagement? Learners who are engaged feel that they belong in the learning environment. They have good relationships with their teachers and with other learners. They participate in learning activities and they value learning and the outcomes it can bring them. By contrast, disengaged learners may feel alienated or isolated within the learning environment. This may show itself in passivity or lowered effort, lowered achievement, disruptive behaviour, withdrawal, poor attendance or, ultimately, early leaving. Part One of this paper discusses the outcomes of this situation in greater detail. There are also descriptions of which groups of young people are characteristically at the greatest risk of disengagement from learning within the VET sector.

ICT is a broad term that includes technological devices (such as computer software and hardware), related communication practices (such as social networking, emailing, game-playing) and the relationships that develop through the use of technology. ICT also encompasses applications of technology including the internet, mobile phones, gaming, assistive technologies, digital photography, music and media production.

Research shows that these new technologies play an integral role in young people’s lives in ways described in Part one. Their capacity for interactivity combined with the vast range of information available through them are constantly changing the way young people access information, learn and interact. This applies equally to young people who are marginalised and disengaged. New technologies, where available, provide these young people with access to information, social connection and social support as well as opportunities to create and publish content that matters to them (Stephens-Reicher et al, 2010). Emerging evidence from this and other recent research also suggests that the use of ICT may have a significant impact on the education and training outcomes of disengaged young learners.