Image copyright Jayne Pitard 2012 Figure 15: Learning spaces of the future
5.11 VIGNETTE 10 – DEVELOPING UNDERPINNING KNOWLEDGE WHEN IT ALL SOUNDS FOREIGN TO ME
5.11.1 Context
Underpinning knowledge of the TVET system in TL was essential for every student if they were to be effective in developing the system in TL. The gaps in their knowledge had become apparent during the mind map activity described in the previous vignette. I felt buoyed enough to instigate another mind map activity the following day designed to be a whole of group learning activity. This was an opportunity for the students to recognise how much they did or didn’t know and to identify the gaps in their knowledge. They would use each other as learning resources. How does a student discover what they don’t know unless someone who knows more than they do tells them about it?
At a press conference at NATO Headquarters on 6th June, 2002, Donald Rumsfeld, former United States Secretary of Defence said:
The message is that there are no ‘knowns’. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.
The students formed into groups of four styled differently from the previous day’s grouping. Today’s groups were made up as much as possible of a combination of two teachers and two policy makers. I had heard the students use acronyms in their discussions with both themselves and me; acronyms such as INDMO, SEPFOPE, and DEFOPE. It was equally important for me to understand this terminology so I could equate it to the various VET bodies of authority in Victoria. This would assist me to find appropriate mentors for the policy makers in the group. Knowing the purpose and role of the organisations each student worked for and how these connected within the TVET system would direct me to the appropriate mentors within equivalent organisations here. Before the students left TL to travel to Australia I had requested that each student provide me with a job description of their role in TL. This had not been possible in most cases as the job descriptions were either non-existent or they were written in Tetun and a translation was difficult to achieve.
5.11.2 Anecdote
My understanding of the students’ roles in TL has become complicated by the difficulty in deciphering terminology used in the system in TL. One student describes her role as developing resources for business administration. I ask her if this means she develops resources for teachers of business administration. She states she goes into industry and observes workers and then writes these resources. Does she mean that she writes competencies after observing workers in the workplace? I am uncertain. Her lack of English skills prevents understanding and no-one else in the group seems to be able to assist as they are not familiar with her role.
My understanding of their roles in Timor became a complicated process as their knowledge of VET was limited and their use of VET language in English often led to confusion in the use of terminology. My understanding of the different Government bodies was hindered by the Tetun acronyms. I had to learn to relate these government bodies to our own government authorities so I could understand the structure of the TVET system in TL. For example, INDMO is the National Labour Force Development Institute. One of the students had responsibility in INDMO for registration of training institutes. Another in SEPFOPE (Secretariat of State for Vocational Training Policy and Employment) had responsibility for accreditation of training qualifications. Both of these students could be mentored by relevant staff in either the Australian Skills Qualification Authority or the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) in Melbourne, which have national and Victorian responsibility respectively for registration of training institutes and accreditation of VET training qualifications. The 2010 Standards for the Registration and Accreditation of Vocational Training Providers in TL state:
Accreditation means that a registered provider is able to offer nationally recognised qualifications. The qualifications are recognised by INDMO, are part of the TLNQF (Timor Leste National Qualifications Framework) and are based upon INDMO approved competency standards. Accreditation will only be available to registered VTPs (VET Training Providers). Accreditation will be granted subject to the providers’ ability to meet the accreditation standard for the national qualification/s it intends to deliver.
Accreditation means that the registered VTP has the right to offer national qualifications and the responsibility to maintain and improve the quality of its provision.
Another student was a director of a training centre who was working towards gaining registration of her training centre and accreditation to deliver qualifications from the TLNQF. Whilst in Melbourne, she had the privilege of working with the two people in TL (one in INDMO and one in SEPFOPE) who would be assessing her application. All of this worked very well for the students but initially they had little understanding of the interconnectedness or
interdependence within the group. I wanted to expose this interconnectedness.
I assign the groups the task of creating mind maps or organisational charts of the TVET system in TL as they understand it. They approach this task with enthusiasm and the room is soon buzzing with discussion in Tetun. I invite all students to visit the different
tables to view the mind maps of each group and to ask questions. Discussion is constant and vigorous. Our debrief is led by Jose, the director of a private training centre. His explanation is in both English and Tetun. He asks everybody what they have gained from this exercise.
One student says she finally understands how all the different authorities interconnect with each other. She had not previously understood how the authority she reported to related to the TVET system. Now it is clear. Another student reports a similar epiphany of understanding. Yet another has not previously understood the significance of course accreditation and training centre registration. Now she has questions to ask. Most agree their knowledge of the TVET system in TL has gaps they had not previously identified. Two or three students’ knowledge appears more advanced. They suggest I speak to an Australian man who assisted in developing the TL TVET infrastructure. I immediately sit at my computer and Google his name. He has worked in many developing countries in the Pacific region.
I phone this man the following day. He agrees to spend a day with the students
explaining the infrastructure and how training competencies are developed in TL. Relief and excitement heave inside me. I recognise I need this learning as much as the students.
5.11.3 Emotional Response
I felt alone in my teaching of these students. I knew I could call on some of my generous university colleagues to give workshops in various areas of VET learning such as leadership and management, building and hospitality, but I was acutely aware that the sequenced
progression and depth of the students’ learning rested with me. My growing awareness of what they didn’t know pressured me to go back to the beginning, back to the development of the TVET system to explain it from the bottom up. Time was my enemy as each day expired. I was teaching right up to 5pm despite protests of fatigue from some students. At times my sense of urgency overwhelmed me as I acknowledged the scope of underpinning knowledge that needed to be covered.
5.11.4 Reflexivity
Prior to the students arriving in Australia I had researched the TVET system in TL. Only starting in 2009, by 2012 it was a relatively new system and still a work in progress. I needed
clarification on many aspects such as how competencies were developed and written, what standards applied to delivery of qualifications, what stage of development the TLNQF had reached, how the TLNQF equated to the AQF and much more. I felt ill-equipped to be providing information on the TVET system in TL to these students. I knew I had to defer to the personal knowledge of this Australian contact who had contributed to the development of the TLNQF. I would sit with the students and learn alongside them.
5.11.5 Strategies developed
I began thinking about what other Australian professionals might be available to address these students on different aspects of the development of TVET in TL. The Hon. Steve Bracks, former Premier of Victoria, had been working in TL and it was at his instigation that the funds for the program I was delivering had been made available by the Victorian Government. I phoned his office and his assistant who had worked with him in TL agreed to come and speak with the students about the work of the Victorian Government in helping to build the TVET system in TL. I was now looking beyond the general concept of Vocational Education to discover how those in TL developed the TVET system from the ground up. I asked them to share with us their
knowledge so we had a basis on which to build our own knowledge.
5.11.6 Conclusive comments on layers
My understanding of how much these students understood about a system which regulates TVET had been exposed as unreliable. I had to listen during our sessions to determine what they knew and what they didn’t know. I felt threatened when I discovered the depth of their lack of knowledge and understanding of the TVET system in TL because I had based my program on an assumption of a level of underpinning knowledge which I could build on. I felt despondent when I realised I had not undertaken enough research to match their needs. A suggestion from one of the students empowered me to seek knowledge from those who had contributed to the development of the TVET system in TL. I aligned myself with the students in learning about the system from its inception. Our knowledge was jointly enhanced.