The ageing labour force, and concerns with productivity and social inclusion have driven foundation skills policy development in Australia and internationally (SCOTESE 2012; Newton 2016). However, little existing literature focusses on the relationships between foundation skills, community education providers and regional location. Thus, this…

Defined as language, literacy and numeracy, and employability skills, foundation skills are essential for individuals to participate in further education, employment and wider society. Community education providers, such as community colleges, neighbourhood houses, faith-based organisations and adult learning associations, are key providers of…

"Research messages 2011" is a collection of summaries of research projects published by National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in 2011. The publication also has an overview essay that captures the themes and highlights from the research for the year, including: (1) the initial education and training of young people and…

Organisational capability is recognised as a key to organisational success. The combination of human capital (peoples' skills and knowledge), social capital (relationships between people) and organisational capital (the organisation's processes), is central to building an organisation's capability. This paper, presented at the 2008 annual…

This study investigated whether adult literacy and numeracy courses produced social capital outcomes, which are changes in students' connections with networks of people. Interviews seeking information about participation in adult literacy and numeracy courses were conducted with 57 students and 18 teachers in four courses, one each in the Northern…

Using case studies from seven rural and regional areas, this report looks at the impact of schools and vocational education and training (VET) on community capacity. It finds that communities have developed different models to organise school-VET partnerships and that rural areas are more likely to adopt a whole-of-community model, while regional…