Abstract:
There is a growing body of literature on the impact of economic restructuring during the 1980s and 1990s in Australia, and on the intersection of restructuring and education and training. This literature is variously focused and includes for example analyses of the effects of restructuring on individual and neighbourhood income distribution (Harding, Saunders, Gregory & Hunter); changes in industrial relations and work organisation (Mathews, Ewer, Hampson, Bramble); the impact on women (Hall & Fruin, Margery, Probert, Pocock). Changes to education and training have been designed to underpin and support these changes and rest on a set of assumptions on the future of work and skill needs.
An area that has been little investigated is how workers have understood the dramatic changes that have occurred in the areas of work; industry and award restructuring; training reform and skill development; and wider issues of national economic policy. Workers voices are rarely found in the literature reviewing Australia's economic changes since 1983.
This paper, which builds on doctoral research in progress, examines issues of restructuring and training in two factories in the clothing and steel industries. It focuses on the informal and incidental learning of workers at those factories.
An area that has been little investigated is how workers have understood the dramatic changes that have occurred in the areas of work; industry and award restructuring; training reform and skill development; and wider issues of national economic policy. Workers voices are rarely found in the literature reviewing Australia's economic changes since 1983.
This paper, which builds on doctoral research in progress, examines issues of restructuring and training in two factories in the clothing and steel industries. It focuses on the informal and incidental learning of workers at those factories.