A literacy educator's approach to designing a trade professional program for third year apprentices

Abstract

Adult learning experiences that support the construction of situated and distributed knowledge are favoured by contemporary situative learning theorists. Such experiences are educative rather than miseducative, characterised by continuity and connectedness. Within the VET sector, these are particularly effective when coupled with literacy strategies within a carefully designed curriculum program. Despite strong support for this approach, more attention could be given to curriculum design and pedagogy within the VET context. This paper reports on a successful program that provided educative experiences for third year apprentices in the power industry. Three elements of the program are examined, these being integration, customisation and the implementation of literacy learning strategies, with regard to supporting theory and examples of learning experiences. It concludes that well designed curriculum programs with embedded literacy strategies can engage these adult learners and support them in accessing formal qualifications.