Reflections - A review of the Activities of the Northern Corridor Education Precinct

In 1999, Dr Marguerite Nolan conducted a research project, initiated by North Point Institute of TAFE (NPIT) and QUT, to investigate the feasibility of creating an Education Precinct in the Northern Corridor region of South-East Queensland. The corridor was identified as the area from Brisbane’s CBD in the south to Caboolture in the north, the D’Aguilar Range in the west to Moreton Bay in the east. This research resulted in the formation of the Northern Corridor Education Precinct (NCEP) which is an association between Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane and North Point Institute of TAFE (BNPIT) and Education Queensland. This area is a rapidly growing region with a projected population increase of 416,000 by 2021 which represents a 50% increase to the current population. This statistic raises issues about future infrastructure and resource needs for education and service provision in the corridor. The research found that the Corridor includes areas that exhibit high youth unemployment, low education retention rates, a large number of families from low socio-economic backgrounds, a significant number of ‘at risk’ students, and a significant number of families where no member has accessed tertiary education. A key recommendation made by Dr Nolan was that a full-time Transitions Officer be appointed to manage relationships between secondary schools, and to develop relationships and disseminate information between all partners. 1 In October 2001 QUT Carseldine and North Point Institute of TAFE jointly funded a Transitions Officer position. The Geebung and Murrumba Education Districts also agreed to co-fund an Education Queensland position to facilitate activities aimed at improving pathways, retention, and employment opportunities. During 2002 many relationships and networks were established, and as a result, initiatives and projects have developed. This booklet is a reflection on what has been achieved and highlights possibilities for future initiatives. We look forward to the ongoing process of developing seamless pathways in education, promoting strong working relationships both within and between sectors, and catering for the diverse range of student needs, so that ultimately each student will have the opportunity to achieve their full potential

The Northern Corridor Education Precinct - The Three Leaf Clover: Education Providers and the Community - A Story of Collaboration, Commitment and the Grass Roots

The Northern Corridor Education Precinct (NCEP) is an initiative of education providers in the area from Brisbane’s CBD to Caboolture. This area encompasses forty-five government and non government schools, nine TAFE campuses, and two university campuses, and a shared campus between TAFE and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The NCEP has emerged at a time of unprecedented systemic and jurisdictional review of all educational sectors at both the national and state level in Australia. Although this presents challenges, it is also a significant opportunity to continue advances towards cross-sectoral and regional relationships and outcomes. One of the main strengths of the NCEP is the open and representative nature of the NCEP Steering Committee. The collaborative and sectoral outlook of the group opens up dialogue and innovation, historically difficult to achieve in a traditional model. This paper will highlight the Cabbage Tree Creek Learning Precinct Project as one of the NCEP’s initiatives. This project involves integrating enterprise education concepts into school curriculum to provide ‘real life’ learning opportunities based around a shared physical resource for students of the four education sectors and our communities

A model for engaging and evaluating innovative cross-sectoral education reform : case studies from Queensland, Australia

This paper will explore how a general education can contribute successfully to vocational outcomes using both Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Program Theory methodology. The paper will focus on the development aspects of ‘marrying’ vocational and general education including engagement processes, student, teacher, institute and employer preparation and the pathway possibilities that emerge. Successful cases presented include the: Healthy Futures program (pathways into the Health and Allied industries); Accounting Pathways program (simultaneously studying a general Accounting subject and a Certificate III vocational qualification); and Sustainable Sciences initiative (development of a vocational qualification that focuses on the emerging renewable energy industry and is linked to school science programs). The case studies have been selected because they are unique in character and application and can be used as a basis for future program development in other settings or curriculum areas

The Northern Corridor Education Precinct: A Space of Engagement for Mutual Benefit

A growing emphasis is being placed on the need for the education sector to engage with community in a meaningful and mutually beneficial way. Both in Australia and internationally, governments, the institutions and communities are looking at how the resources and potential of such relationships can be unlocked. Regional and urban education campuses have a multifaceted role within the community. Not only are they the site of traditional learning and possibly research but they are usually one of the regions major employers, economic drivers, cultural, recreational, infrastructure and resource providers. The integration of community engagement concepts into educational teaching and learning’s is critical to the holistic development of our future society. Through community engagement, this and future generations can gain a broader perspective and deeper understanding for aspects of social thinking and activities that would normally be beyond their immediate life experiences. This practice presentation explores how the drivers listed above have been integrated into the operations of the Northern Corridor Education Precinct (NCEP) a collaborative education sector initiative in the transport corridor to the north of Brisbane, Australia. How has the NCEP through collaboration, commitment and the grassroots been able to: weaken traditionally strong boundaries between learning institutions and their communities; create spaces of engagement in which discourse can occur and engage their communities both internal and external in a sustainable and mutually beneficial way

Engaged Scholarship experiences from the United States and England

The nature of the program submitted in the Professional Development Program application was one in which it was proposed, to not only visit the identified sites in the United States and United Kingdom detailed but also, with the support of the hosts, explore the nature of the engagement activities within their institutions and the systems and processes they use to undertake, manage and report on these. Each site was chosen because of its leadership in higher or cross sectoral education in the field of engagement and or service learning and their derivatives. \ud \ud During the program and with the evolution of the discussions and information sharing, the process focused increasingly on the contextual frame in which the institutions undertook there engagement activities and the effect on and strategic alignment at the organisational level. This refinement has now led to significant opportunity for ongoing collaborative work both in practical and research terms with the hosts and exploration of the global context in which the higher education engagement process and resultant scholarship are conducted. \ud \ud In particular, Portland State University, the University of Pennsylvania, University of California and the Minnesota State System in the USA and the Universities of the North East through the University of Newcastle in the UK are discussing collaborations, exchanges and research opportunities. They and others are also interested in the systematic way in which QUT has undertaken our Engagement journey and the rational for this as detailed in the publication Challenging Boundaries: Perspectives on community – university engagement. I was fortunate to have a number of advance copies of the publication with which I could share our work at QUT and my regional level work on behalf of QUT. As a result, articulating further the process and strategic alignment with which I have been intimately involved over the past six years. \ud \ud I recognise the considerable support of the university for my program given its breadth and duration. I also acknowledge the research support for nominated aspects of the program and most importantly my hosts and family for supporting my passion and sharing so opening their respective time, knowledge and my extended absence from home. Throughout the program I was also able to present my work and research and the broader QUT journey in open forums, lectures and presentations to staff, students and community to further articulate and highlight the QUT and NCEP story. As an aid in this report and a precursor to publishing this work through QUT e-prints I have linked a number of sites that will contextualise the various sections of the report

Breaking Down Boundaries - A Regional Approach to Community and Organisational Collaboration using GIS - An Education Sector Perspective

The requirement for Australian universities to engage with their communities is emphasised in policy at Federal, State levels and is embedded in planning in individual universities. However, little is known about the mechanisms that foster this engagement. This paper explores the application of an information tool that assists in developing and maintaining these relationships. Our use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has facilitated the development of a database and on going collection of socio-economic data to act as a knowledge resource for local community and regional education initiatives. The mechanisms of engagement turn on the capacities of GIS technology to provide visual thematic representation that provides for collective understanding of socio-demographic patterns salient to local community development issues. We argue that this collective access provides for the weakening of traditionally strong classifications (Bernstein, 2000) between the university and its constituents, spanning boundaries that exist at both knowledge and organisational levels. We further contend that this weakening of boundaries assists in stimulating dialogue and significantly aide’s effective evaluation and informed decision-making

Grassroots Engagement within a Regional Education Environment – A Program Theory Approach

As with policy and programs generally, education community engagement tends to lack a coherent and explicit theory explaining why and how engagement strategies are likely to achieve desired and articulated outcomes. This paper addresses the problem by proposing a theoretical framework for educational and community cross-sectoral collaboration and engagement in the context of education sector engagement at a regional level in the northern corridor of Brisbane, Australia. Locating the relationships involved in engagement within a program theory of cross-sectoral collaboration and its proposed outcomes, this paper explores how Basil Bernstein's idea of classification and Ernest Boyer's concept of the scholarships of integration and application can be applied to identify the mechanisms through which engagement is generated. A series of cases studies is presented to illustrate the processes, incorporating shared physical, virtual and human infrastructure and curriculum initiatives that represent a multiplicity of activities and levels of engagement

Kelvin Grove Urban Village Pathways Audit Report

The 2006 ABS census for Kelvin Grove statistical local area (SLA) determined the population as 4,384. Population projections published in 2005 by the developers of the Kelvin Grove Urban Village (KGUV) predicted a growth of 2,000 by 2010, the majority of which would occur within the Urban Village development. With such a high projected rate of population growth (slightly less than 50%), there is concern for capacity-building in the community, particularly the Urban Village with its uniquely-planned mixture of different status groups in a relatively small geographic area. The development has to date accommodated these concerns through programs that are generally entertainment oriented. The Community Hub has been involved with organised low-cost social events that facilitate contact between residents. Limited access to internet services has been provided at the centrally-located office for email and job search functions. The concern as development progresses towards material completion is for sustainable community capacity in what is essentially a new community within a community

Inner Brisbane North Homeless Service Provision Audit Report

The Inner Brisbane North Homeless Service Provision Audit has been conducted between February 2007 and June 2007 with the purpose of gathering information on the provision of services to the homeless in the Inner Brisbane North area. The survey has been conducted predominantly by people from disadvantaged backgrounds who have some experience of homelessness and an awareness of the lifestyles of homeless people. Among other survey-based work-placement projects conducted in this series, homelessness provides a challenging topic of complex proportions. The project, operating at the grassroots level, sought to clarify the services provided, the resources available and issues associated with the homeless community. To do so, it would aim to map service provision in the Inner North of Brisbane, to identify by survey the attitudes and expectations of two groups, namely the service providers and the homeless people who access those services, and to compare these for goodness of fit

Inner Brisbane North Homeless Service Provision Audit Report

The Inner Brisbane North Homeless Service Provision Audit has been conducted between February 2007 and June 2007 with the purpose of gathering information on the provision of services to the homeless in the Inner Brisbane North area. The survey has been conducted predominantly by people from disadvantaged backgrounds who have some experience of homelessness and an awareness of the lifestyles of homeless people. Among other survey-based work-placement projects conducted in this series, homelessness provides a challenging topic of complex proportions. The project, operating at the grassroots level, sought to clarify the services provided, the resources available and issues associated with the homeless community. To do so, it would aim to map service provision in the Inner North of Brisbane, to identify by survey the attitudes and expectations of two groups, namely the service providers and the homeless people who access those services, and to compare these for goodness of fit