In Australia, the development and implementation of National Training Packages has been a major tool in the drive to reform of the vocational education and training system. The main aim of the reform is to establish a national vocational and education system within a federal political system and to make vocational educations and training providers more responsive to the needs of industry, by industry specifying its skill needs through the mechanism of national Training Packages. The background to this workplace project, the Review of the Community Services Training Package, and this study, is established by a review of policy and literature in relation to national training reform issues and stakeholder management within a public policy context. This review established some principles of good practice in relation to stakeholder management. The industry context of the workplace project is discussed. The workplace project is then unpacked in some detail with specific reference to stakeholder management strategies and issues and some specific stakeholder groups. This exegesis goes on to explore stakeholder behaviour in this particular workplace project in its historical context of the introduction of Training Packages to the vocational education and training system. It explores the perspectives of teachers and industry on the implementation of Training Packages and in particular the gap between educational technologies and industry expectations of standards of work performance. The exegesis concludes with some suggestions of opportunities for enhanced workplace practice in stakeholder management and for further research. It also suggests a job of work for industry and teachers to develop new communities of practice around Training Packages as a means of bringing together their sometimes divergent interests.

Educational services have become Australia's third largest export industry. Onshore delivery of higher education has been a major export for many years, and in recent years offshore delivery of vocational education and training has grown to become a major part of this industry. Different Australian educational institutions are involved in delivery of Australian VET programs in a wide range of cultural and socioeconomic contexts. Because of the strong demand for skills in an increasingly interconnected world, this growing industry, which at an international level encompasses a diverse range of institutions, training delivery methods and management and administrative arrangements, is increasingly directing its attention towards globalising its regulatory and training approaches. The aim of this research is to investigate the process of adapting Training Packages and the Australian Quality Training Framework, the two main instruments of regulation in the Australian skill formation system, for an international audience. This thesis will examine what process of adaptation is involved when the Australian VET approaches are used as a model to develop skills formation overseas. Factors influencing the forms taken by this regulatory system in a global context will be studied through investigating the international activities of various Australian sectors in implementation of VET approaches in non-Australian systems. Two propositions underpin this key question. First is that the Australian VET system is primarily a regulatory system, which means that the export of these regulations needs to be accounted for. Secondly, the Australian VET system has been designed for Australian industrial and cultural conditions and adjustments are necessary in the regulations themselves, host country regulat ory practice, or both for Training Packages to work in these non-Australian cultural contexts.

Behavioral skills training (BST) packages have been successful in increasing change agents’ correct implementation of various procedures. The current study evaluated the effects of a brief BST package to train daycare teachers to implement incidental teaching procedures with toddlers. The brief BST consisted of a set of written instructions, a two-minute video model, rehearsal, and feedback during session. Results demonstrated that teachers increased their correct implementation of incidental teaching procedures following training. In addition, two of the three toddlers increased the frequency of signs to request attention.

Training Packages form the basis upon which practitioners in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector in Australia develop their pedagogical processes. As workplaces adapt their practices to compete globally, demand for skilled and knowledgeable workers places pressure on institutional training providers such as TAFE to develop training programs that support the acquisition of higher order thinking skills in graduates. Using a competence based framework as a backdrop, the research centres on the notion of the place of Project Based Learning in a Training Package context. The research proposes that learning through projects is an effective means of integrating Training Package outcomes with an instructional model that engages learners in independent, flexible and reflective learning. The research was conducted retrospectively from a case study of an AQF Level 6 Textile, Clothing and Footwear Training Package Program at RMIT University TAFE. An Action Research approach underpins the investigation, resulting in the profiling of teaching, learning and assessment as areas in need of further examination. These defining themes are explored in the context of the Project Based Learning model developed at RMIT, with consideration given to the potential for broader application. The discussion concludes with a theoretical review of the new understandings of pedagogy. The study aims to establish that a constructive alignment exists between the behaviourist approach of Training Packages and the more constructivist theories behind Project Based Learning; rendering it a suitable instructional model that meets the needs of 21st century learners.