Complicity and control in the workplace: a critical case study of TQM,learning, and the management of knowledge

This article analyses how a Total Quality Management process with an embedded workplace literacy programme was implemented in an industrial manufacturing plant. Designed as an insider/outsider team research project, data were collected through interviews with management personnel, education and training providers, and hourly workers. Findings reveal that the Total Quality Management process and the literacy programme were implemented under the guise of providing education and training for workers, but were driven by corporate policy to reduce labour costs. The study also examines the way in which adult education was complicit in controlling workplace knowledge.     

Shifting the Perspective of the Research Librarian: A CoResearch Paradigm

This article proposes the coresearch engagement model (CoRE), which addresses how the academic research librarian can become a coresearch partner with any patron. The CoRE model is an interpersonal process and is founded upon the concepts of mutual respect, collaboration, reciprocity, and empowerment. Grounded in Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory, Malcolm Knowles’ andragogical model, and guidelines from the Reference and User Services Association, CoRE has the potential to result in engagement for the librarian and patron. The CoRE model can be utilized in many ways including self-awareness and development for those who need and want to expand their abilities as a research librarian. It provides a theoretical framework and a knowledge base, in addition to giving a context for further development by expanding, comparing the related theories for further research, and implementing various applications suggested by this article.     

Challenges in embedding numeracy throughout the curriculum in three Queensland secondary schools

The Australian Curriculum identified seven General Capabilities, including numeracy, to be embedded in all learning areas. However, it has been left to individual schools to manage this. Whilst there is a growing body of literature about pedagogies that embed numeracy in various learning areas, there are few studies from the management perspective. A social constructivist perspective and a multiple case study approach were used to explore the actions of school managers and mathematics teachers in three Queensland secondary schools, in order to investigate how they meet the Australian Curriculum requirement to embed numeracy throughout the curriculum. The study found a lack of coordinated cross-curricular approaches to numeracy in any of the schools studied. It illustrates the difficulties that arise when teachers do not share the Australian Curriculum cross-curricular vision of numeracy. Schools and curriculum authorities have not acknowledged the challenges for teachers in implementing cross-curricular numeracy, which include: limited understanding of numeracy; a lack of commitment; and inadequate skills. Successful embedding of numeracy in all learning areas requires: the commitment and support of school leaders, a review of school curriculum documents and pedagogical practices, professional development of teachers, and adequate funding to support these activities.