Starting place:PhD So Near and Yet So Far

An ethnographic evaluation of an Australian transnational education program (2006) {Fieldwork 2003/2}

The original PhD site

B.Ed. Program designed in Melbourne and delivered in Singapore via twinning arrangement

Accredited as a Bachelor of Education and Training (BET), Human Resource Development

Marketed as providing: Advanced human resource development (HRD) knowledge

for those interested in greater supervisory and management of HRD (twinning partner website)

Advanced skills and knowledge in training/learning, supervision and management of HRD (student orientation session a.v. materials)

Bounded System

BET Offshore program

Units of Analysis

Student Experienc

e

Teacher Experienc

e

Program aims and objective

s

Program Content

Australian TNE

Context

Singaporean National HRD Policy

Context

Research Methods

Observation

Interviews

Textual Analysis

Four class groups @ 6

sessions each

Alumni

3 Indiv. Interv.

Current Participant

s over 3 intakes

30 interviews

Twinning

Partner

mgmt

2 Indiv. Interview

s.

Lecturers

Interviews prior,

during & post

delivery

IDP Singapor

e manage

ment

1 Intervie

w

Lecturers

Passionate, constructivist Had generally enjoyed very positive learning experiences during

early lives Considered students to be

somewhat linear Pedantic, demanding Want to be ‘right’, have the ‘right’ answer, ‘authorised knowledge’

(e.g. Pratt & Pratt et al., 1998,99..) Able to quickly adapt

Were challenged by unfamiliar situations e.g., gift giving, lunches, pastoral care… etc.

Were provided no formal development opportunities by the organisation prior to their first offshore teaching assignment

Students

‘They just throw and you pick up’ I was not allowed to do anything differently, you

know, you had to do A, B, to get to C, … pass examinations’

‘For late bloomers, your destiny has been predetermined’

The teacher says today I want you to draw an apple, and she would say, no, no, no, this is the way you must draw. And so that hindered his creativity... So in time he went to another school…and someone say “ok, I want you to draw on your own”. He needs someone to actually tell him what to do. This is what the Singapore government is doing.

Student motivations; instrumental, altruistic, everything in between ‘OK, it’s a degree. Big time, you know, paper chase’

‘Using correct languages…seems a bit scientific…since they are not willing to go and browse through a library and come up with something else’

‘I still have another sixteen to twenty years of my life I can contribute [to society]’

Truncated programs Conflict between program negotiators and educators Educators considered compacted nature of program

pedagogically unsound Educators found that most aspects of delivery in

Singapore took longer than they would have in Australia

Students reported concerns that there was insufficient time for reflection and that they were not ‘truly’ learning

Internal consistency of program based on lecturer availability rather than scaffolding of

subjects

Marketing Significance of Student Choice

‘Prestige’ of sandstone was not a key factor ‘Prestige’ of partner institution and

employability factor in terms of Singaporean employers’ opinions of degree was more important

Practical, transferable knowledge was sought (and ROI calculated by some)

Learning the game (acculturation)

Lecturer ‘game’ learning demonstrated through Adaptations to question sequencing Elucidation techniques Reactions to different communication styles (e.g.

silence and proxemics) Adaptations to structure of classes Change in outside-class relationships Helping students through their transition to a new

learning culture

Student recommendations for lecturers Longer sojourns; Liaisons with offshore universities; Australians team-teaching with locals, and

networking with fellow academics in the host country.

Such collaboration would imply allowance of time for mutuality of learning.

Contextualisation: curriculum and content

Cognitive dissonance – exposure to foreign values: conflict with daily life roles? e.g. policies, models

Has been a problem reported since Colombo Plan days

However: dangers in making indiscriminate recommendations for curriculum change because students had the desire and the capacity to

learn from overseas models; to evaluate the experiences of other countries; and to discard what they considered culturally or practically

inappropriate

Emerging Researcher Grant:A few years down the trackLongitudinal study; following up with

students five years after graduation from the Bachelor programme. {Fieldwork 2008}

Recruitment, second time around Researcher’s personal records Alumni Group’s annual reunion – gatekeeper Facebook Google Followed up by phone calls and written invitations

Problem – possibly only obtained interviews from those who were ‘proud’ of their achievements (although anecdotal evidence suggests this is certainly not always the case…busy schedules, moved away from Singapore etc.)

Interviews Please refer to handout 14 interviews Approximately 30% of BET intake during 2002/2003 7 male, 7 female One completed MBA, 3 completed Masters in HRD All had taken on new jobs since graduation (in some cases,

several moves through organisational hierarchies) 12 were working in roles related to the core topic of the Bachelor

Degree (HRD, Learning and Development, Organisational Development, Training)

5 of the participants working at the organisational level in very senior HRD-related roles

13 of the 14 would be considered to have been promoted and all attribute their success to a combination of their qualification's and the knowledge, skills, confidence and ‘credibility’ gained therein

Initial patterns emerging Many enrolled because of the Singaporean ‘obvious

requirement for paper qualifications’ however Found to their surprise that they enjoyed learning Were surprised by their capacity to succeed Eventually valued the learning more than the credentials

APPLICATION was extremely important Almost all participants spoke of their satisfaction in being

able to apply knowledge and skills in the workplace A good quality course would provide knowledge that could

be applied, too much theory was not valued at the time of the course

There was, however, a recognition that application might not come for some time. Some realised the value of theory or model much later, after considerable time for reflection.

Initial patterns emerging

Very sophisticated level of practice Impressive capacity to discuss and analyse

practice from a theoretical perspective Sought practitioner credibility and found that

they had achieved that goal very quickly Enthusiasm for ongoing learning and

preparedness to take risks in order to test theories and change organisational learning

Initial patterns emerging

In the Fly-in Fly-out model (FIFO) Australian educators were highly respected. Considered to be knowledgeable, professional and to have a

global perspective Prepared to accept challenges and able to address questions

from the class Prepared to help students who struggled

Local lecturers were not as highly valued Some students would not select a class taught by a local lecturer,

even if the topic was of interest Considered to be defensive, unable to deal with challenges and

questions Considered to have a limited perspective, less ‘global’ Considered to be less professional – unprepared to help students

and ‘only in it for the money’.

Initial patterns emerging Most participants related their capacity to directly

transfer learning from the course Were astute about the need to ‘tweak’ theories and models

to suit local needs Some considered their ‘tweaking’ intuitive, others consciously

made changes (e.g., to ‘off the shelf’/’global’ packages) Many saw globalisation as cultural convergence particularly

in relation to the HRD discipline area Also recognised that their frames of reference had changed

Many taught regionally (e.g., in China) and considered that attitudes to learning were changing

Separated the ‘idealistic’ from the practical Evidence of emancipatory learning

A practical outcome for RMIT Three of these senior practitioners will form a panel

presentation for the RMIT School of Management undergraduate HRD subject on the topic ‘Implementing HRD in Singapore’ in July 2009.

To be continued…