Ernest L. Boyer (1928- 1995) was the Chancellor of the State University of New York, as United States Commissioner of Education and as President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Boyer has been awarded more than 140 honorary doctorates for his work done to the education industry (Honan, 1995).
In 1990, Boyer proposed to expand the description of “scholarship” into four modules. Ernest Boyer, working very closely with Eugene Rice, suggested that the definition of scholarship to be extended to include research and three additional forms of scholarly work – integration, application and teaching’ (Grassick, 2002)
The Boyer model of Scholarship (Boyer 1990) provides with a framework for higher education providers such as TAFE with degree programs and Universities to consider scholarship, four distinct yet codependent modules:
- Discovery– building current knowledge through traditional research that adds to the stock of human knowledge and also to the academic environment of a higher education provider.
- Integration– understanding the use of knowledge across disciplines and connecting research so that it is useful outside discipline limitations and can be incorporated into a larger body of knowledge.
- Application– using knowledge to support individuals, the public and the professions in solving issues connecting scholarship with practice.
- Teaching and learning – a central element of scholarship involving the progress of well-informed and knowledgeable teachers, leading to teaching that promotes active and critical learning in students based on advances in a discipline or knowledge about effective teaching and learning and course design practices in a field. (TEQSA, 2017)
Industry currency is essential for TAFE teachers in Hospitality and retail baking sector; research is one of the activities assisting in maintaining industry currency. within the area of baking researching through industry forums, workshops, exhibitions websites, and associations to learn new trends, new technologies, new processes and mythologies Research assists in providing students with the latest information and current industry knowledge.
TAFE can support the integration of skills of the trainers through workshops to share knowledge and will l provide better understanding between disciplines and support TAFE to provide better services to students and staff. (Hornsby, 2018)
TAFE can assist the community by identifying problems and provide solutions form the expertise of the trainers and research activities. As an example, students at Melbourne Polytechnic- Group of students worked with South Australian wine company to investigate new ways to capture volatile organic compounds and ethanol produced by fermenting wine and recycle them into useful products.TAFE can support the industry by connecting scholarship with practice. (VTA Doing applied research, 2019).
A core principle of the TAFE should be the development of teaching models practices and approaches which help the student to achieve the best learning outcomes. As trainers, we can share knowledge through blogs and other presentations such as Power points.TAFE should support publications of textbooks, resources, innovative teaching materials.
More funding must be provided to TAFE for industry-driven research in TAFE to maximize the sector’s participation in Australia’s innovation and industry sector. Funding in research will help to improve the outcomes to the stakeholders in VET education sector.
References
Boyer, E. L. (1990). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. The Carnegie Foundation.
Glassick, C. E. (2002 ). The Four Scholarship. HERDASA News .R https://www.herdsa.org.au/sites/default/files/HERDSANews20022401.pdf etrived from
Hansby, D. ( 2018, Jan 22). The Boyer Model and You. Retrieved from youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAljQoYGwMM
Honan, W. H. (1995, December 9). Ernest Boyer, National Leader In Education, Dies at 67. Retrieved from New York Times : https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/09/nyregion/ernest-boyer-national-leader-in-education-dies-at-67.html
TEQSA. (2018). Guidance Note: Scholarship . Australian Government .Retrived from
Victorian TAFE Association. (n.d.). Applied Research and Innovation in VET. Retrieved from VTA: https://www.vta.vic.edu.au/doctest/governance/resource-materials/876-wfcp-ar-ag-discussion-paper-applied-research-and-innovation