Two of COL’s Education Specialists, Ms Terry Neal and Dr Tony Mays, made a presentation at an online research forum, New Zealand Vocational Education and Training (NZVETRF) on 9 September 2021. NZVETRF 2021 focused around the theme: A journey through change, discussing the Reform of Vocational Education, the impact of COVID-19 and many other turning points from the past 12 months. In the online presentation, “Pacific Partnership for Open Flexible and Distance Learning: Two Case Studies”, Ms Neal and Dr Mays presented COL’s experience and the lessons learned from the Pacific Partnership for Open Flexible and Distance Learning Project.
Ms Neal explained about the value of the double diamond process and the importance of participatory approaches in designing the project TVET Online Toolkit.
Dr Mays spoke about COL’s experience and approach in scalable training for teachers in the Pacific, citing evaluation conducted to assess the impact. He explained how COL has responded to feedback from teacher participants and its upcoming plans for expanding the engagement with ODFL.
This two-day forum brought together policy makers, researchers and practitioners to network and exchange ideas in vocational education and training. COL along with Skills Consulting Group supported 43 people from the Pacific to attend the forum.