Australia, like many nations across the globe, has a focus on engaging young people in the post compulsory years of school to ensure their transition into further education, training and /or the workforce. Applied Learning programs which are based on the premise of active, transformative learning from authentic experience have emerged as valuable tools in assisting the transition of young people. Understanding of Applied Learning however, not only varies between nations but also disciplines, context, education settings and curricula. Using a lens of boundary crossing, this chapter draws on research data to provide an account of challenges educators face in an Australian program where there appears little guidance for educators on constructing an Applied Learning pedagogical model for individual practice. From consideration of data and educational theory an Applied Learning pedagogical framework is proposed as a guide for educators in developing Applied Learning programs.

Across the globe many nations have found engaging young people in the post compulsory years of school to ensure their transition into economic citizens is challenging. Governments are focusing on developing initiatives and programs to connect young people in education and training as preparation for the workplace. In Australia the use of Applied Learning as pedagogy is emerging as a valuable tool in the delivery of curriculum to engage young people in education. Educators who use Applied Learning pedagogy develop curriculum that is relevant to student interests and needs, connected into communities and results in young people acquiring workplace skills. One such program in Australia is the 'Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), offered in years 11 and 12 of school and firmly grounded in Applied Learning pedagogy. The challenge for many educators is, and has been, that there are marked differences between VCAL pedagogy and curriculum and the pedagogy and curriculum they may have previously used in senior school programs. This paper draws on research that explores the professional learning experiences of Applied Learning educators, in the context of the VCAL. I argue that general professional teaching experience alone is not necessarily adequate preparation for teaching in the VCAL program.

This paper provides a temporal snapshot of two midterm PhD candidates as they both grapple with paradigms and methodology, research questions, external challenges within the research field, locating their voices as doctoral students, and maintaining energy and focus to continue their doctoral journey. These two candidates, one of whom is interstate, share the same supervisor and have come to know each other through telephone reading groups, email communications, and face-to-face meetings with their supervisor, and attending conferences and other collegial opportunities. The catalyst for this paper was a reading group discussion of a paper by Pirrie and Macleod (2010, p. 367) applying the descriptors of ʻjourneyman, wayfarer, fellow traveller or craftsmanʼ to the conceptualisation of the identities of researchers at temporal moments in the research process. We were also inspired by Kamler and Thomsonʼs (2001) paper where they respond to each otherʼs emails in a conversation formulating ideas and perspectives about ʻwriting upʼ research. Additionally, we have considered the work of Ryan, Amorim and Kusch (2010) and Lindsay, Kell, Ouellette and Westall (2010). We have linked their work on reflective learning to our experience of reflecting ʻaloudʼ in a supportive learning community and our subsequent individual reflexive learning. At the heart of our reflections is a relationship between supervisor (Jennifer) and doctoral candidates (Christine and Cheryl); the relationship is a fluid community of practice (Wenger, 1998). A community of practice that depends not so much on direction from the supervisor, but rather as a space where concepts and ideas can be spoken aloud in a safe, critical and supportive environment. Members are able to listen, both to themselves and to each other, before reflecting and finding their own way. At other times each juggles their own professional and personal identities as they become teacher, journeyman, fellow traveller and recalcitrant.

This article explores the adult and Community learning associated with 'learning to be drier' in the Riverland region of South Australia. Communities in the Riverland are currently adjusting and making changes to their understandings and practices as part of learning to live with less water. The analysis of adult and community learning derived from this research identified six different forms of learning. These are, learning to produce, learning to be efficient, learning to survive, learning to live with uncertainty, learning to be sustainable and learning to share. These forms of learning do not occur in isolation and separately from each other but to the contrary are occurring simultaneously with and alongside each other. Further, it is argued that the people and communities in the Riverland, through learning to live with the effects of climate change and less water, are at the forefront of learning to be drier.

In this final, collaborative paper in the Learning to be drier edition, we reflect on and draw together some of the key threads from the diverse narratives in our four site papers from across the southern Murray-Darling Basin. Our paper title, Wicked learning, draws on a recent body literature (Rittel & Webber 1973) about messy or 'wicked problems' as characterised by Dietz and Stern (1998). It picks up on our identification of the difficulty and enormity of the learning challenges being faced by communities, associated, at best, with a decade of record dry years (drought) and severely over-committed rivers. At worst, drought is occurring in combination with and as a precursor to recent, progressive drying of the Basin associated with climate change. Our research is suggestive of a need for much more learning across all segments of the adult community about '... the big picture, including the interrelationships among the full range of causal factors ...' (Australian Public Service Commission, APSC 2007: 1) underlying the presenting problem of drying. We conclude that solutions to the messy or wicked problem of drying in an interconnected Basin will lie in the social domain. This will include building a wider knowledge and acceptance of the problems and likely future risks across the Basin including all parts of communities. The problem of drying as well as its causes and solutions are multidimensional, and will involve comprehensive learning about all five key characteristics of other 'wicked' policy problems identified in previous research in the environmental arena. The narratives that we have heard identify the extreme difficulty in all four sites of rational and learned responses to being drier as the problem has unfolded. All narratives about being drier that we have heard involve a recognition of a combination of the five characteristics common to wicked problems: multidimensionality, scientific uncertainty, value conflict and uncertainty, mistrust as well as urgency. All narratives identify the importance of social learning: to be productive, to be efficient, to survive, to live with uncertainty, to be sustainable and to share. Combating the extent and effects of drying, causality aside, will require new forms of learning through new community, social and learning spaces, apart from and in addition to new technological and scientific learning.

Postmodern society frequently presents new technologies and ways of doing things. The definition of community has been reshaped by the impact of globalisation. Distances have been reduced by people’s ability to access various types of technology. Many nations foster Lifelong Learning because education is believed to be ‘one of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious form of human development’ (Delors 1996: un). Networking among communities and/or stakeholders links social and educational resources. In Victoria, initiatives such as the Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN) have resulted in networks of local stakeholders to scaffold the school to work transition. Schools, Adult Community Education (ACE) providers and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) providers have networked to provide alternative pathways to further education or work for young people in years 11 and 12. However, despite the intent of lifelong learning to overcome exclusion and increase social capital, Bauman (1998) indicates that the freedoms of postmodernity may result in feelings of powerlessness, as previously secure spaces become destabilised. This paper, drawing on the theories of Bauman, discusses some consequences that the shifting of local and global boundaries has on communities and asks if lifelong learning meets the challenges of postmodernity.