Ms Elaine Butler

Elaine Butler’s substantive position is that of senior lecturer in education at the University of South Australia, where she has worked since 1984, with the exception of the period 1996 - 1998 when she was located in the Department for Social Inquiry, Centre for Labour Studies at The University of Adelaide. During the latter period her lecturing activities focused on the broad field of Work Studies, including social and labour research and policy. The cross disciplinary nature of her academic and research work is reflected in her membership of three University research concentrations under the umbrella of Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies: the Research Centre for Gender Studies, the Centre for Literacy, Policy, and Learning Cultures, and the Centre for Research in Education, Equity & Work. Central to her research and teaching are the dynamic inter-relationships between the changing nature, organisation and distribution of work, work related learning, what counts as work knowledge, and why. Also of interest here are issues of modernity/postmodernity, globalisation, knowledge practices and governance in so-called ‘knowledge economies’. Much of Elaine’s research, consulting, and academic work has investigated issues of social justice and equity, including women, work and training. Elaine has an active interest in poststructuralism including approaches to governmentality, cultural and postcolonial studies. Her current PhD research calls on theorists interested in 'place' and the knowledge-based practices of everyday life (especially in work 'places'). This includes Michel de Certeau, Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin, and theorists engaged with Actor Network Theory (ANT) among others. Drawing on her expertise in curriculum and project design, development and evaluation, and VET reform, Elaine Butler has undertaken extensive overseas consulting work in the countries of the South Pacific, southern Africa and Viet Nam. Most recently, Elaine was the Gender and Development Expert and VET Access and Equity Advisor for the recent Australia China (Chongqing) Vocational Education and Training Project (ACCVETP) - a major five year VET reform project. She was also engaged in relation to the project: UNESCO Paris (Section for Technical and Vocational Education and the Section for Science and Technology Education): CCT poverty project “Scientific, Technical and Vocational Training for Girls : Schools and Learning Centers as Community Catalysts for Poverty Reduction and Empowerment of Girls”.

Research Centre for Gender Studies

Centre for Literacy, Policy and Learning Cultures

Centre for Research in Education, Equity and Work

Global/local conversations around work and life
A collaborative research venture drawing on 20 years and more of academic work and activism

• Postcompulsory education and training, including work related learning, workplace knowledge, workplace learning, adult , community and vocational education and training. VET policy and practices. Interrelationships between globalisation, neoliberalism, work and VET. VET reform. VET in schools.
• Gender, work and education, with a special interest in equity, social justice, and contexts/place. Approaches to equity, diversity and social justice. Women, work and vocational education and training. Politics of representation.
• Education policy and contexts - national and international/global. Policy discourses and practices .
• Work studies, including sociology of work; work, modernity/postmodernity and globalisation; work and subjectivities; women and work, and the study of work 'places'.
• Research design and development. Trends and issues in qualitative research.
• Social movements, culture, politics and change
• Curriculum design, development and evaluation, including issues in curriculum development and knowledge production. Inclusivity, pedagogies and curriculum design. Politics of curriculum and knowledge selection.

Australian College of Education (ACE), since 1985.

AVETRA (The Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association)

Australian Association for Research in Education

Cultural Studies Association of Australia

EuroVET VET Education and Culture Network

Security4Women (S4W)

Women in Adult and Vocational Education (WAVE) - Foundation member, national co-coordinator

National Foundation of Australian Women (NFAW)

Australian Federation of University Women (AFUW)

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

The Independent Arts Foundation (SA) (IAF)

M.Ed (University of Canberra) Thesis title: Curriculum work: post modern positions and problematics

B.Ed

Dip.T(Sec)

PhD (in progress) University of Melbourne, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science

• Postcompulsory education and training: Vocational education and training (VET) policy and contexts (national/international); VET reform; VET, equity and policy
• Work related learning; workplace knowledge/s.
• Gender, feminism and education. Gender and development. Approaches to gender research and analysis. Inter-relationships between equity, social justice and gender.
• The changing nature of work; work, workers and identity/subjectivity; globalisation and work; women and work.
• Place; approaches to place/space; knowing and doing 'place'; placemaking; inter-relationships between workers, work, work 'place', and work/place knowledges
• Qualitative research methodologies,approaches and epistemological bases Comparative cross national research
• Practices of everyday life - interdisciplinary approaches
• Feminist, post colonial and emergent pedagogies

Butler, Elaine 2007, Towards a sustainable economic future. Women and Vocational Education and Training. Summary of Research findings and recommendations. Security4Women Available at: http://www.security4women.com.au and http://www.wave.org.au

Turner-Zeller Kimberley and Butler Elaine (Eds.), 2007a, Making it Work: a study of education and training issues for women in micro and small business Security4Women Available at: http://www.security4women.com.au and http://www.wave.org.au

Turner-Zeller Kimberley and Butler Elaine (Eds.), 2007b, Lifelong Learning and Work Related Education and Training for Women Returning to Work and Retraining. Security4Women Available at: http://www.security4women.com.au and http://www.wave.org.au

Turner-Zeller Kimberley and Butler Elaine (Eds.), 2007c, Lifelong Learning: Work Related Education and Training. Meeting the Needs of Australian Women. Security4Women. Available at: http://www.security4women.com and http://www.wave.org.au

Butler, Elaine & Ferrier, Fran, (2006 a) Guest Editors: ‘Gender matters: perspectives on women’s work and training’ Journal of Vocational Education and Training, Special Issue. Vol 58, No 4, December 2006,

Butler, Elaine & Ferrier, Fran, (2006 b) ‘Gender matters: perspectives on women’s work and training’. Guest editorial in Journal of Vocational Education and Training, Special Issue. Vol 58, No 4, December 2006, pp385-391

Butler, Elaine & Ferrier, Fran, (2006 c) ‘’Asking difficult (feminist) questions: the case of disappearing’ women and policy problematics in Australian VET’ in Journal of Vocational Education and Training, Vol 58, No 4, December 2006, pp 577-601

Butler, Elaine with Woolley Robyn ( 2006) ‘Back to the future? Girls and young women, working futures, VET & VET in Schools. A snapshot’ in VOCAL, The Australian Journal of Vocational Education & Training in Schools, Vol 6 2006 pp 56-63

Butler, Elaine and Woolley Robyn, Eds. ( 2005) Getting real: young women, and girls, working futures, VET and VET in schools. Melbourne, Security4Women (ISBN 0-9757668-0-5). http://www.security4women.com

Butler, Elaine (2005) (with Taylor, Joy and Woolley, Robyn) Policy Directions: Lifelong learning: work-related education and training for women. Research Policy Paper prepared for Australian Office for Women, May 2005. Security4Women/WAVE. , http://www.security4women.com; http://www.converse.com.au

Butler, Elaine (2005) 'Policy work/working policy. In (and out of) theory. A personal perspective' Paper presented at Policy and its enactment: A research and policy dialogue on VET. The Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia February 2005

Butler, Elaine (2005) "'Practices of repetition’: the case of ‘disappearing’ women and policy problematics in VET. A reflection". Keynote address at Women Living and learning: rhetoric or reality? A review of women and lifelong learning in Australia WAVE National Forum Canberra 7-8th April 2005

Butler, Elaine (2003) “Keeping it all together? Vocational education and training and the ‘cat’s cradle’ paper presented at Occupation and Education in Transition, Tenth Anniversary Conference of the EuroVET Vocational Education and Culture Research Network at University of Jyväskylä, Mustiala, Finland 10th- 14th June, 2003

Butler, Elaine (2003) “Re-viewing; Re-visioning. Designing global/local futures for women and girls through VET” Keynote Speaker at TAFE NSW Access Division & WAVE Starting out or On the way: the educational imperatives for women and girls; Joint Forum; Meadowbank TAFE College, Meadowbank. Friday 7th November 2003

Butler, Elaine (2002) ‘Equity Canaries? Women, Equity And Vocational Education And Training In Australia’. Keynote address for Women in Vocational Education and Training- Futures Forum, Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) Melbourne, 30/4/02- 1/5/02

Butler, Elaine (2002) "Technology, technologies and power: a reflexive moment" Invited Panel Presentation at Making a world of difference? Innovation, internationalisation, new technologies and VET, Fifth Australian VET Research Association national Conference, Melbourne, 21-22 March, 2002

Butler, Elaine (2002) ‘Doing gender & VET - a story from China’ Seminar presentation at Centre for Research in Education, Equity and Work (CREEW), University of South Australia. 15th November 2002

Butler, Elaine (2002) ‘Working place/s: how can we tell them?’ Paper presentation at Knowledge & Discourse: speculating on disciplinary futures’ 2nd International Knowledge & Discourse Conference, University of Hong Kong, 25-29 June 2002

Butler, Elaine (2001) 'The power of discourse. Work-related learning in the "learning age"',in Cervero, Ronald M.,& Wilson, Arthur L., & Associates, Power in practice. Adult education and the struggle for knowledge and power in society. San Francisco & Oxford, Jossey-Bass, pp 60-82.

Butler, Elaine (2001) '(Re)presentations’ in View 2000. Commentaries on adult learning. Jamison Centre, A.C.T., Adult Learning Australia Inc, pp 32-33.

Butler, Elaine (2000) 'Knowing "now", learning futures. Institutional politics and knowledge practices in vocational education and training', International journal of lifelong education, Vol. 19 No.4, pp 322-341.

Butler, Elaine (2000) '(Re)presentations'. Adult Learning Commentary, No. 26, 4th October, 2000. Adult Learning Australia;

Butler, Elaine and Ferrier Fran (2000) 'Don’t be too polite, girls! Women, work and vocational education and training', A critical review of the literature, Adelaide, National Centre for Vocational Education and Research Ltd. (NCVER)

Butler, Elaine (1999) ‘Technologising equity. The politics and practices of equity and workplace learning’, in Boud, David and Garrick, John (eds) Understanding learning at work. London, Routledge.

Butler, Elaine (1999) ‘Education for what? Contextualising vocational education’ in Johnson, Bruce & Reid, Alan (eds) Reshaping the curriculum. Australia, Social Science Press.

Butler, Elaine (1999) ‘Global logics of vocationalism, work and work-related learning: where next for Australia?’ Invited paper, UTS Research Centre for Vocational Education and Training (RCVET), Sydney, University of Technology (UTS), Sydney. 19th May, 1999.

Butler, Elaine (1999) ‘Equity and VET: an antilogous project? A personal story of equity work in vocational education and training’. Invited paper for National Equity Workshop, UTS Research Centre for Vocational Education & Training (RCVET), Sydney, University of Technology (UTS), Sydney. 20-21st May, 1999.

Butler Elaine & Ferrier Fran (1999) ‘Doing research: talking policy. The case of equity and VET’ in Selby Smith, Chris (ed) The impact of R & D on VET decision making. A range of case studies. Leabrook, NCVER.

Butler, Elaine & Ferrier, Fran (1999) 'Don’t be too polite, girls!’ A report on a critical literature review of women, work and VET in Quality and diversity in VET research. Proceedings of the second national conference of the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA); Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne, 11-12th February 1999. Alexandria, AVETRA.

Kempnich Barb, Butler Elaine & Billett Stephen (1999) (Ir)reconcilable differences. Women in business and the Vocational Education and Training System. Adelaide, National Centre for Vocational Education and Research Ltd. (NCVER.)

Butler, Elaine (1998) ‘Equity and workplace learning: emerging discourses and conditions of possibility’ in Boud, David (ed) Current issues and new agendas in workplace learning, Adelaide, National Centre for Vocational Education and Research Ltd. (NCVER) pp 89-109.

Butler, Elaine (1998) ‘Persuasive discourses: learning and the production of working subjects in a post industrial era’ in Holford, J; Griffin C & Jarvis P (eds) Lifelong learning in the learning society: international perspectives. London, Kogan Page.

I am able to provide media comment in the following areas of expertise:

Discipline:

• Post compulsory education and training
• Gender issues in education
• Vocational education and training (VET)
• Gender and development
• VET and equity related policy
• Women, work and vocational training