Social Partnerships in Learning: Understanding the Identities of Disenfranchised Regional Learners

This paper reports on the outcomes of a study of regional learners' identities and the transformative processes that facilitated their successful involvement in vocational education. Developing innovative and successful approaches to engage disenfranchised regional learners in training necessitates effective partnership and the recognition of diverse knowledge systems as they relate to the worlds of work, community engagement and learning. Social partnerships in learning were found to be key, they are the interagency and interdisciplinary relationships that enable effective learning in different disciplines, workplaces and training sites. Social partnerships in learning frameworks are used to; examine diverse knowledge systems, develop capacity building processes and understand the underlying relationships that facilitate connections, engagement and decision making between government, non-government, enterprise, community, stakeholders and individuals. These frameworks operate at and across all levels i.e. involving individuals, organizations and learning systems. This paper will examine the role of learning partnerships in developing strong learner identity and re-engaging regional learners. � Common Ground, Ruth Wallace.