Action learning : a strategy for change.

The National Staff Development Committee of the Vocational Education and Training Sector is promoting action learning as a preferred professional development strategy to support the implementation of key competencies. This paper reports on an investigation of action learning as trialed across five training areas within the Department of Employment, Training and Further Education in South Australia. Two semi-structured hour long interviews were conducted with participating staff, one at the beginning, the other at the end of the project, and two questionnaires were administered: the Stages of Concern Questionnaire and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This paper focuses on the two interviews and these results are discussed in relation to the effectiveness of action learning as a change strategy that can move an organisation for learning toward becoming a learning organisation. [Author abstract