Mens’ Sheds : New Industry ?
Jun 7th, 2007 by alexanderhayes
image : Harry Harris
Whilst we are on the topic of RPL and the new COAG agenda, today I discovered the PDF of the NCVER report available through the ICVET and the DET access portal to other subscribed DEST documentation.
It’s heartening to note that we have access to this document both via the web and TALE.
I’m bringing to your attention the wealth of research information re: VET which NCVER has in it’s archives. Go there …it’s worth it.
The document I speak of is the “….Men’s sheds in Australia: Learning through community contexts” written by Barry Golding, Mike Brown, Annette Foley, Jack Harvey, Lynne Gleeson.
Although I’m taken with the acknowledgment of men’s personal spaces I’m slightly perturbed by statements in the forward such as ;
“..This project investigates the use of community-run ‘men’s sheds’ which have proliferated in southern Australia in recent years. Men’s sheds are informal spaces and programs devised for, and used mainly by, men.”
Proliferated ? Mainly by men ?
I’m sure Bunnings would agree however from a VET perspective and having worked in industry, with tradies and so on….sheds take on all sorts of meanings, shapes , forms and locations……frequented by both members of the human species.
I saw this topic explored heavily in 2005 / 2005 via ABC who pointed to a Men Sheds Au.
New industry ? I can point back to 1997 working with Graham Seal and ‘Men and Their Sheds’ was a little coffee shop journal with quirky tell-tales.
So we’ve come full circle to building bigger sheds and making sure men learn in them ? What of the current agenda of “flying squads of trainers” ? Are men’s sheds an industry in their own right ?
As Robyn questioned , “…..How can we justify commodification and monetisation of what appears to be a cultural abstraction of personal space ? ”
Says it all for me.