What is the value of fieldwork? Answers from New Zealand using two contrasting undergraduate physical geography field trips

Abstract:  This paper addresses the value of fieldwork compared with desk-based teaching using student questionnaire and focus group approaches applied to two contrasting field trips in the Geography programme at Massey University. Student views on the relative value of an 8-day residential alpine physical geography field trip to Fox Glacier and a day's 'tour' of Manawatu fluvial and coastal landforms indicated in both instances that the fieldwork was highly valued. The value of fieldwork lies particularly in providing students with a better sense of real-world environments and processes, an enhanced understanding of their subject and affords opportunities for social interaction that cannot be duplicated in class.     

Temporary Migration and the Labour Market in Australia

Australia's labour market is most influenced by international migration among OECD nations, but Australian research on this issue focuses almost exclusively on permanent settlement migration. The present paper, however, demonstrates that non-permanent migration has an important impact on the Australian labour market, although such migrants are not included in standard data collections and research on migrants and the labour market. A number of data sources are utilised to estimate the labour-market impact of Working Holiday Makers, Temporary Business Entrants, Overseas Students, and New Zealand temporary migrants. It is shown that their impact is equivalent to more than 400?000 full-time jobs. However, the effect is magnified because it is concentrated in particular sectors of the economy and in particular communities within Australia. A number of issues relating to temporary migration are discussed, including the nature of its relationship with permanent migration, the effects on job training, and the implications for regional development.