Queensland Projects

NDS Communities of Practice

"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about."

- Margaret Wheatley

Introduction

For the past two years, NDS Queensland has sought to strengthen non-government disability service providers through a variety of mechanisms, including:

lobbying at a state and federal levels;
information dissemination;
direct support with quality system implementation;
fostering local leadership; and
supporting communities of practice.

This section of the NDS Queensland Projects website has been set aside for those communities of practice that are working to shape their local communities. This support is provided as a service, within available resources and at sole discretion of NDS Queensland.

Aims:

To support Queensland's funded non-for-profit disability organisations where intention, purpose and principles are consistent and aligned with NDS mission and values
To support groups where intention relates to collaboration around good practice in service delivery, resource sharing, and personal and professional development
To support groups where focus is on inclusion of a broad range of stakeholders and perspectives
To promote a positive image of people with disability and be consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disability

Conditions:

All work stays within the public domain, with authorship by all parties acknowledged
NDS as site administrator and forum moderator reserves the right to remove items that are inconsistent with the above
All photos and videos for publication must be accompanied by a signed, dated consent form

Appeals and continuous improvement:

Please forward to the NDS Queensland Manager, Valmae Rose.

Definition

The phrase 'communities of practice' can be defined in the following way (from Etienne Wenger):

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

Communities of practice in the VET sector

More information about communities of practice in the vocational education and training (VET) sector is available in Communities of Practice and the national training system.

How to get involved

If you are a Queensland disability service provider and would like NDS to support your community of practice, please contact our Project Manager, Catherine Goodall in the Brisbane office on
(07) 3375 4188 or send her an email (catherine.goodall@nds.org.au).