Partnership pedagogy pathways for the fire protection industry into mainstream post-graduate programs

![CDATA[In Australia, the fire protection industry provides an essential service in the safety of residences and workplaces from the potential impacts of building fires. The industry is characterised by many thousands of small-medium enterprises. The professional industry body is the Fire Protection Association of Australia which has a national reach of 1,500 businesses with a cohort of 30,000 individuals who are serving the fire protection industry. Government inquires and reviews have consistently identified the need for improved education and compliance for the building sector and for fire safety design in particular. From October 2017, the NSW government introduced requirements for competent persons to operate under a fair trading regulatory model within the fire protection industry. The existing cohort is largely trade qualified and the intention of the regulator is to provide for industry to accredit fire safety practitioners in areas of design, installation, servicing and auditing or fire safety systems in buildings. Western Sydney University has embarked on a blended learning platform for the delivery of three core industry competencies to support industry standards and as a pathway to entry into a possible fire safety design postgraduate program based on demonstrated knowledge and workplace experience. This project aims to develop a platform in collaboration with the FPAA and NSW Fire and Rescue using a collaborative and partnership pedagogy framework in which the FPAA and Western Sydney University will provide a micro-credential which can be used in conjunction with other formal training in support of regulatory expectations and industry needs. This project also illustrates that this sort of program can be used to improve the knowledge and understanding of other professionals in the building sector including architects, engineers, building managers and certifiers.]]