In order to gain promotion to Inspector, Station Officers from the NSW Fire Brigade are required to complete a Graduate Certificate in Social Sciences (Emergency Services) in a four week intensive mode program. Attainment of this qualification requires an accelerated academic transition so that students can engage critically and successfully with the course content. Lecturers from the Student Learning Unit have collaborated with School of Social Science staff to provide integrated academic literacy support to these students. Such support requires a recognition of the unique learning needs of these industry experts who confront a number of challenges in adjusting to the academic environment. This paper outlines the scaffolded teaching approach adopted by the SLU lecturers. It also contextualises the bridging of these divergent contexts within an academic literacies framework whereby ongoing explicit dialogue facilitated the fire fighters' engagement with higher learning.

Keywords: academic literacies, Work-Based Learning, fire services