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In this paper it is argued that neither a simple definition of vocational education and training (VET) nor qualification levels are helpful. It discusses what does constitute VET in Australia. It suggests that VET is distinguished from higher education (HE) by different funding and regulatory arrangements, and teaching and learning styles. What confuses the issue is that many providers deliver both higher education and VET courses. Show less

The ageing society has been attracting the attention of policy makers in Australia and in many other countries. This paper considers the labour market for the traditional trades in Australia over the next 40 years and investigates whether the ageing society will pose a workforce problem. The broad conclusion is that the ageing society will significantly impact on the size of the potential trades workforce, but that this is unlikely to result in shortages. Rather, any shortage is more likely to occur if the trades lose their attractiveness relative to other occupations. Moreover, the age distribution of the trades workforce will remain largely unaltered. Show less

This study carried out by the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) and Institute of Technology, Tallaght (ITT) documents the findings from a survey of numeracy/mathematics tutors working with adult learners in Ireland. In its broadest terms, the research set out to identify training needs/requirements among tutors providing numeracy tuition to adult learners in a number of settings nationally. The context for the research is the changing teaching and learning environment with its focus on: the use of technology in the classroom; real world focus driven by Project Maths and [Further Education and Training Awards Council] FETAC accreditation; labour force activation; assessment issues including FETAC accreditation at [National Framework of Qualifications] NFQ levels 1-4; and developments in teaching qualification requirements.

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The authors examine factors that influence young people’s plans to complete Year 12, their aspirations to commence university study in the first year after leaving school and their expected occupation at age 30. They also examine the extent to which the occupational aspirations of teenagers align with their actual job outcomes a decade later. The findings in this report demonstrate just how important parents and peers are in relation to young people’s aspirations. The findings also indicate that the aspirations of 15-year-olds are somewhat unrealistic. By age 25 years, which is the age until which data are available for analysis, a significant portion of young people fall short of what they set out to achieve occupationally. However, this does not mean that they cannot achieve their desired occupations at a later stage in life.

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This article examines the importance of schools relative to individual characteristics in explaining Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, using Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth data. The school characteristics explain around 20 per cent of the variance in Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, with the measured school characteristics explaining around 7 percentage points, indicating that idiosyncratic factors - which we interpret as reflecting schools' ethos - dominate. School sector is an important explanator; whilst the government, independent and Catholic systems all contain 'good' schools, schools that have low Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, after controlling for individual characteristics, are dominated by the government sector.

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Vocational education and training (VET) has been seen to be an important element of school education for some time now. More recently, school-based apprentices and trainees have been given more prominence as an element of VET in Schools, partly as a response to skill shortages in a wide range of areas. The purpose of this short paper is to provide data on school-based apprentices and trainees to enable a judgement to be made about how this policy push is unfolding. After providing some context on the policy environment relevant to school-based apprenticeships and traineeships, this paper provides data on how many and what areas are covered, and goes on to look at attrition and completion rates. To provide a comparison group, data on apprenticeships and traineeships among young people are also given, noting that they form a very important entry point into the labour market for a large proportion of young people. The study found that despite a concerted policy push, the number of school-based apprentices and trainees is small and highly concentrated in Queensland and Victoria, among retail and hospitality training packages, and at the certificates I and II level. Attrition is lower among school-based than all young apprentices and trainees, both within the first six months and year, and at both certificate I and II and certificate III and above levels. With regard to the proportion completing their training, completion rates for certificates I and II are higher for school-based contracts than for all young apprentices and trainees, but substantially lower for certificates III and above. Completion rates in hairdressing, metal and engineering, and automotive certificates III and above are particularly low among school-based apprentices and trainees. Show less

Improved educational outcomes are seen as a key lever for addressing the disadvantage faced by Indigenous Australians. Poor educational outcomes have been observed at all levels of education, from early childhood through to tertiary education. While the increase in school retention rates of Indigenous Australians in recent years is encouraging the more critical issues are whether there have been improvements in educational performance at earlier years for Indigenous students and the extent to which educational performance at say, Year 10, is flowing through to education outcomes such as Year 12 completion.

The data used in this project come from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth (LSAY), including both the 2006 and 2009 student cohorts. The first wave of each LSAY is the [Programme for International Student Assessment] PISA survey. One of the advantages of PISA scores is that they allow overtime direct comparisons and between-cohort comparisons. The subsequent waves of LSAY allow [the authors] to follow the students throughout their compulsory education and beyond. The latest wave of LSAY was released in 2013 for the 2012 wave of both cohorts. The 2009 cohort has (mostly) left school in the last LSAY observation window. This makes it the first year when a full comparison between the 2006 and 2009 cohorts can happen. The data allow [the authors] to conduct a full set of comparisons between Indigenous students and non-Indigenous students in the two cohorts up to their choice of tertiary education.

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In this conference paper, it is argued that workforce planning should be built on an understanding of how the labour market works, and the links between it and education and training. Workforce planning is particularly difficult for the resources and infrastructure industry because: (1) the demand for resources is difficult to forecast; and (2) the industry is made up of relatively small employers and draws workers from a wide range of occupations. The paper emphasises the importance of gaining an understanding of the way the training system works, the way the labour market works, and how the industry fits into the overall labour market. Show less

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to compare the performance of area-based vs individual-level measures of socioeconomic status (SES). Design/methodology/approach - Using data from the longitudinal surveys of Australian youth (LSAY), a multidimensional measure of individual SES is created. This individual measure is used to benchmark the relative usefulness of socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA), a geographic set of measures often used in Australia to assess the SES of individuals. Both measures are compared in terms of classification bias. The effects of using the different SES measures on participation in post-compulsory education are examined. Findings - SEIFA measures perform satisfactorily with regard to the aggregate measurement of SES. However, they perform poorly when their use is aimed at channelling resources toward disadvantaged individuals. It is at the individual level that the analysis reveals the shortcomings of area-based SES measures. Research limitations/implications - While region based measures are relatively easy to collect and utilise, we suggest that they hide significant SES heterogeneity within regional districts. Hence, the misclassification resulting from the use of regional measures to direct support for low SES groups creates a risk for resource misallocations. Originality/value - The finding that region-based measures are subject to significant misclassification has important research and policy implications. Given the increasing availability of individual-level administrative data, the paper suggests that such data be used as a substitute for geographic SES measures in categorising the SES of individuals.

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The split between higher education and vocational education and training (VET) in Australia is not clean. This paper discusses a number of aspects of this tertiary education sector: the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), which describes the qualifications offered by the three education sectors: schools, higher education and VET; student characteristics of the two sectors; a characterisation of higher education and VET; and student movement between the two sectors. Many education providers operate in both the higher education and VET sectors, and many have links with providers in the other sector. Higher education and VET differ in terms of student characteristics. The number of students transferring between the two sectors are substantial but are relatively small compared to the numbers following traditional pathways of school to TAFE or higher education. Show less