NCVER News #330

Only one week until the 23rd National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference ‘No Frills’, 9 – 11 July in Melbourne.

Register now for a comprehensive program including over 50 workshops and presentations on topics such as:

• Pathways and partnerships
• Youth engagement
• Training and assessment issues in VET
• Support structures for students

Hear keynote addresses from:

• Steve Sargent, President and CEO of GE Mining and Vice President and Officer of General Electric Company and Coordinating Chair of the B20 Human Capital Taskforce.
• Mark Burford, Executive Director, Mitchell Institute for Health and Education Policy at Victoria University.

Click here to register

What drives people to relocate for work?

A dominant theme from a number of recent studies on labour mobility, is that policies targeting the supply side of labour are unlikely, in isolation, to have much impact on encouraging labour mobility. The two most recent reports from NCVER confirm that money alone, whether it’s assistance with moving or the prospect of a higher income, is not a key factor in the decision to relocate for work. Factors such as family commitments, professional development and employment status play a bigger role.

For more on labour mobility:

Incentives for relocating to regional Australia: estimates using a choice experiment
Chandra Shah, Aaron Nicholas
http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2727.html

An exploration of labour mobility in mining and construction: who moves and why
Georgina Atkinson, Jo Hargreaves
http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2703.html

Disadvantaged learners: how effective are VET to higher education pathways?

VET to higher education provides a viable pathway for disadvantaged learners, but this pathway is underutilised. Transition to higher education is more likely to occur from higher level VET qualifications. Unfortunately disadvantaged learners tend to enrol in lower level qualifications, such as certificate I and II. This is despite the array of formal provisions available, such as credit transfer and articulation arrangements.

Disadvantaged learners and VET to higher education transitions
Tabatha Griffin
http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2718.html

Employment in economically vulnerable regions

Vocational education and training (VET) can provide assistance in areas of economic vulnerability through retraining of workers and training the unemployed. However, the training must be tailored to the specific needs of the region.

Economic vulnerability in Australia, 2002-12: an employment perspective
Michelle Circelli, John Stanwick
http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2707.html

Australian vocational education and training statistics: completion and attrition rates for apprentices and trainees 2013

Higher proportions of apprentices and trainees are completing their training. The contract completion rate for trade and non-trade apprentices and trainees who started training in 2009 were 47% and 56.1% respectively, compared with 46% and 55.4% for those who started their training in 2008. Individual completion rates, which take into account the movement of apprentices and trainees between employers, have also increased.

http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2734.html

Australian vocational education and training statistics: apprentices and trainees 2013 - annual

The yearly summary of apprenticeship and traineeship activity for 2013 shows that in comparison to 2012 the total number of commencements declined 25.9% to 244 700, although the number of trade apprentices and trainees rose by 2.3% to 98 300. The number of commencing non-trade apprentices and trainees last year decreased by 37.5% to 146 400 when compared with 2012. The number of apprentices and trainees in-training in 2013 was 392 200, a decrease of 12.9% from one year earlier.

http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2733.html

VOCEDplus is NCVER’s free international research database for tertiary education. It contains research, policy, practice, and published statistics on tertiary education, especially as it relates to workforce needs, skills development and social inclusion. Follow @VOCEDplusTitles to get instant tweets when new titles are added to the database. To get tweets about VOCEDplus events, new features, search tips and selected new additions, follow @VOCEDplus.

VOCEDplus hot topics

The education and training sector is constantly changing as needs evolve and new topics rise in importance. We have identified five key areas in VOCEDplus relating to education and training:

• Governance of education and training systems
• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
• Quality assurance in education and training
• Work integrated learning
• Youth unemployment.

To help us improve our services, please identify which areas are the most important to you. Click here to vote.