The Student Outcomes Survey is an annual national survey of vocational education and training (VET) students. Since 1995, participants have been asked to rate their satisfaction with different aspects of their training, grouped under three main themes: teaching, assessment, and general skills and learning experiences. In this paper we review and compare three different methods of creating summary measures — Rasch analysis, weighted means and simple means — that encapsulate the three main themes of student satisfaction. We find that all three methods yield similar results and so recommend using the simple means method to create the summary measures.
This paper was a keynote address at the AVETRA conference held in Canberra in April 2012. Karmel notes that industry is arguably the key stakeholder in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector and discusses six areas of research which raise questions about VET and industry, either in terms of how public training funds are allocated or the educational principles on which VET is based.
This summary looks at the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), which follow young people as they make the transition from school to further study and work. It particularly focuses on research which gauges how concepts such as wellbeing and social capital are measured for students, as well as pathways from school to work, ‘at risk’ youth, and the effect of combining school and part-time work.
The paper outlines the difference between the skill sets developed by national VET industry bodies in training packages and those developed by registered training organisations, as well as the rationale for skill sets, the specific benefits and issues anticipated and the latest policy recommendations.
As part of a three-year program of research, the authors are investigating how the training system might be more effective in providing continuing education and training across workers' lives, since the tertiary education and training sector is currently geared to entry-level training; that is, getting young people ready to enter the labour market. This working paper sets the scene for the next stage of research. It provides a description of current models of education and training which offer a framework for understanding the continuing learning needs of Australian workers.
Research has shown that overskilling — where workers are not fully using their skills in their jobs — can lead to reduced wages and job satisfaction. This report builds on that previous research and investigates the persistence of overskilling mismatch and the effect of past mismatch on wages.
In this paper, the authors examine the links between human resource management, including learning and development practices, and building innovation capacity.
Berwyn Clayton is the Director of the Work-based Education Research Centre (WERC) at Victoria University and the 2011 Researcher of the Year. This paper presents her keynote speech from the 2011 National VET Research (‘No Frills’) Conference and provides an insight into Berwyn’s journey from teacher to VET researcher. It highlights her interest in assessment and the capability of the VET workforce, and her dedication to supporting and mentoring new researchers.
Mental illness can be particularly disruptive to education and training outcomes. This report explores the factors that contribute to successful course completion for students with a mental illness, with a particular focus on the role of disclosure.
This report aims to improve our understanding of the causes of skill shortages, the way businesses respond and the short-term consequences of skill shortages.
This occasional paper traces the evolution of Australia's apprenticeship system from European settlement in 1788 to the present day. It complements an earlier NCVER paper by Ray (2001), which concentrated on the second half of the 20th century. The present paper develops a number of major themes.
This paper aims to 'lift the lid' on completion rates, explaining how they are defined and how they are calculated.
This paper investigates the role of lead vocational teachers in TAFE Queensland and their personal and career development needs. Focus group discussions with these teachers ascertained that they wanted to feel valued by their institutes and have more opportunities to contribute to business development. It was revealed that their values did not match those of the institutes and this led to a sense of anxiety about professional opportunites. This paper is funded through NCVER's Building Researcher Capacity program.
This report provides a stocktake of vocational education and training (VET)-related surveys. I
This highly-popular annual publication provides a collection of summaries of research projects published by NCVER in 2011.
Encouraging older workers to stay in the workforce has become a policy priority. At the same time, the life expectancy of Australians has increased dramatically over the past several decades, effectively inserting a new stage in the life course, often called the 'third age'. This report explores the possibility of using that third age to embark on an encore career, a concept originating in the United States. The author then focuses on the role the VET sector might play in developing encore careers in Australia.
In this 13 minute interview, Steve Davis talks with Leesa Wheelahan about the report 'Shaken not stirred? The development of one tertiary education sector in Australia'. This report examines universities that offer a small amount of VET and private providers that offer both VET and higher education, building on previous research examining TAFEs that offer higher education. This research suggests that mixed-sector and dual-sector providers are likely to become more important but they face specific challenges in the quality of their provision. While the sharp distinctions between VET and higher education are giving way to a more differentiated single tertiary education sector this is resulting in a more stratified and hierarchical structure as university providers become the 'comparator'.
This research suggests that while mixed-sector and dual-sector providers are still only small in number, they likely to become more important but they face specific challenges in the quality of their provision.
This research overview provides the key messages arising from two related projects investigating tertiary education institutions that have recently begun to offer tertiary programs outside the sector of their initial establishment and the sector of the majority of their enrolments. These are TAFE institutes offering higher education programs, universities offering vocational education programs and private providers offering both.
Using interviews with adult migrants over a period of two years, the authors look at how undertaking an English as a second language (ESL) class helps to facilitate integration into Australian society.