This report comes out of a three-year program of research that aims to investigate how best the tertiary education and training system might be organised to maintain the employability of Australian workers across their working lives.
The focus of this paper is on the factors, other than access, that influence the decision for Indigenous Australians to participate in education.
This report aims to throw some light on the role that skills sets play in meeting the needs of clients compared with full qualifications, which are seen as the foundation of the vocational education and training (VET) system.
This report investigates the role that qualifications play in the labour mobility of foreign workers who come to Australia for permanent or temporary migration.
Increasing education and training is considered one means by which to reduce the extent of social exclusion and as such has been a key focus in recent public policies. This study investigates the impact of education and training on the extent of social exclusion using a measure of multidimensional social exclusion. A simulation of the effect of the COAG target relating to halving the proportion of 20-64 year olds without at least a certificate III qualification between 2009 and 2020 on the measure of multi-dimensional social exclusion is also undertaken. The study finds a clear dichotomy in the extent of social exclusion experienced between those with low levels of education (early school leavers or those with a certificate II qualification at the most) and the rest.
What would prompt people to undertake education and training in their mid-20s and beyond and what are the benefits? The authors investigate what motivates people to undertake education and training at more mature ages and the impact of this on their labour market outcomes. They found that males who undertake further education and training after the age of 25 years did so for reasons related to their current employment (for example, towards promotion or a different job), whereas for females a key motivator was simply getting a job. For both males and females, a sustained increase in job satisfaction following completion of the study was also found. Data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia Survey and the Survey of Education and Training was used in this report.
In recent decades Australian immigration policy has focused mostly on accepting high-skilled migrants. This report explores the question of whether participation in further training differs for these migrants compared with that of native-born workers in similar jobs. The research shows that foreign-born workers in Australia seem to receive the training they need, but this depends on whether or not they are native English speakers. Non-native English-speaking migrants demonstrate low training participation rates. They also have lower literacy skills and are less likely to be in employment.
To provide insights into how young people may fare in the current economic downturn, this study examines the experience of youth in a previous downturn.
This report was prepared for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to throw light on the growing trend of taking a 'gap year' between school completion and commencing university study.
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.
In this paper, the authors examine the links between human resource management, including learning and development practices, and building innovation capacity.
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.