This study provides new evidence on the inter-relationships between Indigenous Australians' association with their traditional culture and their engagement with vocational education and training.
Education is generally seen as enhancing people's lives. However, previous research has reported an inverse relationship between education and happiness or satisfaction with life: as education level goes up, happiness goes down. Using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), this report examines the relationship between education and happiness. The impact of factors such as family circumstances and personality traits are also considered. The report finds that undertaking vocational qualifications such as an apprenticeship has a positive impact on happiness both during the training period and after completion. For university graduates, however, happiness declines following completion of their study.
This study provides an important innovation to the existing literature by explicitly attempting to measure 'cultural attachment' and its relationship with post-compulsory education and training.
This report examines trends in occupational mismatch in the metal, building, vehicle and electrical trades and questions whether the process of award restructuring has created incentives for unskilled blue collar workers to pursue skill-based career paths in the trades. The report examines the reasons for high attrition rates by qualified workers from their trade as well as the motives behind employers' decisions to hire unqualified workers to do trade work.