This report investigates skill underutilisation in Australian workers by examining patterns of over-skilling and over-qualification and the pathways of people into jobs where they are over-skilled.
This paper is a discussion of existing work by NCVER and others on the role of VET in preparing individuals for the current and future workforce.
This research used a survey to investigate the attitudes of people with a disability towards undertaking training. The findings show very positive attitudes towards training by participants and, although the ability to generalise to the wider population is limited, one thing is clear: generally, people with a disability are willing to undertake VET and consider it a good option in helping them find employment. Some factors affected attitudes more than others, including level of school-based education; highest qualification level completed; whether people had single or multiple disabilities; and, to some extent, gender.
One of the significant challenges facing Australia is the ageing of the population. This challenge has led policy-makers to consider how older workers can be kept in the workforce. To help generate discussion on older workers, NCVER commissioned six researchers to draft essays on various issues around keeping older Australians engaged with the workforce. These essays, and responses by six additional discussants, were presented at a roundtable held in Canberra in May 2011. Themes to arise from the roundtable included the need to consider the diversity of older workers, the challenges of low literacy and numeracy skills for some older workers, discrimination and stereotypes, and the recognition that not all older workers want to keep working.
There has been much research and discussion about how people with a disability engage with vocational education and training (VET). This paper summarises what we know about VET participation, education and employment outcomes, and the costs and benefits of vocational education and training for people with a disability. In doing so, it also highlights further questions and where future research efforts could be focused.