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.
School-based apprentices and trainees have recently been given more prominence as an element of vocational education and training in school, partly as a response to skill shortages in a wide range of areas. The purpose of this paper is to provide data on school-based apprentices and trainees to enable a judgement to be made about how this policy push is unfolding. The number of school-based apprentices and trainees is small but growing rapidly, numbers are concentrated in retail and hospitality training packages. Completion rates are lowest in the trades.
This podcast features a panel discussion recorded by the ABC at NCVER's August 2008 forum Apprenticeships: Sustaining Australia's skills base in Melbourne. The ABC's Peter Mares chaired the session on Australia's skilling issues with panellists Neil Gow, Master Builders Australia, John Hart, Restaurant and Catering Australia, Linda Heron, Heron Human Resources and Peter Tighe, Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union. It was broadcast on October 3, 2008 as an episode of ABC Radio National's, The National Interest.
Delivered as a keynote address at SEAMEO Vocational Training and Education Research and Networking Conference in Bali, July 2008, this paper considers the role of evidence in public policy and how research can contribute to better policies and innovations in practice. It argues that the right institutional and cultural settings need to be in place before research can play its proper role in policy-making.
Trade apprenticeships in Australia from 1967 to 2006 are modelled in this paper. These models are used to understand how apprentice numbers in the trades respond to changes in labour market conditions. The models also allow commentary on the impact of recent government policy initiatives on trade apprentices. The paper finds that some trade apprenticeships are particularly sensitive to labour market conditions; that historical relationships between apprenticeship numbers and the labour market in the majority of occupations have broken down in the last ten years; and that government initiatives have been unable to counteract completely this trend.
This report explains the planning processes and financial arrangements underpinning the vocational education and training (VET) sector. It looks at the structural capacity of the sector to respond rapidly and efficiently to a dynamic labour market and changes in pattern of skill demand. The report finds that the complexities of the labour market and the multiple demands on the VET system mean that the planning processes used by state and territory authorities are relatively different, dynamic and, in some instances, quite complex.
This study shows how a group of employers understand the provision of literacy, numeracy and employability skills and the continuing development of these skills in their workplaces. It demonstrates that some employers accept that it is both necessary and the employer's responsibility to provide learning and development opportunities for these skills. However, employers are looking for support in doing this. The challenge for training organisations is in building capability and capacity to support this effort. Successful development strategies in the workplace tended to be part of the normal cycles of skills training and continuous improvement.
This publication provides a brief overview of migration, with an emphasis on the contribution migration has made to the workforce. It shows that Australia has been using targeted migration programs to expand and enhance the skills base of its workforce for some time.
The welfare-to-work policy aims to encourage certain welfare recipients to pursue pathways that lead to paid employment. This report explores the role that the vocational education and training (VET) system can play in assisting people move from welfare to work. The researchers examined the experiences of VET students from the relevant welfare groups and sought the views of other key stakeholders such as TAFE and Centrelink personnel. Conclusions include that VET can play a positive role but that there needs to be collaboration between VET and income support sectors to ensure that potential barriers are overcome.
This publication reports on the participant feedback provided at the recent NCVER Research Forums, which showcased the findings of the Consortium Research Program, 'Supporting vocational education and training providers in building capability for the future'.
To mark the occasion of our 25th anniversary, NCVER brought together policy, industry and academic leaders to reflect on the role that research and statistics have played in the development of Australia's vocational education and training (VET) sector. This publication includes the original papers by the speakers at the event, accompanied by discussant reflections. The publication will be of interest to those wishing to understand the development of a VET statistical and research capacity in Australia.
The ageing society has been attracting the attention of policy-makers in Australia and in many other countries. This paper considers the labour market for the traditional trades in Australia over the next 40 years and investigates whether the ageing society will pose a workforce problem. The broad conclusion is that the ageing society will significantly impact on the size of the potential trades workforce, but that this is unlikely to result in shortages. Rather, any shortage is more likely to occur if the trades lose their attractiveness relative to other occupations. Moreover, the age distribution of the trades workforce will remain largely unaltered.
This report explores patterns of regional economic growth in Australia over the period 1984 to 2002 with the aim of identifying the drivers of variation in regional growth; the research also aimed to identify regional opportunities and the policies and practices that can assist in realising them, in particular, the contribution the VET sector may make towards regional growth. The research found that human capital, especially 'enterprising' human capital, whereby individuals take responsibility for action, is the key driver of regional growth.
The purpose of this study was to identify the factors which help successful equity initiatives that had been seeded in TAFE institutes through short-term funding to take root and spread. The report concludes that many equity programs remain stuck in the seeding stage and fail to thrive and grow. It suggests that this is because current funding approaches place too much emphasis on starting initiatives and not enough on the development and scale-up of promising ones.
This report is part of a suite of research projects entitled 'A well-skilled future: Tailoring VET to the emerging labour market' conducted by a consortium of researchers from the National Institute of Labour Studies and the Centre for Post-compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning. This report aims to clarify the term 'skill shortage' and to explain how skill shortages can be resolved naturally by market forces. It also provides some guidance on determining when a skill shortage requires public-policy intervention.
Using wage data from the Student Outcomes Survey, this study examines whether there is a pay off to actually completing a vocational education and training (VET) qualification, noting that many VET students do not complete full qualifications.
This report identifies what individual learners and industry clients want from vocational education and training (VET) and proposes how these needs can best be met. It also identifies a tension between compliance and creativity which needs to be addressed in quality frameworks at the system level. In addition, providers need to reshape their structures and modify their cultures so they are open to creativity and flexibility but also able to meet compliance requirements. At the practitioner level, ongoing funding for the professional development of staff is needed so they have the time and space to develop innovative strategies for teaching, learning and assessment.
The idea that individuals,enterprises and economies gain financially from increased participation in education or training is often assumed, but is not always easy to demonstrate or quantify. This report explores the benefits of further training for people with low levels of numeracy by analysing Australian and United States longitudinal data which allow links to be made between numeracy level, likelihood of training participation and the wages outcomes of training for less numerate workers. Analysis of the Australian data indicates that individuals with low numeracy skills are less likely to undertake further education, but gain positive and significant economic returns when they do. Continuing with formal schooling is positive and significant for individuals with very low numeracy skills.
A stocktake of issues and activities in vocational education and training in schools through the perspectives of the published literature and policy documentation between 1997 and 2003 is the subject of this report. It identifies progress made and concludes that vocational programs in schools are meeting expectations and have achieved a legitimate place in the school curriculum, but that several implementation issues remain.
The development of a uniquely Australian system of innovation and its relation to the vocational education and training (VET) system is considered in this discussion paper. It asserts that the Australian system of innovation fits the pattern of incremental innovation and diffusion of technical knowledge. It focuses on arrangements prior to the formation of the technical and further education system in the late 1970s. It concludes that the diffusion of knowledge and the development of a workforce capable of developing innovative local technical solutions has long been the domain of VET institutions in Australia.