This paper discusses how a 'gap-taker' can be defined, noting that gap-taking is not the same as deferral.
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.
This highly-popular annual publication provides a collection of summaries of research projects published by NCVER in 2011.
This technical paper outlines the methodology used to adjust the original Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) weights to ensure that each Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) wave represents the original population. The author also provides guidance to researchers in applying the weights to their analysis of LSAY data.
Pre-vocational programs, including VET in Schools, are increasingly providing a pathway into traineeships in the same way that pre-apprenticeships are an established route into apprenticeships in the traditional trades. This report uses data from the 2010 Apprentice and Trainee Destination Survey and finds that the benefits of pre-vocational programs are mostly apparent for early school leavers (especially those who leave school after Year 11) and trainees in sales, clerical and administrative, and labouring occupations.
In this report the authors seek to answer the question of whether combining school and work is detrimental or beneficial to a student's school educational performance and labour market outcomes. They find that young people who combine school and work are distributed right across the school population. Results show that individuals can combine school and work with minimal impact on their study if the hours are modest and those working longer hours show a stronger orientation towards work than study. The authors used data from the 2003 cohort (Y03) of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth.
Amongst recent initiatives aimed at lifting Australia’s productivity has been a push for a greater number of course completions in both the vocational education and training and higher education sectors. With this, it could be assumed, come benefits for the individual such as better job opportunities and higher wages. Using the 1995 and 1998 cohorts of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, this study looked at whether participating in or completing a post-secondary education qualification led to wage benefits for young people. The study finds that not only completing a post-secondary course but participating in one results in higher wages.
Using the 1995 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, this project examines how long it takes for young people to move from education to work, and identifies factors that distinguish people who are able to move quickly into employment from those who take many months to find work.
When measuring the socioeconomic status of young people, the authors find that the SocioEconomic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) works well when reporting participation in higher education at aggregate levels, but performs very poorly when classifying individuals. This has policy implications because it means that programs directing resources to increase educational participation for those with low socioeconomic status may be doing so based on incorrect information. The data used come from the 2003 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), looking at young people aged 15 to 25 years.
This overview provides a brief summary of the report, by Chris Ryan. It describes how Ryan analysed the range of pathways available which offer genuine alternatives to completing secondary school. It finds that for those students who run the risk of dropping out, the best pathway for males is completing an apprenticeship, whereas for females completing Year 12 provides the best outcomes. Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) data are the source of these findings.
In this paper, Ryan investigates labour market outcomes for a range of different pathways undertaken by young people.
This briefing paper considers how young people fared in previous downturns, and discusses how structural labour market changes over the past 20 years have affected the three million young Australians aged between 15 and 24 in the first 12 months of the most recent economic downturn. It also looks at the qualitative evidence from respondents in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) on how they perceived the economic downturn to have affected their work and study intentions in 2009, and explores the themes arising.
The results of the consultations NCVER conducted in November and December 2010 to identify research topics using the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) are presented in this paper and will help determine the research topics best suited to the LSAY data. These will be used to shape the 2011-13 LSAY analytical program of research that NCVER conducts on behalf of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
This study, which defines the lowering of educational or occupational ambitions by high school students as 'lost talent', looks at the extent to which talent loss occurs among high achieving students and the consequences of this on later occupational attainments.
This study investigates the extent of over-education among younger workers.
Using the 1995 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, this study looks at how the growth in occupational prestige is related to the level of an individual's education.
Using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, this report looks at the extent to which a previous spell of unemployment determines current unemployment.
This paper assesses the fitness-for-purpose of the existing Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) instruments as a source of information on the determinants of youth transitions in Australia.
This briefing paper draws together findings from two LSAY (Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth) research reports: 'Participation in and progress through New Apprenticeships'; and the 'VET pathways taken by school leavers'. These two reports use data obtained from young people who were in Year 9 at school in 1995 and whose educational and occupational activities were traced each year thereafter. Student characteristics, fields of training, commencement and completion rates, and reasons for discontinuing are all explored. This paper, published by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), is part of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth research program.
This briefing paper draws on findings from several LSAY Research Reports (5, 27, 31, 33 and 41) which report on how student attitudes and engagement in the formative school years influence subsequent participation in post-compulsory education and training. Data is used from two LSAY cohorts: students who were in Year 9 in 1995, and students who were in Year 9 in 1998. Attitudes to school in the LSAY program are based on student responses to a set of 30 items, and intentions to further study are recorded in Year 9. This paper, published by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), is part of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) research program.