In keeping with the 'No Frills' National VET Research Conference theme 'Diverse voices in VET', this discussion paper focuses on the broad range of stakeholders in Australia’s vocational education and training sector, in particular the three key ones: industry, registered training providers and VET students and apprentices.
This discussion paper explores the resilience of the Australian VET sector and how it can continue to foster adaptability in the face of ongoing change.
This research examined how the VET sector could better meet the skills needs in regional, rural and remote areas.
This infographic presents snapshots of how different equity groups fare in their VET journey.
This paper expounds the conference theme ‘VET’s role in transforming the future’ by examining how the sector is adapting, anticipating and activating change in response to future skill demands.
This report shows the data for student groups that have historically been disadvantaged in accessing and benefitting from education in Australia.
Student equity in VET: participation, achievement, and outcomes highlights how different equity groups fare in their VET journey.
Most disadvantaged learners enrol in lower-level VET qualifications as a starting point to re-engaging in education, which makes the transition to university less likely.
This research report examines the underutilisation of the skills of migrants in regional areas, particularly women who are often the spouse of a primary applicant but are also skilled in their own right.
The authors of this paper explore whether low socioeconomic status (SES) students benefit to a greater or lesser extent from attending high-quality schools when compared with their more advantaged peers.
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.
This study explores the aspirations and intentions for university education among low SES and regional school students and looks at how peer mentoring might influence them.
In this phone interview, Hielke Buddelmeyer, talks about the impact of education and training on social exclusion using a multidimensional measure that focuses on seven domains.
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.
Lorraine Dearden talks in this podcast about work she has co-authored on widening participation in higher education in the United Kingdom (UK).
This paper provides a conceptual basis for a three-year (2011–13) research program exploring the capacity of individuals and groups to make transitions through learning, training and work across locations. Three research projects will examine how regional or community factors and social capital affect those transitions. The three projects are: the influence of job conditions on geographic labour mobility; migrant women in regional Australia; and neighbourhood factors in the decision to participate in post-school education and training and the labour market. A synopsis of each project is given in this paper.
This paper aims to explain the extent to which variation in apprenticeship completion rates can be attributed to factors relating to 'culture' of the employer and apprentice.
This paper quantifies the impact of different dimensions of socioeconomic disadvantage on Year 12 completion.
This highly-popular annual publication provides a collection of summaries of research projects published by NCVER in 2011.
Language, literacy and numeracy are necessary for greater workforce participation, productivity and social inclusion. Being able to measure the level of proficiency in these skills, and any changes in the level of skills, is important for getting a sense of how well language, literacy and numeracy programs are working. Two measurement tools used in Australia are the Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALLS) survey and the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). This paper outlines an NCVER study which will investigate whether it is possible to map the performance levels of the ALLS to the performance levels of the ACSF in order to gain more frequent information than is currently available about the literacy and numeracy progression of adult learners against national goals.