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This report uses Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) data to look at the impact of schools on a student's tertiary entrance rank (TER) and the probability of them going to university (controlling for TER). It shows that the characteristics of schools do matter: although young people's individual characteristics are the main drivers of success, school attributes are also responsible for almost 20 per cent of the variation in TER scores. The three most important school attributes for TER include sector (Catholic and independent/government); gender mix (single sex/co-educational) and the extent to which a school is 'academic'. The socioeconomic status of schools didn't emerge as a significant influence on TER. For the probability of going to university, after controlling for TER, the most significant school characteristics include the proportion on non-English speaking background students; the sector; and the socioeconomic make-up of the student body.

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In this paper the authors explore the relationship between social capital at age 15 and participation in education and training at age 17. Using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) 2003 cohort, the analysis shows that social capital does play an important role in influencing educational participation. For both males and females, participation in school-based activities is found to have the greatest influence on participation in education and training, followed by the strength of the relationship students have with their teachers. Of particular interest, the authors find that social capital influences educational participation over and above the effects of background characteristics such as parental education and occupation, geographic location, cultural background and academic achievement.

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This article provides an overview of youth longitudinal surveys in Australia and introduces five papers from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth research forum 'Are We There Yet? Youth Transitions in Australia', held at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney, on 11 April 2013. Youth longitudinal surveys have a long history in Australia, dating back to the Youth in Transition study, which commenced with a cohort of young people born in 1961. The latest incarnation is the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, which has tracked cohorts of Year 9 students selected in 1995 and 1998 and 15‐year olds in 2003, 2006 and 2009. These young people are interviewed up to the age of 25 years as they move from school into further study and work.

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This report is the 15th edition of the annual series produced by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA). The series provides point-in-time and trend information on the education and training outcomes of young people in Australia as they make the transition from school to further study and work. This edition also examines the nature of young people’s jobs and the broader social context for young people, including trends in independence, marriage, fertility, home ownership and life satisfaction.

Key findings include: teenagers (15 to 19 year-olds) and young adults (20 to 24 year-olds) in Australia are participating in formal education and training at higher rates than in the past; despite this increase, young people living in remote or very remote locations and Indigenous young Australians continue to experience far lower education and training engagement and achievements; there has also been an increase in youth unemployment, underemployment, labour underutilisation and rates of casual employment among young people; and overall, young Australians are delaying full-time work, independence from parents, marriage, starting a family and owning a home.

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The purpose of this research is to examine whether, for those who have left full-time education, a low-skill job provides them with a good start to their working lives. It was found that starting out in a low-skill job gives lower payoffs than starting out in a high-skill job. Five years after leaving full-time education, the wage penalty (after conditioning on education and other characteristics) still exists but this scarring effect diminishes over time. However, any job is better than having no job.

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In this interview, Steve Davis talks with co-author Tom Karmel about this report which uses data from the 2006 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) to investigate how schools influence tertiary entrance rank and university enrolment over and above young people's individual background characteristics. A point of discussion was the authors' finding that schools do matter and although young people's individual characteristics are the main contributors to university entrance, the school characteristics are responsible for almost 20 per cent of the variation in tertiary entrance rankings.

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This proposal is to develop a [vocational education and training] VET qualification, the Diploma of Professional Studies, that utilises existing training packages and also incorporates literacy, numeracy and digital competence skills. It is proposed that a stipend set at the Youth Allowance rate be incorporated. The qualification would be delivered only on a full-time basis, thus providing a substantive alternative to an apprenticeship or university degree (and resulting in high completion rates). The qualification would take two years (three years for nursing). The stipend would be available to all full-time students undertaking a VET diploma, including the proposed professional diploma in government identified high priority areas. It would be available to students who are not in receipt of other Commonwealth/state government allowances. The key target group is 18 to 22 year-olds who are not going to university. These students may have been disadvantaged because of the disruption to their education caused by the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] pandemic. They are a high risk group who could fall into unemployment.

The proposed diploma enables a student to exit at different stages. Each exit point enables students to leave with a qualification in a high demand employment area. A course outline in education and early childhood development is provided as an example. A student who completes a professional diploma would have the necessary underpinning skills and knowledge to proceed with credit into an applied higher education degree and/or employment. A critical component of the diploma is assessable work integrated learning (WIL). External assessment, particularly for literacy and numeracy skills to level 3 are part of the structure of the qualification. The proposal relies on state and Federal government co-operation. Implementation issues are discussed.

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This overview opened the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) research forum entitled 'Are we there yet?: youth transitions in Australia', held at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney on 11 April 2013. Youth longitudinal surveys have a long history in Australia, dating back to the Youth in Transition study which commenced with a cohort of young people born in 1961. The initial motivation for the surveys was an increase in unemployment, and the changes in the labour market since the 1970s have kept youth transitions an important policy issue. The overview also maps the breadth of topics being researched and how they have changed over the past 25 years. A bonus is a long list of research papers that look at the longitudinal youth data. Show less

By combining outcomes from the Beyond Graduation Survey (2014) with those from the Graduate Destination Survey (2011) for a matched cohort, we investigate the extent to which early outcomes impact on the experience of recent graduates three years later. The key question is whether the Graduate Destination Survey provides long term evidence on how well graduates are doing in the labour market or whether it is only capturing the immediate transition. We find that the early experience of graduates has a lasting effect on their labour market experience. Those graduates who do not find full-time employment at the time of the Graduate Destination Survey are substantially less likely to be in full-time employment three years later. Moreover, the quality of the full-time job held at the time of the Graduate Destination Survey impacts on the quality of job held three years later. That first job matters.

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A significant number of young Australians can’t stand school and many people are ill suited to a university education. So is it wise to insist that everyone complete year 12? Should we be encouraging ever more young people to get a university degree? Do we need a complete overhaul of vocational education and apprenticeships? Paul Barclay questions an expert panel about what the ingredients are to a successful transition to work and adulthood for Australian youth. Recorded at the National Centre for Vocational Education Research forum.

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