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Research has shown that university students often withdraw in their first year due to a change in career direction, enrolment in an unsuitable program of study or in a program not relevant to career goals. This paper describes work in progress to research the support needed by prospective students to help them determine what to study at university as it hypothesises that existing support services do not fully respond to the needs of prospective students in this regard. It will therefore explore the ways in which Year 12 students make decisions about what to study at university, and how universities, high schools and government organisations engage with prospective students. Knowledge gained from this study will enrich understanding of the prospective student experience and support the establishment of a framework for tertiary institutions to use to design student development strategies for prospective students.

Published abstract.

The project report is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 132.687. Show less

This paper explores some specific outcomes resulting from the progressive implementation of national competition and new public management policies favouring increased user choice. Since the early-1990s vocational education and training strategies have consistently advocated for greater levels of student choice of provider in a contestable market. In addition to noting the significance of choice, the 1974 Kangan Review of TAFE [available in VOCEDplus at TD/LMR 85.637] also ensured that the post-school, non-university educational option was intimately linked to notions of access and equity in support of lifelong learning. The National Vocational Education and Training Provider Collection provides the data used to compare student and training package characteristics from different years selected because they mark key policy and program developments on the journey of implementation to the mature contestable training market in which over 4,000 providers compete. In particular the impact of increased student choice on measures of access and equity is identified through a trend analysis.

The specific characteristics include system-wide numbers of students and enrolments as well as the number of students by enrolment in the top 20 training packages, the various fields of education, level of relative remoteness/access to services, Indigenous status and level of relative socio-economic disadvantage. If the introduction of contestable markets has delivered the anticipated benefits in access, equity and choice that were projected in the various state and territory training entitlements/guarantees, it would be expected that the trends would show larger numbers of students from each equity group and region obtaining qualifications in a wider range of occupations. If not, the ability of the national training system to produce a nation of lifelong learners who experience equitable access by exercising a wide variety of choices is called into question; as is 25 years of bi-partisan public policy consistency.

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This paper presents an exploratory study identifying factors that may influence a learner’s choice of technology for e-learning. These factors include learning style, technology acceptance, use and competence, as well as stage in course. The respondents were predominantly from Generation Y, were technologically competent and positively disposed towards e-learning technologies. Their learning styles were predominantly ‘doing’, with no ‘diverging’ students represented. E-learning appeared to be most useful in replicating face-to-face lectures, and the recreational popularity of social networking technologies appeared not to flow through into formal education settings.

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This paper will explore the results of more than two decades of bi-partisan policy consistency (Zoellner 2013, pp. 144-8) aimed at increasing the amount of choice available to consumers of marketised VET services as an important mechanism in the encouragement of Australians to increase their commitment to lifelong learning. The introduction of training packages in 1999 allowed VET qualifications to be commoditised in order to facilitate the operations of training markets (Wheelahan 2015, p. 127). Pre-training package 1998 will be used as one comparison point for the examination of national data sets on enrolment patterns in these training products as well as student characteristics of those enrolled in the national training system. If the implementation of consumer choice in the various state and territory competitive VET marketplaces has facilitated increased commitment to lifelong learning, it should be expected that increased numbers of students are studying in a wider range of occupations with improved access to the more than 4,000 training providers operating in the training market (National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2018b, p. 5). The performance of New South Wales (NSW) will be compared to these national trends.

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This paper is based on research undertaken for the New South Wales Board of Vocational Education and Training. Its purpose was to determine how the introduction of user choice in apprenticeships and traineeships would impact on the training market in New South Wales (NSW). This paper specifically looks at markets where user choice will be effective and provides a contrast with those that may need government intervention of some kind. The research methodology is described in detail and user choice defined. The analysis of training markets under user choice was approached by considering viable markets and markets at risk in terms of the effect on their operations. Key implications for the introduction of user choice in NSW are outlined. These include suggestions for the best way to decide on whether to implement user choice and the factors which could reduce the level of associated risk for the training markets involved.

The volume of collected proceedings is indexed at TD/TNC 57.76; individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 57.77 to TD/TNC 57.122. Show less

The 2003 Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET) national conference was held in Brisbane in August 2003. This paper discusses the contribution made by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and member organisations to the continuous reform of the national training system to ensure that it continues to meet the current and future needs of employers and employees. One focus of this contribution is the ACCI's advocacy, based on sound policy principles, of user choice which is about freedom of choice, flexibility and creating strong markets. The strengthening of user choice is seen as a key element in employer engagement in training with user choice encouraging a direct market relationship between individual training providers and their clients (employers and employees). The paper reviews key activities around Australia in the user choice area and offers a proposal for the way forward including a set of principles for the operation of user choice nationally. It is suggested that an independent risk assessment, which should identify and analyse the key risks associated with user choice, should be undertaken. Show less

This paper examines the development of the vocational education and training (VET) market from two perspectives (organisational stability and project longevity) and reflects upon the experiences of two countries (Australia and the United Kingdom), finally proposing one set of critical questions for future development. The complete proceedings of this conference in one volume may be found at TD/TNC 53.04. Show less

In recent years, vocational education and training (VET) in Australia has been reconstructed within a market framework in part to increase client choice. Parallel to this development, the concept of lifelong learning has emerged in response to the pressures of globalisation, economic restructuring and technological change. In a context of rapid change and uncertainty, individuals are expected to take greater responsibility for their own education, training and vocational development throughout their working lives. The convergence of VET markets and lifelong learning highlights the need for a better understanding of the needs, interests and preferences of individual learners, and the critical determinants of choice in transitions to and through VET, particularly those relating to information provision.

This paper presents the findings of a recent national survey of VET students which examined the nature and dynamics of choice-making in VET markets, and the factors which promote or hinder informed choice. Issues and implications for promoting lifelong learning through VET will be examined, and ways to improve choice-making will be discussed.

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Context: The main responsibility of the career orientation process lies with the students who transition from lower secondary level to [initial vocational education and training] iVET or general upper secondary level schools, together with their parents. Various actors (teachers, career counsellors, in-company trainers etc.) and institutions are involved in this process. Teachers take on several roles in this process and must deal with different, sometimes conflicting, expectations. This paper explores the roles of teachers and the challenges when fulfilling those roles.

Approach: Using data from the project digibe, www.digibe.ch, the roles of teachers are examined from the perspective of students in grades 10 (N=348) and 20 interviews with 10th-grade teachers who are engaged in career education. Findings: Results from both data sets highlight that teachers fulfil many different roles, such as an instructor, a facilitator and guide, a coach, or a coordinator. Their roles change over time as students grow older and teachers gain more experience. Conclusion: We posit that the roles of teachers and other actors involved must be clarified further. Initial and further teacher training must be intensified to strengthen the teachers' role in the career orientation process and prepare them better for their different tasks.

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Students from rural areas have a history of lower educational attainment at both the K-12 and postsecondary levels, yet this population remains understudied. This study seeks to update past studies of rural youth by examining college attendance and choice decisions for students from non-metropolitan counties. Logistic regression is used to study the postsecondary attendance and institutional choice for rural students. Data are taken from two national data sets, the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 and the 2004 County Typologies published by the US Department of Agriculture, which are then combined to conduct this analysis. The results of this study reveal clear disadvantages in postsecondary attendance, institutional level, selectivity, and other indicators resulting simply from living in a non-metropolitan county. The effect of most student characteristics did not vary substantially between rural and non-rural areas, but the analysis did reveal one interesting finding: the relationship between college attendance and choice and a student's socioeconomic status was weaker for rural students than for non-rural students. Some systematic variation across rural communities was revealed, as well.

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