Vocational education and training and people with a disability: a review of the research

A review of the literature reveals much discussion and research into the issues of how people with a disability engage with the vocational education and training (VET) system. However, there are still considerable gaps in the knowledge base. A recent review by the OECD found that in Australia people with disabilities were at high risk of poverty, as they are under-represented in employment and also experience substantially lower levels of income. The purpose of this review of the literature is to highlight the limitations of current knowledge and to identify what knowledge is needed in...  [+] Show more

A review of the literature reveals much discussion and research into the issues of how people with a disability engage with the vocational education and training (VET) system. However, there are still considerable gaps in the knowledge base. A recent review by the OECD found that in Australia people with disabilities were at high risk of poverty, as they are under-represented in employment and also experience substantially lower levels of income. The purpose of this review of the literature is to highlight the limitations of current knowledge and to identify what knowledge is needed in order to influence future directions in policy and practice more effectively. It considers four broad aspects of VET and disability: participation; education outcomes; employment outcomes; and costs and benefits of VET. These topics should not be considered independent of each other since most issues faced by people with a disability impact on more than one aspect of their education and employment pathways. To highlight gaps in existing knowledge and identify areas for future research, the project team firstly compared the extent of literature coverage against each of the themes in the national strategy, giving an indication of where research coverage was either strong or weak. Gaps and opportunities were also identified through a careful examination of reports and literature for indications of areas of knowledge deficiency or where further research (or statistical data) was needed. The final section of the paper describes ways to move forward from here, considering how future research could be undertaken to fill the gaps in the literature.