Getting real: young women and girls, working futures, VET and VET in schools

In 2004, Security4Women (S4W) commissioned Women in Adult and Vocational Education (WAVE) to undertake research into affordable work-related education and training. The aim of this project, Lifelong Learning - Work Related Education and Training, is to enable S4W to propose policy development ‘to enhance greater economic equity for women and to define measures to advocate and lobby for policy and legislative amendments on behalf of the women’s sector’. The project is being undertaken in two stages: stage one focused on young women and stage two, which is currently underway, focuses on specific groups of women. This report is from the first stage of the project. The objectives of this first stage are to: identify how girls think and talk about their work aspirations; identify the factors that lead to subject and occupation/industry related choices by girls who participate in vocational education and training (VET); identify if workplace application/’fit’ of their chosen subject is a motivator for the VET in Schools course selection; and investigate whether the learning experience will lead them to consider VET educational pathways post school. Findings include: the majority of girls are still choosing traditional (feminised) courses and career paths; school based careers advisers are seen as a major source of information about courses and careers; family and friends have a significant influence on career decisions; the majority of girls indicated that they were already on a career track; the majority of students were in VET courses of their choice and had a high level of satisfaction with VET; and the skills and knowledge from VET were perceived by participants as being useful for their futures. The contents are: Executive summary; Introduction; Methodology; A critical review of the literature; An overview of data; Getting real?. Included as appendices are questionnaire responses from girls enrolled in VET courses in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland about their perceptions of VET and their future work aspirations, and the research questionnaire. Show less