Search Results | VOCEDplus, the international tertiary education and research database

As clear as mud: defining vocational education and training

In this paper it is argued that neither a simple definition of vocational education and training (VET) nor qualific ... Show more
In this paper it is argued that neither a simple definition of vocational education and training (VET) nor qualification levels are helpful. It discusses what does constitute VET in Australia. It suggests that VET is distinguished from higher education (HE) by different funding and regulatory arrangements, and teaching and learning styles. What confuses the issue is that many providers deliver both higher education and VET courses. Show less

Authors: Karmel, Tom

Conference name: TAFE Governance and Regulations Forum

Date: 2011

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Conference paper

Subjects: Vocational education and training; Qualifications; Finance ... [+] Show more
Will we run out of young men?: implications of the ageing of the population for the trades in Australia

The ageing society has been attracting the attention of policy makers in Australia and in many other countries. Thi ... Show more
The ageing society has been attracting the attention of policy makers in Australia and in many other countries. This paper considers the labour market for the traditional trades in Australia over the next 40 years and investigates whether the ageing society will pose a workforce problem. The broad conclusion is that the ageing society will significantly impact on the size of the potential trades workforce, but that this is unlikely to result in shortages. Rather, any shortage is more likely to occur if the trades lose their attractiveness relative to other occupations. Moreover, the age distribution of the trades workforce will remain largely unaltered. Show less

Authors: Karmel, Tom; Ong, Koon

Date: 2007

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Workforce development; Policy; Skills and knowledge ... [+] Show more
The factors affecting the educational and occupational aspirations of young Australians

The authors examine factors that influence young people’s plans to complete Year 12, their aspirations to commence ... Show more
The authors examine factors that influence young people’s plans to complete Year 12, their aspirations to commence university study in the first year after leaving school and their expected occupation at age 30. They also examine the extent to which the occupational aspirations of teenagers align with their actual job outcomes a decade later. The findings in this report demonstrate just how important parents and peers are in relation to young people’s aspirations. The findings also indicate that the aspirations of 15-year-olds are somewhat unrealistic. By age 25 years, which is the age until which data are available for analysis, a significant portion of young people fall short of what they set out to achieve occupationally. However, this does not mean that they cannot achieve their desired occupations at a later stage in life.
Published abstract. Show less

Authors: Gemici, Sinan; Bednarz, Alice; Karmel, Tom; Lim, Patrick

Date: 2014

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: LSAY research report

Subjects: Youth; Career development; Culture and society ... [+] Show more
Second-chance vocational education and training

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which vocational education and training (VET) is providing in ... Show more
The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which vocational education and training (VET) is providing individuals with a second chance in education. 'Second chance VET' refers to opportunities in education taken by individuals who have not followed the conventional academic pathway of school completion followed by post-school study. Two groups are looked at. The first group consists of young early school leavers aged up to and including 24 years who have not completed a non-school qualification. The second group consists of adults aged 25 years and over who have not completed a non-school qualification. The paper examines three research questions: (1) How important is second-chance education within the VET sector?; (2) What proportion of the relevant population avails themselves of the opportunity?; (3) What are the outcomes of those who do undertake second-chance education? The study found that: the percentage of VET students who can be characterised as second chance is very substantial (41% of publicly funded VET students in 2004); females access second-chance VET at higher rates than males; second-chance students enrolled in VET are less likely to undertake higher-level qualifications (certificate IV and higher) compared with other students enrolled in VET; and the percentage of the second-chance population actually completing an award is low, in particular for the completion of VET qualifications at certificate III or higher. Show less

Authors: Karmel, Tom; Woods, Davinia

Date: 2008

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Vocational education and training; Qualifications; Outcomes ... [+] Show more
Opinion pieces 2012

Six opinion pieces were released in 2012: (1) 'Shaken not stirred' by Leesa Wheelahan (released 18 January); (2) 'R ... Show more
Six opinion pieces were released in 2012: (1) 'Shaken not stirred' by Leesa Wheelahan (released 18 January); (2) 'Rich seam: the supply of tradespeople for the resources sector' by Tom Karmel (released 1 March); (3) 'Address at University of Canberra's graduation ceremony for the Faculty of Education, Parliament House' by Francesca Beddie (released 28 March); (4) 'Students with mental illness: to disclose or not to disclose?' By Sara Wilson and Tabatha Griffin (released 26 April); (5) 'For the long-term: guidelines for effective career development services' by Sara Wilson, Sian Halliday Wynes and Josie Misko (released 23 July); (6) 'Risk of bursting by degrees' by Tom Karmel (released 5 October). Show less

Authors: Wheelahan, Leesa; Karmel, Tom; Beddie, Francesca; Wilson, Sara ... [+] Show more

Date: 2012

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: NCVER opinion pieces

Subjects: Industry; Labour market; Students ... [+] Show more
Can school characteristics influence university entrance scores?

This article examines the importance of schools relative to individual characteristics in explaining Tertiary Entra ... Show more
This article examines the importance of schools relative to individual characteristics in explaining Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, using Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth data. The school characteristics explain around 20 per cent of the variance in Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, with the measured school characteristics explaining around 7 percentage points, indicating that idiosyncratic factors - which we interpret as reflecting schools' ethos - dominate. School sector is an important explanator; whilst the government, independent and Catholic systems all contain 'good' schools, schools that have low Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, after controlling for individual characteristics, are dominated by the government sector.
Published abstract. Show less

Authors: Gemici, Sinan; Lim, Patrick; Karmel, Tom

Date: 2014

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Article

Journal title: Australian economic review

Subjects: Students; Providers of education and training; Outcomes ... [+] Show more
How much do tradespersons really earn?

A popular view is that tradespersons' earnings compare favourably with those with university education. This view i ... Show more
A popular view is that tradespersons' earnings compare favourably with those with university education. This view is not borne out by wage data, but a common rejoinder is that it is the self-employed tradespersons who make the 'big' money (and probably under-report their income). These ideas are examined by analysing household expenditure data in conjunction with income data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Household Expenditure Survey and the Survey of Income and Housing. The data also allow us to look at wealth across occupations. [The authors'] findings are that neither expenditure data nor wealth data change significantly the relativities between the trades and occupations more associated with higher education. While no doubt there are some very rich tradespersons, on average those with university degrees earn more than those with trade qualifications. And there is little evidence to suggest than on average self-employed tradespeople 'do better' than those who are employees.
Published abstract. Show less

Authors: Karmel, Tom; Braysher, Ben

Date: 2015

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Article

Journal title: Australian journal of labour economics

Subjects: Income; Outcomes; Employment ... [+] Show more
School-based apprenticeships and traineeships

Vocational education and training (VET) has been seen to be an important element of school education for some time ... Show more
Vocational education and training (VET) has been seen to be an important element of school education for some time now. More recently, school-based apprentices and trainees have been given more prominence as an element of VET in Schools, partly as a response to skill shortages in a wide range of areas. The purpose of this short paper is to provide data on school-based apprentices and trainees to enable a judgement to be made about how this policy push is unfolding. After providing some context on the policy environment relevant to school-based apprenticeships and traineeships, this paper provides data on how many and what areas are covered, and goes on to look at attrition and completion rates. To provide a comparison group, data on apprenticeships and traineeships among young people are also given, noting that they form a very important entry point into the labour market for a large proportion of young people. The study found that despite a concerted policy push, the number of school-based apprentices and trainees is small and highly concentrated in Queensland and Victoria, among retail and hospitality training packages, and at the certificates I and II level. Attrition is lower among school-based than all young apprentices and trainees, both within the first six months and year, and at both certificate I and II and certificate III and above levels. With regard to the proportion completing their training, completion rates for certificates I and II are higher for school-based contracts than for all young apprentices and trainees, but substantially lower for certificates III and above. Completion rates in hairdressing, metal and engineering, and automotive certificates III and above are particularly low among school-based apprentices and trainees. Show less

Authors: Karmel, Tom; Mlotkowski, Peter

Corporate authors: National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER)

Date: 2008

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: NCVER occasional paper

Subjects: Apprenticeship; Traineeship; Policy ... [+] Show more
Educational outcomes of young Indigenous Australians

Improved educational outcomes are seen as a key lever for addressing the disadvantage faced by Indigenous Australia ... Show more
Improved educational outcomes are seen as a key lever for addressing the disadvantage faced by Indigenous Australians. Poor educational outcomes have been observed at all levels of education, from early childhood through to tertiary education. While the increase in school retention rates of Indigenous Australians in recent years is encouraging the more critical issues are whether there have been improvements in educational performance at earlier years for Indigenous students and the extent to which educational performance at say, Year 10, is flowing through to education outcomes such as Year 12 completion.
The data used in this project come from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth (LSAY), including both the 2006 and 2009 student cohorts. The first wave of each LSAY is the [Programme for International Student Assessment] PISA survey. One of the advantages of PISA scores is that they allow overtime direct comparisons and between-cohort comparisons. The subsequent waves of LSAY allow [the authors] to follow the students throughout their compulsory education and beyond. The latest wave of LSAY was released in 2013 for the 2012 wave of both cohorts. The 2009 cohort has (mostly) left school in the last LSAY observation window. This makes it the first year when a full comparison between the 2006 and 2009 cohorts can happen. The data allow [the authors] to conduct a full set of comparisons between Indigenous students and non-Indigenous students in the two cohorts up to their choice of tertiary education.
Excerpts from publication. Show less

Authors: Mahuteau, Stephane; Karmel, Tom; Mavromaras, Kostas G.; Zhu, Rong

Date: 2015

Geographic subjects: Australia; Oceania

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Indigenous people; Youth; Outcomes ... [+] Show more
Workforce planning for the resources and infrastructure industry

In this conference paper, it is argued that workforce planning should be built on an understanding of how the labou ... Show more
In this conference paper, it is argued that workforce planning should be built on an understanding of how the labour market works, and the links between it and education and training. Workforce planning is particularly difficult for the resources and infrastructure industry because: (1) the demand for resources is difficult to forecast; and (2) the industry is made up of relatively small employers and draws workers from a wide range of occupations. The paper emphasises the importance of gaining an understanding of the way the training system works, the way the labour market works, and how the industry fits into the overall labour market. Show less

Authors: Karmel, Tom

Conference name: Resources and Infrastructure Industry Skills Council national conference

Date: 2007

Geographic subjects: Oceania; Australia

Resource type: Conference paper

Subjects: Workforce development; Labour market; Industry ... [+] Show more