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Access Economics was commissioned by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) to develop projections of the future demand for publicly funded vocational education and training (VET). This analysis builds upon and extends the 'VET demand model', a forecasting model for VET demand developed by Access Economics in 2003. It incorporates the latest data on VET activity and New Apprenticeships; extends the model by incorporating projections for the number of students in VET, as well as their aggregate hours of VET; provides a mechanism which allows for price changes (via course fees charged to students) to affect demand; and extends the model so as to provide projections on a State/Territory basis. The report is structured as follows: the first chapter provides the background to the report and an overview of the methodology of the VET demand model; the second chapter discusses the key (non-price) influences on VET demand, summarising projections for job growth on an industry and occupational basis, and discusses other workforce and policy driven influences; chapter three gives a brief overview of VET activity growth over the last 10 years, in terms of students and hours, and on a State by State basis; chapter four outlines projections from the VET demand model for the case where fees charged to students are unchanged over time in real terms; chapter five provides a summary of the fee increases being introduced on a State by State basis and discusses the likely demand response; chapter six gives projections of VET activity incorporating the changes to student fees, comparing this demand with projections when fees were assumed to be unchanged; and the final chapter highlights some areas relevant to the demand response to fees which may warrant further investigation. Included as appendices are: Methodology; Details of estimated demand response. Show less

The Partnership Outreach Education Model (POEM) projects provide a full time education and personal development program for young people aged between 13 and 19 years of age who are disconnected from mainstream education. POEM is part of the Australian Government’s response to the Report of the Prime Minister’s Youth Pathways Action Plan Taskforce, Footprints to the Future (indexed at TD/TNC 66.187), which envisaged collaborative action between governments and communities in helping young people to secure their education and training foundation. Twenty-one projects around Australia deliver accredited education, life skills and employability skills training and help young people address personal issues and build their self esteem and resilience. All POEM projects concentrate on providing education, training and support in settings designed to make these young people feel comfortable. Learning approaches are developed in consultation with the young people and their families to meet their learning needs. The evaluation of the POEM pilot built on the action research that the pilot had been undertaking and has shown that a variety of approaches to re-engage young people on a learning pathway have been successfully trialed in the POEM Pilot. Eighty per cent of young people participating in POEM were completely disconnected from learning before taking part in the projects. In 2002 and 2003, 40% of young people who graduated from POEM went on to mainstream education and training; 19% to employment or New Apprenticeships and 10% to another program including Job Network or Community Development Employment Projects (CDEPs). This volume contains the outcomes from several POEM projects.

Volume one of the report is indexed at TD/TNC 78.430. Show less

The purpose of the ‘Student experience’ roundtable was to test responses to the themes around vocational education and training (VET) which emerged from earlier National VET Equity Advisory Taskforce focus groups in a more in-depth manner with students, as well as providers and employers. Around 50 participants from a variety of locations, training providers and backgrounds attended the roundtable. This included participants who were: culturally and linguistically diverse; people with a disability; Indigenous Australians; people from TAFE and private registered training organisations (RTOs); from metropolitan, regional and remote locations; undertaking traditional trade and new qualifications; and a mix of part-time, full-time, short course and apprenticeship students. One of the key messages from participants was around the need for higher quality training. Many participants felt that their trainers did not have the latest industry experience and were uninterested in their jobs. The findings from the roundtable can be organised around five main themes: (1) Quality of training and teachers; (2) Recognition of qualifications; (3) Transitions from VET to employment; (4) The status of VET; (5) Student support, including complaint mechanisms. Show less

This report describes a model of best practice in Australia designed to facilitate the transition of people with disabilities from tertiary education and training into their postgraduate careers. The report is based on a review of the literature and an investigation of strategies currently being used in both the UK and Australia. Disabled people experience much higher levels of unemployment and underemployment than those of non-disabled citizens and the financial consequences are such that many of them are effectively excluded from full participation in society. The report suggest that this exclusion is manifest in two forms of disadvantage: (1) people with disabilities are up to three times more likely to be unemployed; and (2) they are more likely to be in ‘poorly paid, low-skilled low status jobs which are both unrewarding and undemanding’. This disadvantage is compounded by the increasing disappearance of these kinds of jobs within the new and highly competitive economies. While evidence suggests that tertiary education and training does indeed improve access to employment, tertiary graduates with disabilities continue to experience lower levels of employment than their non-disabled peers. The report is based on an investigation of the reasons why graduates with disabilities are not achieving employment rates comparable to their peers. It suggests proven, practical strategies for addressing such issues. The findings of the investigation were used to develop a model of effective policy and practice across three levels of the Australian graduate careers sector; (1) public policy; (2) cross sectoral networking and collaboration; and (3) graduate career advisory service delivery. Show less

This report documents the evaluation of the Partnership Outreach Education Model (POEM) projects. POEM projects provide a full time education and personal development program for young people aged between 13 and 19 years of age who are disconnected from mainstream education. POEM is part of the Australian Government’s response to the Report of the Prime Minister’s Youth Pathways Action Plan Taskforce, Footprints to the Future (indexed at TD/TNC 66.187), which envisaged collaborative action between governments and communities in helping young people to secure their education and training foundation. Twenty-one projects around Australia deliver accredited education, life skills and employability skills training and help young people address personal issues and build their self esteem and resilience. All POEM projects concentrate on providing education, training and support in settings designed to make these young people feel comfortable. Learning approaches are developed in consultation with the young people and their families to meet their learning needs. The evaluation of the POEM pilot built on the action research that the pilot had been undertaking and has shown that a variety of approaches to re-engage young people on a learning pathway have been successfully trialed in the POEM pilot. Eighty per cent of young people participating in POEM were completely disconnected from learning before taking part in the projects. In 2002 and 2003 40% of young people who graduated from POEM went on to mainstream education and training; 19% to employment or New Apprenticeships and 10% to another program including Job Network or Community Development Employment Projects (CDEPs).

Volume two of the report contains outcomes from several POEM projects and is indexed at TD/TNC 78.431. Show less

The aim of this report is to help industry, government policy makers and training providers better understand the drivers of skill needs in the services industries and identify the options for meeting those needs. This report presents profiles of wholesale, retail and personal services, tourism and hospitality, and sport and recreation industries. It also provides an overview of employment trends, drivers of skill needs and vocational and technical education trends in these industries. The main drivers of the services industry skill needs are: consumer and customer service demands; competitiveness and productivity demands; market expansion; employment arrangements and worker attraction/retention; globalisation; demographic change; technology and e-business; increasing awareness of risk; and regulatory compliance. As the dynamic nature of these industries presents significant skills challenges for both employers and employees, this report highlights a number of high level strategies essential to meeting those challenges in the service industries. The strategies recommended are broadly represented in four areas: supporting skill acquisition - an ongoing, incremental process driven by continuous change in the workplace and possibly influenced by work organisation, recruitment policies and practices, employee relations and job design; consolidation and refinement of industry training packages - an immediate challenge is to consolidate and refine 14 training packages, identifying and drawing together common skills and competencies, whilst still incorporating sector-specific requirements; developing partnerships - new partnerships and enhanced existing partnerships need to be developed; understanding industry skill requirements - continual research into the drivers for skills demands and resulting implications is needed and the research should be practical, evidence-based and results focused. Show less

The Allen Consulting Group, in conjunction with the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), was appointed by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) and the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) to undertake this project to develop a strategy to support the universal recognition and recording of employability skills. The project objective was to develop the strategy relevant to schools, vocational education and training (VET), higher education and the broader community, including workplaces, so that it could be used by individuals to build, value and demonstrate attainment of employability skills to a diverse audience. The purpose of this paper is to provide a platform for further consultation to inform the development of the strategy. Chapter one provides the project background; chapter two considers the continuum of approaches that can be adopted, within a universal recognition and recording strategy, towards the definition, development, demonstration and assessment and recording of employability skills; chapter three sets out a preferred option for the universal strategy and explains why it has been selected and the benefits of the approach; and chapter four contains issues surrounding the implementation of the preferred option that will provide the basis for discussions to be held at the national stakeholder forum. Show less

This paper seeks to provide a basis on which to start an informed debate around the issue of rationalising the responsibility for higher education in Australia. It sets the scene by describing the evolving nature of federal and state involvement in higher education and the implications of the current division of responsibilities between the Australian government and the state and territory governments. Against this context, and Australia is a country with a relatively small population, it has been argued that a discussion is warranted as to whether Australia would be better placed in a competitive global economy if these jurisdictional arrangements for universities were rationalised.

This paper has four sections. The first section offers an historical overview of federal (Australian government) involvement. The second section describes current arrangements in terms of federal and state responsibilities for universities, including differences between states. It paints a picture of a fairly high degree of complexity and of national consistency in some areas, but not in others. The third section briefly outlines a range of international arrangements which illustrate a variety of approaches. The fourth section lays out an overview of possible benefits and risks if universities were the responsibility of the federal government alone. The paper concludes that there are certainly issues to be weighed up in considering moving universities' enabling legislation to the federal sphere. There are also many potential benefits, for the Australian government, states and territories, and for universities, their communities and for students and their families. This overview paper will be augmented by a detailed paper released in February 2005.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

Structural adjustment in the textile, clothing and footwear (TCF) industry has resulted in the retrenchment of many workers. These workers usually face great difficulty in making the transition into other employment in the TCF or other industries. Age discrimination and language and literacy issues are most often quoted as barriers to stable employment for this group. This project developed a partnership between the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA), vocational education and training (VET) providers, TCF employers, relevant government departments and retrenched TCF workers. The partnership represents a way of providing retrenched TCF workers with the mentoring, skill recognition, course advice and labour market information to help them to use their skills and knowledge after retrenchment. The specific aims of the project were to: develop, trial and document an innovative literacy/ESL (English as a second language) literacy education and training strategy for mature aged retrenched workers in the TCF industry; develop and document an integrated literacy model for working with this client group that includes strategies for adapting the model for other groups in other circumstances; develop and document cross-sectoral partnerships between the TCFUA, Yakka Pty Ltd, Kennon and Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT) and include processes for developing successful partnerships; and provide retrenched workers with integrated education and training in literacy and ESL literacy, in information technology and vocational skills, in life and health skills, in communication skills and in relevant units from the TCF training package or other relevant packages. The project revealed that, through the development of knowledge about, and confidence in operating in the new labour market, retrenched TCF workers built their capacity to make future plans, became more willing to participate in training and more likely to look for jobs that matched their skills.

A related article is indexed at TD/TNC 86.333. Show less

This review was undertaken to address the employment and other economic outcomes of the Language, Literacy and Numeracy Programme (LLNP). This request was made as part of the Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) decision to allocate an extra $4.1 million to LLNP in 2004-05. The additional funding was approved in the context of the ‘Review of settlement services for migrants’, which found that there was a need for increased provision of language training for migrants who had completed the hours provided to them as part of their settlement package. The review was undertaken by an independent evaluation unit within the [then] Department of Education, Science and Training, using existing program administration data and data from a post-program monitoring survey of clients three months after exiting the program (conducted by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations). This report of the review addresses the terms of reference and provides a range of recommendations for improvements in the future operation of the program. Key messages of the review are that: (1) Australian and international research shows a clear association between improved levels of literacy and improved employment outcomes. In line with these findings, LLNP addresses clients’ barriers to employment and further education by providing language, literacy and numeracy training. Its outcomes are therefore measured primarily in terms of skills gains; (2) LLNP has measurably improved the skill levels of participants and thereby the likelihood of participants finding employment, entering further education and coming off income support; (3) LLNP does not duplicate other training funded by Australian Government agencies and further research is needed to establish any gaps and duplication in relation to State and Territory funded programs; (4) data collection systems for the program should be improved to enable data exchange with the Adult Migrant English Programme funded by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), and to improve the recording of clients’ skills outcomes and provider administrative performance; and (5) LLNP provides training at a better rate per hour when compared to similar courses provided by DIMIA or the vocational education and training (VET) sector, and the cost of providing places has fallen over the life of the project. Show less