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The focus of this report, which uses longitudinal data to map the dynamics of the youth labour market and to identify factors that are important in securing full-time work, is on the transition to full-time employment of young people who do not go to university. The study reports on the education and labour market activities of a national sample of youth on their leaving school and analyses the influences of social and demographic factors, school and other educational factors, and initial experiences in the labour market on their post-school activity four years after leaving school, focusing on factors influencing being in full-time employment four years after leaving school. The following research and policy issues are addressed: the general youth labour market situation; the influence of social background factors; the effects of education, including school leaving status and vocational education; and the role of prior labour market experiences. The report contains an executive summary, six chapters and five appendices. Following the introduction, chapter two sets the scene for subsequent chapters by presenting and examining the activity profiles of the group of school leavers who did not go to university; chapter three looks at the pathways of young people in the years leaving school to examine the extent of year-to-year movement in and out of activities; chapter four examines the correlates of activities in the first and fourth years after leaving school, investigating social and socioeconomic background, education and training, and labour market experiences; chapter five explores the influences on securing full-time work using a base model comprising factors found in the previous chapter to have significant influence on being in full-time work in the fourth year after leaving school; and the final chapter addresses the policy and research issues. The report does not support ‘crisis’ accounts of the youth labour market and disputes claims that young people who are not fully engaged in full-time work or study are ‘at risk’ of an unsuccessful school-to-work transition. The findings indicate that: 61% of young men and 45% of young women were in full-time employment in the first year after school; by the fourth year, 77% of young men and 64% of young women were working full-time; the effects of post-secondary vocational education other than apprenticeship and traineeship were mixed; full-time study in the first year after leaving school did not increase the odds of being in full-time work in the fourth year; and among those already in full-time work, a TAFE certificate or diploma tended to further increase the chances of staying in full-time work. Show less

This paper looks at a range of possible approaches to competency assessment in the professions. Wider issues associated with competency-based assessment, and the advantages and disadvantages of various assessment approaches are discussed. The chapters are: Overview; Conceptualising occupational competence: implications for assessment; Setting standards: implications for assessment; Choosing methods of assessment; Maintaining an assessment system.

A companion paper, ‘Establishing competency-based standards in the professions’ is indexed at TD/TNC 87.1474. Show less

The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) and the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) funded a project in 2001 to analyse and report on industry requirements for ‘employability skills’. This project was jointly managed by the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was completed in March 2002. Employability skills were defined for the purposes of the project as ‘skills required not only to gain employment, but also to progress within an enterprise so as to achieve one’s potential and contribute successfully to enterprise strategic directions’. The project was commissioned to provide: (a) advice on possible new requirements for generic employability competencies that industry needs, or will need in the forseeable future, since the development of the Mayer key competencies; (b) clear definitions of what Australian industry and enterprises perceive as employability skills and the terminology being used to describe them; and (c) a proposed suite of employability skills and assessment and reporting options. The project also investigated industry reactions to the proposed suite and reporting options and undertook case studies involving a number of large enterprises and focus group research with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This report is based on a review of Australian and overseas policy and research literature on key employability skills. It clarifies concepts and terminology, analyses the principles and purposes of different approaches to key employability skills, develops a framework of such skills to support the fieldwork aspects of the overall project, and suggests strategies to facilitate the development of these skills more effectively within Australian education and training.

The project final report is indexed at TD/TNC 70.178. The report on detailed case studies with large enterprises is indexed at TD/TNC 70.180 and the report on the SMEs research is indexed at TD/TNC 70.181. Show less

LSAY briefing, produced by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), is a series which aims to provide summaries of findings from ACER research and to identify some of the implications for policy and further research. It is based on data from ACER's Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project and key LSAY reports. This issue, which examines the main pathways by which Australian youth move from school to work, highlights that: the school-to-work pathways in Australia are highly diverse and individualised; by the mid-1990s, 43% of Year 10 students from the late 1980s had obtained either a university degree or a TAFE diploma or were studying for one of these qualifications; tertiary qualifications had considerable influence in maintaining full-time employment; the majority of school leavers without tertiary qualifications spend most of their first seven post-school years in full-time work; about 16% of male Year 10 students and 20% of female students had problematic pathways; young people whose main after school activity in the first year was either an apprenticeship, full-time employment or full-time study were more likely to experience successful pathways.

This brief is based on a paper presented at the Australian Centre conference in Potsdam, Germany in May 2000, which was organised by the Monash University-ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET). The paper, which was published as CEET working paper no. 31, is indexed at TD/TNC 62.35. Show less

This article reports on the findings and implications of a report that investigated the educational and occupational plans of junior secondary students. The study, conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for The Smith Family, surveyed more than 3000 financially disadvantaged students in Years 8 and 9 who are participating in The Smith Family's 'Learning for life program'. The study investigates the plans and aspirations of these young people and factors associated with these plans, and the accuracy of their understandings about pathways from education to work. The study revealed that these students were beginning to identify areas of work that they like and the pathways required, but that many did not properly understand these routes. It also indicated a mismatch between what these students would like to do and the availability of corresponding jobs in the labour market.

The full report, 'What do students think of work?: junior secondary school students' perceptions of the world of work', is indexed at TD/TNC 81.202. Show less

This paper examines the role of interest in learning and career development. It is based on the view that one's interest is a major factor in educational achievement. Moreover, interest continues to play a substantial role in career throughout the life span. Interest is related to work adjustment and is a key feature of job satisfaction for many individuals. Most people would be prepared to acknowledge that interest is important for learning and working, yet they may not have a clear understanding of the extent of that influence or the extent to which it is able to be expressed. There is enough evidence to suggest that course offerings in secondary schools are widespread (well over 300 courses) but not focused. An important issue is to what extent courses should reflect the world of work - there is an argument that education should be quarantined from this function. Ultimately it is a policy question about the nature and purpose of education. Show less

In 2000, ACER introduced cohort reports as part of its Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program to 'provide an overview of the education, training and labour market experiences of the whole cohort on a regular basis, contributing to discussions of issues that affect young people'. Cohort reports supplement data already available from government statistics on enrolments and apparent retention rates. These reports are aimed at helping researchers to see the potential of the database as they use a wider range of the variables than may be used in the LSAY research reports.

This report contains information about the experiences of the 1995 LSAY cohort in 1999. Information on this cohort was first collected in 1995, when these young people were Year 9 students in Australian schools. The modal age of respondents at the time of the 2002 survey was 18 years and almost all of the cohort had left secondary school and had commenced further education, employment or some combination of activities. Key features of the background characteristics of the cohort are: two per cent were of Indigenous background; 89% came from a home in which English was the main language spoken; 68% had attended a government school in Year 9, 20% had attended a Catholic school and 12% had attended an Independent school; 55% had a home address in a metropolitan area in 1995, 24% lived in regional centres, and 21% had a home address in a rural or remote area; and 49% had a father who worked in a professional, para-professional or managerial occupation, and 16% had a father who worked as a plant or machine operator, or a labourer. The contents are: Introduction; Who is in the Year 9 class of 1995?; Education and work activities; Living arrangements and other activities; Concluding remarks; References.

Other cohort reports relating to the Year 9 class of 1995 are indexed at TD/TNC 78.211, TD/TNC 78.213 and TD/TNC 78.214. Show less

In 2000, ACER introduced cohort reports as part of its Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program to ‘provide an overview of the education, training and labour market experiences of the whole cohort on a regular basis, contributing to discussions of issues that affect young people’. Cohort reports supplement data already available from government statistics on enrolments and apparent retention rates. These reports are aimed at helping researchers to see the potential of the database as they use a wider range of the variables than may be used in the LSAY research reports.

This report, the third in a series of annual reports on the activities of the Year 9 class of 1998 in the LSAY project, provides information about the experiences of the cohort in 2001. Highlights from this report include: 80% of the cohort were still attending secondary school; 10% of the cohort were engaged in other study, including study at a TAFE or some other educational institution or in an apprenticeship; 23% of school students were undertaking some sort of vocational education and training (VET); of all cohort members who were no longer at school, 47% were in full-time or part-time study, or in an apprenticeship or traineeship; 56% of the cohort were employed in 2001, with nearly 45% working part-time and nearly 12% working full-time; of those cohort members still at secondary school, 51% were employed; among cohort members no longer at school, males worked an average of 37 hours and earned $324 each week, and females worked an average of 31 hours and earned $243 per week; 45% of all cohort members received some form of workplace training in their jobs, with more than one-half of full-time workers receiving training; and cohort members still at school scored higher than those no longer at school on a measure of curiosity, and lower on a scale of interest in work skills - female members scored slightly higher on the curiosity measure, but there were no differences on the work skills measure. The contents are: Executive summary; Introduction; The Year 9 class of 1998 in 2001; Education and training; Employment; General attitudes and activities; Concluding comments; References.

Cohort reports relating to the Year 9 class of 1998 are indexed at TD/TNC 78.212, TD/TNC 78.215, TD/TNC 78.218, TD/TNC 78.219 and TD/TNC 91.562. Show less

In 2000, ACER introduced cohort reports as part of its Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program to ‘provide an overview of the education, training and labour market experiences of the whole cohort on a regular basis, contributing to discussions of issues that affect young people’. Cohort reports supplement data already available from government statistics on enrolments and apparent retention rates. These reports are aimed at helping researchers to see the potential of the database as they use a wider range of the variables than may be used in the LSAY research reports.

This report contains information about the experiences of the 1998 LSAY cohort in 1999. Information on this cohort was first collected in 1998, when these young people were Year 9 students in Australian schools. Almost 99% of the students who were surveyed in 1999 were still in school. Key features of the background characteristics of the cohort in 1999 were: about two per cent of students were of Indigenous background; nine in 10 students were born in Australia; almost one-third had a father born in a country other than Australia and just fewer than three in 10 had a mother born in a country other than Australia; in around one in 10 households, a language other than English was regularly spoken; and around half of their mothers and fathers had completed secondary school. The contents are: Introduction; The Year 9 class of 1998: who are they?; Those in school; Early school leavers; Concluding remarks; References.

Cohort reports relating to the Year 9 class of 1998 are indexed at TD/TNC 78.212, TD/TNC 78.215, TD/TNC 78.218, TD/TNC 78.219 and TD/TNC 91.562. Show less

LSAY briefing, produced by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), is a series which aims to provide summaries of findings from ACER research and to identify some of the implications for policy and further research. It is based on data from ACER's Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project and key LSAY reports. This issue, which focuses on the labour force experiences of secondary school students in Australia, highlights that: students who undertake short work experience programs benefit in terms of learning skills appropriate to a particular job; work placement programs encourage some students to complete their schooling; part-time jobs are perceived as being useful for developing general employment skills; part-time jobs of less than 10 hours a week do not affect academic performance of Years 11 and 12 students; and students with part-time jobs are less likely to be unemployed at age 19 than those who did not work part-time while at secondary school. Show less