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As greater numbers of vocational teachers are asked to integrate academic skills into their vocational education subject areas, consideration must be given to the preparation these teachers need as they assume this new teaching role. This research addressed the above concern by focusing on the coursework vocational education teachers complete during their teacher preparation studies. Show less

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 research study, funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), has identified the capabilities that characterise effective academic leaders in a range of roles and has produced resources to develop and monitor these leadership capabilities. It has identified that the core focus for leadership in the current operating context faced by our universities has to be on achieving effective change management and implementation. The approach has been to build upon a decade of studying professional capability, development and change leadership in a range of contexts. The study undertook an extensive international literature review, an online survey, and a series of national and international sector feedback workshops that tested the veracity of the results and identified their key implications. The study found that there was agreement that, in the current context, effective change implementation is a central challenge facing Australian higher education and its leaders, and that developing organisational and individual capabilities to manage change is a key priority. Show less

The purpose of the Review of Years 9 to 12 in Tasmania was to 'identify opportunities to improve attendance, retention and attainment outcomes' (Contract between ACER and the Tasmanian Department of Education, 2016). The Tasmanian Government is currently implementing significant reforms to improve students' retention and attainment in Tasmania's schools. There is a concern in the Tasmanian community however, that their students' performances are among the lowest in the nation. Reasons nominated for these results include weak literacy and numeracy levels; low attendance rates; high anxiety around transitions between Year 10 and Year 11 by some students, especially among those living outside of the larger cities; students seeking alternative education options; and family, financial, health and carer based issues. It is against this backdrop that the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) was commissioned to undertake an independent review of Years 9 to 12 concerning the following issues: student and workforce data; curriculum policy and provision (including vocational education and training (VET); and design and delivery for Years 9 to 12 (which includes the three Tasmanian education sectors: the Tasmanian Catholic Education Office (TCEO), Independent Schools Tasmania (IST) and the Department of Education (DoE)).

This Report provides the following: an analysis of current student performance and aspirational data, workforce characteristics, and curriculum provision and design in Years 9 to 12; a report on VET and vocational education and learning (VEL) in Tasmania's government and non-government schools; and specific recommendations regarding: participation and transition policies and procedures that align with the findings of the report and the Education Bill, future curriculum provision and design for Years 9 to 12, future workforce characteristics, and VET and VEL in Tasmania's government and non-government schools.

Excerpt from publication.

Follow-up stakeholder workshops were held in 2018 to discuss a way forward to implement the recommendations in this report. The 'Years 9 to 12 Review Workshops, 19-20 February 2018: report' is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 133.949. Show less

This report investigates the relationship between post-school plans, family background and having a lifelong learning orientation. It highlights the important role of vocational education and training such as TAFE as an alternative for students with no plans to study at university. Data was drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Youth (LSAY) and the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The study investigated the post-school plans of young people, with a particular interest in those from families of low socioeconomic background, the factors associated with the development of these plans, and the association between types of post-school plans and predispositions towards lifelong learning. The study suggests that the most important factors for predicting post-school plans are gender, ability and the vocational orientation of the student. An orientation to lifelong learning also has an effect but, according to the LSAY data, only a small one. According to the findings, financial disadvantage is not a barrier to post-school study when students choose to study at TAFE or to pursue other vocational options. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds were found to be more likely to realise their plans for tertiary education when those plans do not initially involve attending university. Four guiding principles for policy development are proposed: (1) the establishment of a national youth mentoring strategy to enhance support provided to young people by families, communities and schools to enable them to make successful choices about their future employment and/or study; (2) government funding to support schools to develop more diverse and flexible pathways into work and/or post-school education to improve outcomes for all students; (3) incentives for businesses to work with schools and tertiary institutions to provide increased opportunities for mentoring and more effective career counselling to ensure that students are better prepared to make choices about post-school work and study; and (4) improved family and community support systems to better support students’ transition from school to work and the development of positive attitudes towards lifelong learning. 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 improvement of education to prepare students more effectively for the workplace and the skill demands of industry leaders, has been a major focus of educational reform in the United States of America (USA) during the 1990s. Teachers play a central role in the effectiveness of education and any reform efforts must be accompanied by the preparation of teachers to meet future educational challenges. This issue of ‘Centerpoint’ describes three promising professional development approaches investigated by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE): work-based learning; the mini-sabbatical; and, the case study method. The author also examines new teacher roles in relation to the integration of academic and vocational curricula, and participation in school-to-work transition programs, and the professional development strategies that have been effective in preparing teachers for these roles.

The report ‘Teaching learning in the workplace and community’ is the product of NCRVE research into innovative, work-based teacher professional development programs. This report is indexed at TD/TNC 62.308. Show less

The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program studies the progress of several groups of young Australians as they move from school into post-secondary education and work. This technical paper describes the weighting procedure developed for analysing the first five (1995-1999) waves of the 1995 year nine cohort (Y95) of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) study. The Y95 cohort of LSAY was drawn from the national sample of approximately 13,000 year nine students. It was constructed by randomly selecting two year nine classes from a national sample of 300 schools designed to represent state and sector. Show less

This study focused on the development and preliminary validation of a framework for effective vocational education programs serving students with special needs. The results suggest that overall the framework has broad utility based on the information sources used herein to verify and refine its content. Eight components, outlined in the document, emerged as the core structure for the programs and services that serve special population students effectively. Show less

The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program studies the progress of several groups of young Australians as they move from school into post-secondary education and work. This technical report is the codebook for wave six of the Y95 cohort. The Y95 cohort of LSAY was drawn from the national sample of approximately 13,000 year nine students. It was constructed by randomly selecting two year nine classes from a national sample of 300 schools designed to represent state and sector. The report describes the contents of the dataset and provides an explanation of all the variables in that dataset. Show less