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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 nine 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

The school to work transition continues to be difficult for some Australian school leavers and youth unemployment remains high. This report examines the methods used by Australian school-leavers to find employment, with a particular focus on the social processes involved. The aim is to assess: (1) the relationship between schooling, social background and job finding strategies; (2) the relationship between the method used to find work and the quality of work obtained; (3) the relative importance of informal methods of job seeking behaviour in helping different groups of young people fo find employment; and (4) the role of social network capital in determining job search strategies and outcomes. The analysis is based on data collected from a sample of young people first surveyed as Year 9 students in 1995 as part of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY). At the time of the 2000 collection, most of these students had left school and were either in further study or in the labour market. The focus is on early labour market entrants, i.e. those school leavers who went straight from secondary school into the labour force, either into a job or in search of one, rather than on to further study. The most common job-search methods used were: checking for employment advertisements in newspapers; contacting the employer directly; asking friends or relatives; and registering with the Commonwealth Employment Agency (CES/Centrelink). Most employment was obtained through informal methods. There were few differences in job seeking behaviour but patterns emerged in relation to obtaining employment. Males were significantly more likely to obtain employment through friends and relatives while females were far more likely to obtain work through responding to advertisements or through the CES/Centrelink. Overall, informal methods appear to provide young school leavers, particularly males, with employment opportunities more readily and with good wages. However, young people surveyed did not perceive these jobs to provide the career path, training and promotional opportunities required for ongoing career development and accumulation of human capital. Show less

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a survey of the knowledge and skills of 15 year olds that was first carried out in 2000 and repeated every three years to measure the changes that take place over time. This document details the results of PISA 2003, focusing on Australia’s results and how the Australian students performed in comparison with students from other countries. It shows how well prepared Australian students are to meet the challenges of the future, whether they have the ability to analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively, and whether they have the capacity to continue learning throughout life. Overall, Australian students performed consistently well in the four assessment domains: mathematics, reading, scientific literacy and problem solving. Key messages for Australia from PISA 2003 include: in relation to socioeconomic background, students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds have a distinct advantage; in relation to Indigenous students, a very small proportion of students performed well in mathematical literacy; and in relation to gender differences, while there was no overall gender differences apparent in mathematical performance, males tended to be over-represented at the upper levels of achievement.

Highlights from this report are indexed at TD/TNC 81.175. Show less

This review highlights the inadequacies of Australia's national policies regarding the education of Indigenous students. It is suggested that the failure of the policies to reduce the gap between the educational achievements of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students is due to the poor research initiatives on which the policies have been based. A range of education policy initiatives are investigated including the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Program (IESIP), the Indigenous Education Direct Assistance (IEDA) Programs, the Strategic Results Projects, and the National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (NIELNS). These initiatives, supported by the Adelaide Declaration of 1999, avoid direct accountability and illustrate the lack of research into an appropriate national response to the educational disadvantages faced by Indigenous students. Some key principles that guide successful education are examined. Issues relating specifically to the education of Indigenous students are also examined. The review emphasises the need for more focused research utilising different methodologies, in order to gain a better outcome for Indigenous people. The authors propose a national research agenda and stress the need for policy reform as current initiatives do not appear to be improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students. Show less

The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program, jointly managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), studies the progress of several groups of young Australians as they move from school into post-secondary education and work. This guide summarises the findings of the 36 research reports published between 1996-2003 as part of this program. The summaries are presented thematically in three main parts. The first part looks at what is known about the educational experiences of Australian youth and covers literacy and numeracy of 14 year-olds, subject choices in years 11 and 12, work experience during school years, other aspects of school and community life, the decision to leave school, and going on to higher education or training. Part two looks at transitions from school to higher education and the labour market and covers the range of different pathways (both successful and less successful pathways), patterns of activities from 21 to 25 years, and comparisons of school completers and non-completers. The final part looks at the labour market and other life experiences of Australian youth and covers the initial jobs and earning of those who do not go on to higher education, recent school leavers’ experience of being unemployed, patterns of full-time work, factors influencing unemployment, and making the transition into adulthood. Show less

This article reviews a recent Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) report (indexed at TD/TNC 78.570) that advocates the establishment of a new national research agenda to support improved educational outcomes for Indigenous students. The report suggests that, despite increased funding and targeted initiatives, the gap between educational outcomes for Indigenous students and non-Indigenous students remains unacceptably large. The report argues that lack of research evidence in policy making is hampering the improvement of Indigenous educational outcomes. The report examines the research evidence and Indigenous education policies implemented over the last 10 years. It identifies problems with current research practices and suggests alternative approaches. 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

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 Y98 cohort. The Y98 cohort of LSAY was drawn from the national sample of approximately 14,000 year nine students. It was constructed by randomly selecting two year nine classes from a sample of 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

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a survey of the knowledge and skills of 15 year olds that was first carried out in 2000 and repeated every three years to measure the changes that take place over time. This document summarises the results of PISA 2003, focusing on Australia's results and how the Australian students performed in comparison with students from other countries. It shows how well prepared Australian students are to meet the challenges of the future, whether they have the ability to analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively, and whether they have the capacity to continue learning throughout life. Overall, Australian students performed consistently well in the four assessment domains: mathematics, reading, scientific literacy and problem solving. Key messages for Australia from PISA 2003 include: in relation to socioeconomic background, students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds have a distinct advantage; in relation to Indigenous students, a very small proportion of students performed well in mathematical literacy; and in relation to gender differences, while there was no overall gender differences apparent in mathematical performance, males tended to be over-represented at the upper levels of achievement.

The full report is indexed at TD/TNC 93.855. Show less