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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 one0 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 workshop brought together representatives from university associations, universities and governments to support, pursue and work towards the achievement of the priorities outlined by [Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation] APEC Economic Leaders. The workshop focused on four key themes within cross-border education cooperation - student mobility, researcher mobility, provider mobility and virtual mobility. For each theme, presenters used their expertise in the subject matter to raise key challenges, highlight examples of good practice and consider opportunities for university associations to work together. A panel discussion on each theme enabled a broad range of experiences and perspectives to be shared. For each theme workshop delegates focused on the identification of barriers to cross-border education cooperation, good practice in cross-border education cooperation and opportunities for collaboration in cross-border education cooperation.

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This study, which is based on annual data collected on education, training, and labour market activities up until 2004 from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program, examines the factors that influence course completion by young people at university and documents the post-university activities, especially labour market activities, of those who enrol at a university but do not obtain a qualification. Key findings indicated that: students’ regional and socioeconomic background has little influence on their likelihood of completing university; and university non-completion has not had substantial negative effects on the transition to the labour market compared to other groups of young people with the exception of university course completers. The contents are: Executive summary; Introduction; Data and methods; Completion of university degree courses; Labour market outcomes of university degree completers and non-completers; Discussion. Show less

This report aims to develop a school-based typology that captures some of the variation in vocational education and training (VET) provision across Australian schools. The authors construct models of VET provision using information on system-level policies, obtained from state and territory curriculum authorities, and information on school-level delivery derived from a national survey of schools and students. Data derived from the schools and students involved in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) 1998 Cohort contribute to the construction of the typology. The report also examines the impact of these models of VET provision on school completion rates and on initial post-school outcomes for different groups of students. Schools are grouped into seven types within three broad models: (1) school model with workplace learning: VET studies are integrated with the senior curriculum and accredited towards the school certificate: (a) all programs incorporate workplace learning (12 per cent of all schools); (b) strong emphasis on workplace learning (26 per cent of all schools); and (c) weak emphasis on workplace learning (19 per cent of all schools); (2) TAFE model with workplace learning: most VET studies are stand-alone and not accredited towards the senior school certificate: (a) strong emphasis on workplace learning (13 per cent of all schools); (b) weak emphasis on workplace learning (13 per cent of all schools); and (3) VET without workplace learning or no VET: (a) VET does not include any workplace learning (10 per cent of all schools); and (b) no VET is offered (eight per cent of all schools). It is concluded that at a general level, the results suggest that although schools adopting the integrated models of VET tended to promote higher retention in school for VET participants, the schools providing stand-alone VET programs tended to promote better initial post-school outcomes - better in terms of avoiding unemployment and successfully entering pathways involving tertiary study, apprenticeships and entry to full-time work. In this sense, the ‘TAFE model’ of VET provision in schools seemed to promote positive post-school outcomes while the ‘school model’ seemed to promote better completion rates for participants. Show less

The mission of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is to create and disseminate knowledge and tools that can be used to improve learning. This volume offers highlights of ACER's educational research program during 1999-2000. Of particular interest to the vocational education and training (VET) sector, a project entitled 'Year 12 completion and post-school training on the rise' is briefly reviewed. Show less

This is a study of the transition to tertiary education of young people in Victoria. The aims of the study are: to describe the social and educational characteristics of those students who commence tertiary studies compared with those who do not; to develop a casual model of the transitions from school to tertiary study; and to describe the manfest reasons students give for not accepting the opportunity for tertiary study. Show less

This report examines the labour market dynamics between 1996 and 2000 of a cohort of young Australians born in 1975. During this period, most of the cohort were either in postsecondary education and training, or establishing themselves in the labour market. The first chapter reports on their major activity (full time study, full time work, part time work, looking for work and ‘other’ activities) for each year between 1996 and 2000 (when they were 21 to 25 years of age) and also presents the cohort’s participation in education and training and their occupational profiles. The second chapter examines the year-to-year movement between activities and occupational group. The remaining chapters look at full time work, unemployment and marginal activities (unemployment, part time work and other activities excluding domestic responsibilities), respectively. These three chapters provide a breakdown of the proportions of time the cohort spent in each activity. Subsequently, the relationship between time spent in the activity and a range of social background and educational labour market variables is examined. The third section examines the influences of qualifications and labour market experiences on the proportion of time spent in these activities. The report demonstrates the benefits of gaining full time employment early in the school-to-work transition. Experience of working full time has substantially stronger positive effects on the labour market outcomes of 21 to 25 year olds than completion of Year 12 or postsecondary qualifications and training. In terms of policy, the analyses indicate that governments should emphasise securing full time employment and the avoidance of unemployment for those young people who may be at risk of spending much of their time in marginal activities. The report also demonstrates that there is not a large homogenous group of young people excluded from full time work. There is considerable movement across activity states although full time is the most stable. The proportion of young adults who are engaged in marginal activities for long periods is relatively small being less than 10 per cent of the cohort. Show less

In 2002, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) commissioned the Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision (SCRCSP) to produce a regular report to COAG against key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage, with the key task of identifying indicators that are of relevance to all governments and Indigenous stakeholders and that can demonstrate the impact of program and policy interventions. Reports were published in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011. In 2012, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) was commissioned to conduct a review of these reports. The review aimed to identify: how the reports were used; the usefulness of the reports to users; how the reports compare with other equivalent publications; the extent to which the reports are meeting the objectives set by COAG; and the changes that could improve the usefulness of the reports. This review revealed a range of different views. While most stakeholders recognised that the reports were meeting their purpose of reporting on government progress in relation to the COAG 'Closing the gap' targets and indicators, there were differences of opinions on how effectively this was being done and on the usefulness and relevance of the reports amid a larger array of government performance reports. The uniqueness of the reports was seen to lie mainly in its focus on outcomes and whole-of-government perspective. The report is presented in two sections: the first section contains the terms of reference, methodology, key findings and recommendations; and the second section contains the list of people and organisations who contributed to the review and the information gathered through the surveys, phone conversations and face-to-face discussions. Show less

This report examines young people's participation in career advice activities while at school and their perceptions of the usefulness of the advice they receive. The data are from the 2003 15 year-old cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY). Most members of this cohort were in Year 10 in 2003. The present report examines how much career advice students accessed in Years 10, 11 and 12 across three years of data collection (2003–2005). Four major questions guide this report: (1) How widespread is the provision of career advice in Australian schools? (2) How useful do students in Australian schools find this advice, and what types of advice appear to be most useful? (3) Are there some types of student who find career advice more useful? (4) Is there a relationship between perceptions of career advice and school-based measures? The study found that all students in the cohort participated in at least one type of career advice activity across Years 10, 11 and 12. Most activity occurred in Year 10, when 99 per cent of students accessed at least one activity. On average, Year 10 and Year 12 students reported accessing five different types of activity, and Year 11 students reported four out of seven selected activities. There were small differences across States and Territories, with 97 per cent of students in the Australian Capital Territory reporting some type of career advice activity in Year 10 and nearly all students in New South Wales and Victoria reporting activity. By Year 12, participation ranged from 97 to 99 per cent of students. There were no differences in participation between school sectors in Year 10 or in Year 12; in Year 11, however, the proportion of government school students accessing at least one career advice activity was lower than in other sectors. Show less

Report of study commissioned by the Australian Education Council, of credentials on offer to school and college students up to the age of 20. The study is confined to school age awards. It outlines procedures and comments on common issues. Show less