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The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) regularly submits papers to government and non-government enquiries. The following seven submissions are publicly available: (1) Future proof: Protecting Australians through education and skills - submitted 18 January 2018; (2) Redevelopment and audit of the Higher Education Data Collection - submitted 7 February 2018; (3) Proposal to remake the Statistical Determination 1983 - submitted 16 February 2018; (4) Select Committee on the Future of Work and Workers - submitted 23 February 2018; (5) Training Product Reform - Issues for Discussion - submitted 9 March 2018; (6) New Australian Government Data Sharing and Release Legislation - Issues Paper - submitted 27 July 2018; and (7) Future-proofing the South Australian apprenticeship and traineeship system - discussion paper - submitted 21 September 2018. Show less

In an industrialized, high-income country such as Canada, escape from poverty requires children in poor families to complete, at a minimum, their secondary education and that the instruction be of decent quality. Unfortunately, weak K-12 education outcomes persist in Canada among ethnic groups that, for many reasons, have historically experienced discrimination and marginalization. In this E-Brief, we examine briefly the recently released 2016 census results on high-school completion levels among Indigenous Canadians, and discuss the pros and cons of identifying Indigenous students in the education data. We conclude that such identification is useful and should be pursued. We then summarize the state of existing provincial programs that gather evidence on Indigenous student outcomes at the K-12 level. While useful, these programs do not allow interprovincial or international comparison. Identifying Indigenous students in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) helps fill this knowledge gap. In their respective samples for the forthcoming PISA round, the four western provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island have agreed to include a question that identifies Indigenous students. We recommend that the remaining four provinces also include such a question in their own PISA samples. Provinces with large Indigenous student populations should also consider oversampling to enable reliable school district-level analysis.

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How can the effectiveness, achievements and shortcomings of educational initiatives be identified? That is the key research question explored by the European EduMAP – Adult Education as a Means to Active Participatory Citizenship project. This article describes how the project was designed to identify impact, and it presents some early findings.

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The Arbeitsmarktdiskriminierung 'ADIS' project is a large scale correspondence study that was conducted in Germany between October 2014 and April 2016 with the aim to study labor market discrimination against second generation immigrants. In particular, the experiment was designed for two purposes: First, to decompose drivers of ethnic discrimination in the labor market and to understand the role of phenotype, country of origin, and religion in order to explain ethnic hierarchies; and second, to test economic theories of taste-based and statistical discrimination models, in order to explain discriminatory hiring decisions. Previous studies on ethnic labor market discrimination have provided strong evidence of its occurrence but provide limited insight into the mechanisms behind it and the causes of variation in rates of discrimination against different ethnic, racial, and religious groups. In this report we describe our multidimensional design that tests rates of discrimination across 35 ethnic groups, for which we vary productivity relevant information (such as grades and reference letters) as well as phenotype and religious background of the applicants. The study is based on applications to 7,557 job vacancies with male and female applicants in eight professions across Germany. In this technical report we will discuss our research design in depth and give detailed insight into the implementation of the study and the challenges during data collection, with a main focus on the choice of the individual treatments and how they were operationalized.

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This document prepared for Navitas examines the current state of international education and training (IET) data availability in Australia, its strengths and limitations, and identifies opportunities for improvement in data collection, integration, reporting and availability. The focus of this document is to understand the availability of data to serve one or more of the following three purposes: (1) public policy effectiveness - to inform debate and decision making on public policy settings; (2) market efficiency - to allow efficient allocation of resources from a whole of sector perspective, where all parties have access to the greatest extent of information possible to inform their activities; and (3) operational efficiency - to allow informed decisions at the level of the individual organisation. This work critically examines the current state data availability against a set of seven principles for successful data collection and dissemination: completeness; timeliness; accessibility; consistency; equity; sensitivity to privacy; and the extent to which data is future-proof.

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The costs of persistent misalignment between the supply and demand for skills are substantial, ranging from lost wages for workers to lower productivity for firms and countries. Addressing skills imbalances has become a pressing priority as OECD governments reflect on the implications of technological progress, digitalisation, demographic change and globalisation for jobs and work organisation. In light of these challenges, the OECD has undertaken new research to shed light on how countries measure changing skill needs while ensuring that employment, training and migration institutions are responsive to the emergence of new skill requirements.

This review offers an in-depth analysis of the existing skill assessment and anticipation system in Australia, and makes recommendations for how it could be further improved. In addition to providing a summary of the state of skill imbalances in Australia, the report provides an assessment of practices in the following areas: (i) the collection of information on existing and future skill needs; (ii) the use of skill needs information to guide policy development in the areas of employment, education and training, and migration; and (iii) the effectiveness of governance arrangements in ensuring strong co-ordination among key stakeholders in the collection and use of skill needs information.

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The purpose of this discussion paper was to open consultation with VET Student Loans (VSL) stakeholders to seek views on how the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the Department of Human Services (DHS) can ensure relevant, high quality data is collected, using best practice submission processes. The paper aimed to explore: how to report and access data more efficiently using the proposed DHS-built government interface; ensuring that the elements being collected are relevant and useful, and being collected in a timely way; reducing the reporting burden for providers by more closely aligning the Collection with the Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS); identifying elements that could be adjusted or added to the Collection to better align it with the VSL program; and improvement of data quality.

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To better understand how accountability for performance against equity policy goals and funding operates across the Australian higher education system, this research involved four strands of activity: (1) theoretical perspectives on equity and accountability, through a review of the literature - this process informed research design, data collection and analysis; (2) analysis of secondary data to identify how equity and accountability is embedded within relevant legislation, regulation, statistics, strategic plans and annual reports; (3) interviews with leaders from across the sector, including current and former Vice-Chancellors, to understand their perspectives on student equity and accountability; and (4) surveys of managers from across the sector to understand the perspectives of staff within institutions on equity and accountability.

In looking at systemic changes to the way in which equity in higher education can be advanced, the report does not focus on isolated recommendations of an incremental nature - instead, it proposes a framework through which four priorities for change can unleash significant and continuous system-wide reforms. These priorities are: refine equity goals; improve information management; embed student equity goals across the higher education system; and analyse, report and communicate outcomes. The report proposes that the Australian Government is the only authority that can lead this process, one that requires cooperation and coordination in a process-based consultation and consensus building exercise with all stakeholders. Two significant recommendations consistent with this position are made: (1) the Australian Government adopts an Operational Framework for Student Equity that integrates system, national, local and individual dimensions of student equity across Australian higher education; and (2) processes for developing pathways for each of the four strategic priorities for change be developed and implemented, with reference to each other, and in consultation with all stakeholders.

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'Investing in America's workforce' is a Federal Reserve System initiative in collaboration with the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, the Ray Marshall Center of the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas, and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. How can well-structured and effective workforce programs and policies result in better economic outcomes for individuals, businesses, and communities? This book is part of a three-volume series that explores contemporary research, resources, and solutions on workforce development policy and practice. The three volumes are: 'Investing in workers', 'Investing in work', and 'Investing in systems for employment opportunity'. Within each volume are discrete sections made up of chapters that identify specific workforce development programs and policies that provide positive returns to society, to employers, and to job seekers. The policies and practices presented in the book are intended to spur innovative thinking that results in context-specific solutions. The perspectives are not intended as an endorsement from the Federal Reserve System or its partnering institutions. Volume one and volume two are available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 135.162 and TD/TNC 135.163 respectively.

Edited excerpts from publisher's website and publication.

The contributions in this volume discuss how public, private and nonprofit sectors can coordinate their efforts and integrate new technologies and finance models to meet the needs of both workers and employers. The contents are as follows: Introduction: Investing in systems for employment opportunity / Stuart Andreason and Alexander Ruder. Part one, 'Financial innovations in workforce development', contains the following chapters: Rebalancing the risk: innovation in funding human capital development / Heath Prince (pages 11-16); Partnering with banks in workforce development / Elizabeth Sobel Blum and Steven Shepelwich (pages 17-28); Nimble capital for an agile workforce / Keith Wardrip and Mels de Zeeuw (pages 29-47); Outcomes-oriented contracting: unlocking economic opportunity for low-income communities / Celeste Richie (pages 49-62); Improving workforce outcomes with pay for success / Nirav Shah (pages 63-74); Financing human capital through income-contingent agreements / Miguel Palacios (pages 75-86). Part two, 'Government investment in workforce development', contains: Strategy and capacity of public workforce systems / Richard A. Hobbie (pages 89-97); Results and returns from public investments in employment and training / Demetra Smith Nightingale and Lauren Eyster (pages 99-111); Research and evidence-building capacity of state workforce agencies / Yvette Chocolaad and Stephen Wandner (pages 113-123); State sector strategies for talent pipeline systems / Michael Bartlett and Martin Simon (pages 125-138); Improving outcomes for workers and employers through mayoral leadership / Kathy Amoroso and Evan Amoroso (pages 139-151); Employer engagement policy: shifting from customers to partnerships / Andy Van Keunen (pages 153-166).

Part three, 'Investing in technology', contains the following chapters: The promise and perils of the future of work / Carl E. Van Horn (pages 169-174); Navigating the future of work: can we point businesses, workers, and social institutions in the same direction? / John Hagel, Jeff Schwartz, and Josh Bersin (pages 175-193); From want ads to mobile apps: realizing the promise of technology in labor market matching / Chauncy Lennon and Sarah Steinberg (pages 195-213); Personalized education: from curriculum to career with cognitive systems / Michael King, Richard Cave, Mike Foden, and Matthew Stent (pages 215-232); All data big and small: using information to guide workforce development / Rachel Zinn and Bryan Wilson (pages 233-250); Preparing workers for the expanding digital economy / Jordana Barton (pages 251-266). Part four, 'Investing in skills and credentials', contains: Creative solutions to the credentialing chaos / Stephen Crawford (pages 269-275); Fixing the credentialing chaos: a national tool and state application / Ken Sauer and Stephen Crawford (pages 277-296); Transforming employer signaling in the talent marketplace / Jason A. Tyszko (pages 297-312); Building an expanded public-private data infrastructure for the credentialing marketplace / Robert Sheets (pages 313-327); Credentialing entrepreneurs: how and why / Alejandro Crawford (pages 329-349). Part five, 'Investing in regional workforce development systems', contains: Coordinating regional workforce development resources / Stuart Andreason (pages 353-357); Cultivating healthy workforce ecosystems / Tucker Plumlee (pages 359-373); Examining spatial mismatch and mobility in the workforce system / Raphael Bostic and Ann Carpenter (pages 375-390).

This volume concludes with an appendix, 'Investing in America's workforce: report on workforce development needs and opportunities' by Noelle St. Clair (pages 391-429). This report was originally published in 2017 and is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 135.161. Show less

The latest international recommendations on how to measure some of the key headline labour market indicators, including the labour force participation rate, employment-to-population ratio and unemployment rate, are contained in the Resolution I concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization adopted in 2013 by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS). These standards introduced a number of important advances that will impact the way work and labour force statistics are collected and disseminated by countries around the world in the years to come. To support their wide implementation, the 19th ICLS called on the ILO to 'conduct further conceptual and methodological work including testing' and develop 'technical manuals and model data collection instruments' aligned with the latest standards (ILO, 2013). As follow-up, in 2015, the ILO launched a global project of labour force survey (LFS) pilot studies. The Project had as main aim to develop and test alternative survey questionnaires to collect statistics on high priority topics such as employment, labour underutilization (comprising time-related underemployment, unemployment and the potential labour force), and own-use production work, in line with the 19th ICLS standards. The ultimate objective is to develop evidence-based guidance to support countries in adopting the new standards.

The focus of this report is to provide a more detailed description of the field testing stage of the process including the design, implementation and lessons learned.

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