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Known as the Karmel Report and tabled in 1973, this report greatly influenced how schools in Australia were funded. On 12 December 1972 the newly elected Whitlam government appointed an Interim Committee for the Australian Schools Commission. Chaired by Peter Henry Karmel, the Committee was to examine the position of government and non-government primary and secondary schools throughout Australia and to make recommendations on the financial needs of those schools, and the measures to assist in meeting them. The report identified many inequities in the funding system, which for the first time led to the federal government providing funding to state schools. The Interim Committee consisted of Peter Karmel (Chairman), Jean Blackburn (Deputy Chairman), Greg Hancock, Edward T. Jackson, A. W. Jones, F. M. Martin, Peter Tannock, M. E . Thomas, Alice Whitley, and Wilfred A. White. The report was also issued as Parliamentary paper no. 55 of 1973.

Edited excerpt from Australian Policy Online website. Show less

The Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision was requested by the [Council of Australian Governments] COAG Reform Council (CRC) to collate information relevant to the performance benchmarks associated with reward payments in the National Partnership Agreement on Youth Attainment and Transitions. The CRC requested the Steering Committee to provide information in accordance with the CRC's Matrix of performance information: National Partnership Agreement on Youth Attainment and Transitions, June 2011. To facilitate the CRC's work, this report contains the following information: background and roles and responsibilities of various parties in National Partnership Agreement performance reporting; performance reporting requirements for the National Partnership Agreement on Youth Attainment and Transitions; indicator specification and summaries of data quality performance data. The original data quality statements submitted by the data providers are also included in this report.

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Noncredit enrollment at community colleges has grown significantly over the past two decades. However, unlike credit bearing programs, noncredit programs are seldomly empirically examined and evaluated, particularly those that are not grant funded. The lack of data results in a gap in knowledge about program effectiveness, as well as the students who participate in noncredit programs, it is difficult to objectively discuss the effectiveness of programs and develop valid policies to support them. This paper specifically aims to: (a) map the relevant literature regarding noncredit program data collection; (b) summarize existing knowledge about data collection processes; and (c) identify existing knowledge gaps in what is known about noncredit data collection. An established five stage process for conducting a scoping review guided the process: (a) identifying the research question; (b) identifying the related body of literature; (c) study selection; (d) presenting of data; and lastly, (e) collating, summarizing, and reporting results. The majority of data collected were head counts, types of courses offered and minimal demographic information.

The results also show that, despite higher enrollments and the popularity of programs, there is a lack of comprehensive information on student needs. Thus, it is crucial to develop a standardized data collection system for all noncredit programs; collect data at a student level; and provide more detailed information regarding enrollment, completion, and outcomes such as employment and wage gains, as well as qualitative factors such as student satisfaction.

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This digest is the 34th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. It provides a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from kindergarten to graduate school. It includes more than 400 tables from both government and private sources, and draws especially on the results of surveys and activities carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). It is divided into seven chapters: All levels of education, Elementary and secondary education, Postsecondary education, Federal programs for education and related activities, Outcomes of education, International comparisons of education, and Learning resources and technology. It updates the statistical information from previous years and contains a significant amount of new material. Show less

Changes in the way adult learning is funded through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), particularly in areas where AEB devolution is anticipated, present both opportunities and challenges for current providers of adult learning, community learning and non-regulated, non-accredited learning. For all providers, whether located in a devolution area or not, this type of learning will increasingly need a wider range of more rigorous outcome measures. Providers will need to have in place robust processes both for planning their learning offer to meet local need, and for collecting, recording and reporting on the outcomes they achieve.

This report sets out the results of work undertaken to develop and test the use of social metrics in Adult Community Learning provision to capture a range of wider outcomes of learning. The report highlights lessons learned, examples of effective practice and suggests ways in which the use of social metrics in adult learning provision might be developed in future. The report also features case studies of providers' experiences in embedding social metrics in adult learning provision. The report concludes with a set of recommendations for the further development of the use of social metrics in adult learning settings. This work supports Adult Community Learning providers to make a credible and compelling case, so that it can secure sustainable and diversified funding for non-formal and community learning in the coming years.

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This report contains an overview and discussion of the national results for bachelor degree graduates and breakdowns by field of study. It also contains institutional figures and information concerning methodological aspects of the survey. Show less

There are currently six recognised equity groups in the Australian higher education system: people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, people from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, people from regional and remote areas, people with disability and women in non-traditional areas of study. Critics of the Australian higher education equity framework have underscored the existence of other potential sources of educational disadvantage that currently lack official recognition. Given the increasing prevalence of mental health issues among young people, some scholars and equity stakeholders have recommended refining or complementing the existing disability equity group by explicitly incorporating measures of poor mental health. A recent change to the definitions of higher education data elements might be seen as a step towards recognising poor mental health as a condition that can lead to educational disadvantage.

The analyses presented in this report fill two significant knowledge gaps. First, the study investigates the overlap between pre-existing poor mental health and membership in the officially identified equity groups (all of which are also defined on the basis of information preceding the commencement of university studies). Second, the study examines the impact of pre-existing poor mental health on early student outcomes, namely first-year attrition. Altogether, our results unequivocally stress the critical importance of pre-existing poor mental health as a predictor of student attrition during the first year of university. Despite some overlap between students with poor mental health and students who belong to the officially identified equity groups - chiefly students with disability - our results indicate that the disadvantage stemming from pre-existing poor mental health is distinct from that stemming from being a member of any of the designated equity groups.

Based on these findings, three recommendations are formulated: (1) stakeholders at all levels should consider poor mental health as an important factor contributing to first-year student attrition and design more mental health-focused interventions; (2) the Australian Government should consider allocating more funding to support students with disabilities; and (3) the Australian Government should consider funding (a) the collection or linkage of data that enable a more robust examination of the extent and repercussions of poor mental health amongst university students, and (b) research that expands the analytic scope of this report to other phases of the student life cycle.

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Adult and community education (ACE) organisations are not for profit providers of accessible learning opportunities for adults. ACE also offers vital links across educational settings, workplaces and communities. This scan profiles the ACE sector in terms of its programs, features, provider types, participants, outcomes and supporting policy areas. It also explores the challenges facing the sector in terms of sustainability. It builds on the work completed in Adult Learning Australia's previous ACE scans (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020). Unfortunately, comprehensive analysis of ACE is limited by the lack of complete data on all the work ACE does. This update contains consistent time series data from two National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) collections: government-funded and Total VET. To create a broader profile of ACE in Australia, it is argued that data must be collected from a range of sources.

There are three main program focusses for ACE: personal enrichment; foundation; and vocational. All ACE providers deliver enrichment programs. Most offer adult basic education in language, literacy, numeracy, digital and other foundation skills. An increasingly diminishing number, around 220, also offer formal vocational education and training (VET). ACE providers that offer formal VET continue to be largely concentrated in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW). State and territory governments define and support ACE in different ways. But government funded ACE programs are now largely focussed on vocational outcomes.

This ACE scan update covers the following areas: (1) an overview of ACE in Australia in terms of its activities and providers; (2) ACE provision by state, territory and national perspectives; (3) ACE programs, including key features and data on the participants, outcomes and national policies supported; (4) a new data framework to draw conclusions on where to next for Australian ACE; and (5) trends over time to identify issues affecting the sustainability of ACE. The report concludes that the ACE sector demonstrably serves important social and economic needs within communities across Australia for the ongoing education of adults. Yet, it lacks broad recognition, financial support and connections with local, state and federal governments, and this impedes its capacity to achieve these important goals. This is becoming increasingly important in the face of expected as well as unexpected disruptions such as technological change, pandemics, natural disasters and an ageing population. Despite these disruptions, Australians need and are expected to continue to learn, be educated and engaged in productive activities within their communities. Recommendations are made for ACE to achieve its full potential.

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This publication provides information regarding the training outcomes for students who completed their training in 2003, and the longer-term training outcomes for 15- to 24-year-olds who completed training in 2001. The findings presented relate only to students who studied at a technical and further education (TAFE) institute in Australia and were awarded a qualification (graduates), or who successfully completed part of a course (module completers). Highlights include: TAFE training provides good employment outcomes; 86% of all graduates were employed or in further study after their training; Of those employed after training, 73% of graduates and 56% of module completers reported that their training was highly or somewhat relevant to their current job; 85% of all graduates and 77% of all module completers were satisfied with the overall quality of their TAFE training; 92% of all graduates and 86% of all module completers indicated they would recommend their training to others; 92% of all graduates and 90% of all module completers would recommend the institution where they undertook their training to others; and Of graduates aged 15 to 24 years who completed their training in 2001, 76% were employed in 2002 and 86% in 2004.

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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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