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This project set out to conduct research around the non-technical capabilities needed by secondary school graduates to successfully participate in work or further study. There are many terms used to describe non-technical capabilities, such as general capabilities, generic skills or competencies, employability skills, core skills etc. However, for the purposes of this research the term 'non-technical capabilities' has been used and includes both literacy and numeracy skills and other generic skills, knowledge and understandings that are covered by the following four national frameworks: (1) the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF); (2) the Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework (CSfW); (3) the General Capabilities from the Australian national curriculum; and (4) the Australian Blueprint for Career Development (ABCD).

The project examined which capabilities are most appropriately developed in a school setting, as well as what might be realistically done in schools to develop, assess and/or recognise these capabilities and how employers can support and/or add to this. It also examined what secondary schools are currently doing to support students to develop these capabilities and identified where processes are already in place to assess and/or recognise them.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

The Student's Completing School project was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and involved a partnership between the South Australian Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE), the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia (SSABSA) and the Flinders Institute for the Study of Teaching (FIST). This document reports on a project study reflecting an Australia-wide concern about the fall in student retention in the postcompulsory years of schooling since the peak in 1992. The research aimed to offer a forum for students to express their own feelings and experiences in these critical years in order to inform the education community about the factors that encourage student retention and the barriers to student retention. Combined with the reports of young people are existing theoretical insights from the literature.

The book has three sections. The first section outlines the research methodology, provides social and economic context for the study and provides a brief description of the policy context. The second section looks at the barriers to retention, the experiences of early school leavers, how they enter the youth labour market, how educational arrangements themselves contribute to early school leaving and the way in which school leavers persuade or force many young people to find another way into adult life. The third section provides a summary of the major themes that emerged during the course of the study and offers suggestions for actions at all levels that might result in a more supportive climate for students in the final years of schooling. Show less

This guide offers an overview of alternative training opportunities for those who have successfully completed a full course of secondary education. In response to the growing demand for training courses directed specifically at this group, businesses, academics and institutions of higher education are offering a wider variety of training opportunities. In addition to commercial/economic training, courses of training for engineers and technical assistants, a range of courses in business information technology, computer science and specialised information technology are being offered. The publication provides an overview organised by course of study of enterprises offering training for upper secondary school leavers. Also included is an overview of training institutions with specialised courses for this training market. Show less

The City of Los Angeles - a vibrant metropolis with a diverse and dynamic population - is a critical economic and cultural hub for the state of California. California's economy is the fifth largest economy in the world, but maintaining this dominance depends, in large measure, on the economic success of Los Angeles and its surrounding regions. Los Angeles' success will be determined by the success of its schools, colleges, and universities in supporting students to enroll in college, complete a bachelor's degree, and join the workforce with the skills and preparation needed to participate in a 21st Century economy.

Ensuring equity in higher education access and success for Black and Latinx Californians requires building and maintaining robust pathways from LA's high schools to its colleges and universities. That includes ensuring Latinx and Black Angelenos are supported to graduate from high school fully eligible to enroll in the state's public four-year systems. LA's leaders must also ensure that Black and Latinx high school graduates enroll in college - community college or a four-year university - and provide them with the support they need to earn a bachelor's degree and fully participate in California's economy.

Mirroring statewide trends that we noted in our 2021 reports, 'The state of higher education for Latinx Californians' [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 146.216] and 'The state of higher education for Black Californians' [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 154.507], Black and Latinx students in Los Angeles do not receive the support or opportunity needed to ensure they enroll in college and earn bachelor's degrees at the same rates as their white peers. And, though California's high schools, community colleges, and public four-year universities have increased enrollment and support for Black and Latinx students who seek associate and bachelor's degrees, the challenges associated with the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 global pandemic threaten to offset and undo years of improvements for California's high schools and community colleges.

Summary from publisher's website. Show less

This book explores student education transition and employability negotiation experiences in various contexts. It explores determinants of student transitions at three levels including macro, meso and micro but focuses on exploring affordances, constraints and strategies at the micro level. The framework underpinning the explorations at the micro level covers a range of different forms of capital including human, culture, social, identity, psychological and agentic. The book is international in focus, drawing on research with different cohorts of students and graduates in different contexts.

The book consists of chapters about critical discussion, empirical research and practical guidance about student transition experiences. The critical discussion and empirical research chapters explore and obtain insights about the complexity of student transitions and develop conceptual frameworks that guide the development of applicable practices. Secondly, the book provides insights about how student transitions are determined by a range of factors at different levels. These insights extend discussions about student transitions in the current literature, which have mainly explored impacts of policies, institutional programmes and human capital.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website.

The chapters are as follows: An overview of student transition experiences and the significance of 'capitals' / Thanh Pham. Part I, 'School to tertiary education transitions', contains the following chapters: Student transition experiences: key concepts and exemplar investigation models / Thanh Phah; Navigating post-school trajectories: a conceptual framework of key determinants and essential resources / Thanh Pham; International students' socialisation and transition experiences in high school: an empirical study / Behnam Soltani. Part II, 'Education to work transitions', contains: Transitioning from education to the labour market: what matters and essential resources for positive employability outcomes / Thanh Pham; Transitioning to vocational education: an investigation in experiences of international students / Behnam Soltani; Transitioning to the home labour market?: what counts, what matters and what are the strategies / Thanh Pham; Transitioning from university to the teaching profession: challenges of beginning teachers / Thanh Pham; Reconceptualise graduate employability: the role of 'capitals' in navigating the teaching profession / Thanh Pham; Strategies utilised by international graduates to overcome communication limitations and negotiate employability trajectories / Thanh Pham. Part III, 'Recommendations to develop practical resources for different stakeholders', contains: Enhancing student transition experiences: the role of students in proactively building essential resources / Thanh Pham and Behnam Soltani; Enhancing student transition experiences: the role of institutions in creating opportunities for students to build essential resources / Thanh Pham and Behnam Soltani; Enhancing student transition experiences: initiatives guiding the development of essential resources / Thanh Pham and Behnam Soltani. Show less

High-school students from priority neighbourhoods face specific difficulties in obtaining the bac and going on to higher education. Above and beyond the effects linked to their social background, does the fact of living in a priority neighbourhood have its own impact on their post-bac trajectories and their education-to-work transition? Cereq and the Agence nationale de la cohesion des territoires/National Agency for Territorial Cohesion have collaborated on a study that sheds light on the education and employment trajectories of the young people who left the education system in 2013 and who, when they took the bac, were living in priority neighbourhoods.

Published abstract. Show less

This qualitative study examines the effects of career pathways programming and targeted career counseling services on 71 high school seniors across seven schools engaged in school reforms funded through South Carolina's Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA). EEDA is a statewide, multipronged effort to improve academic achievement, graduation rates, and students' chances at success in both careers and college. One component of EEDA is the requirement that all students complete an individual graduation plan, and in order to build capacity to execute this new requirement, additional counselors and/or counselor aides were added to every high school in the state.

[The authors] found that the combination of a career pathways model along with targeted career counseling services enhanced students' sense of career and academic self-efficacy by increasing their motivation to complete school, willingness and interest to take more challenging courses, and sense of preparedness for college and work. [The authors] examine these themes through the social cognitive career theory's triadic model of causality (Bandura, 1997) connecting study findings with the central constructs of self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and personal goal development.

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The aim of this project was to gain a better understanding of the ways in which Year 12 students decide what to study at university in order to explore new ways of providing support. This included identifying what support was available to Year 12 students and from whom. Four interlinked studies were undertaken within the project. The first three studies comprised a review of current practice which explored how support is provided and what information is available to Year 12 students. This began with an examination of the support resources and information that is disseminated to Year 12 students by each group. These data were mapped according to the types of career development services provided and then to the core tasks that make up the study choice process. Other aspects of the interface between students and government agencies, universities and secondary schools respectively were also examined to establish a clear description of the nature of the support that is provided. The fourth study explored aspects of study choice and the ways in which Year 12 students consider and engage in this process.

There were significant findings from each of the four studies that offered insight into the nature of engagement and support structures within each specific context. When the four perspectives were synthesised according to the project aims, six overall findings emerged: (1) two structural decision-making points direct the study choice process for Year 12 students; (2) the preference system is unique to Australia; it shapes and impacts the study choice process; (3) study choice is a complex decision with a lot of information to process; (4) in-depth exploration is positively correlated with being confident about a study choice, yet many students do not engage in available activities; (5) the relationships between schools and universities are vital to the delivery of study choice support for Year 12 students; and (6) Year 12 students need and want more support with study choice.

Excerpts from publication. Show less

Vocational education and training play a key role in the Swiss educational system. One of the most frequently chosen apprenticeships is Certified Social Care Worker (CSCW). After certification, these graduates have the option of working in the profession, attending tertiary vocational education, or changing to a profession outside the social sector. Studies on the choice of study at upper secondary and university tertiary level point to gender-typical choice behaviour. So far, little research has been done on whether and how gender-typical choices are perpetuated when entering a profession or attending vocational tertiary education.

This study aims to close this gap and, using the example of the social sector, examines the role that gender plays in career and educational decisions after graduation as CSCW. Since the social sector is considered a women's domain but includes various areas of work that are occupied to different degrees by women and men, it is of particular interest whether the career and educational decisions of former CSCW apprentices are also influenced by the area of work in which they were trained. The analyses are based on data from a longitudinal study. The results show a significant influence of gender and the chosen work area on the CSCWs career and educational pathway. The findings are discussed in the context of individual and institutional characteristics in the social sector.

Published abstract. Show less

One of the policy successes of the 1980s was the striking increase in school retention rates from 35 per cent of school students continuing to Year 12 at the start of the decade to 77 per cent by 1992. However, this trend has since stalled and is now showing signs of a decline. It has become apparent that those young people leaving school early are at much greater risk of becoming trapped in marginal activity, finding no secure place in either learning or work. This study attempts to put a figure on these costs, estimating the lifetime costs to the country of a single-year cohort of early school-leavers (those early school-leavers from among one year of students going through school). The costs borne by the individual early school-leaver and those borne by government are identified separately. The study concludes: that Australia still has relatively low levels of secondary school completion; that half the estimated cost is monetary cost borne partly by the individual and partly by government; that the remaining half is a social cost which falls across the individual, government and the whole community. Both monetarily and socially, reducing the number of early school-leavers would be a very sound investment for the individuals concerned, for government, and for the country as a whole. Show less