Youth participation in education and training, and factors affecting ...

Youth participation in education

and training, and factors affecting participation

A review of resource literature and policy documents

Supporting the forum discussion document: Youth Participation in Education

by Hazel Baynes, Sue Kilpatrick and Joan Abbott-Chapman

Youth

participation in education and training, and factors affecting participation A review of resource literature and policy documents

Supporting the forum discussion document: Youth Participation in Education By Hazel Baynes,Sue Kilpatrick and Joan Abbott-Chapman Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia, University of Tasmania March 2002

For the Tasmanian Office of Post Compulsory Education and Training

Contents Page

Introduction

3

1.

Overall participation in education and training

3

i)

State comparison

3

ii)

International comparison

3

iii)

Asia-Pacific region comparison

5

2.

School participation

5

3.

VET participation

5

4.

Higher education participation

6

5.

Participation in employment only

6

6.

Participation in both education and employment

7

7.

Non-participation in education or employment

7

8.

Targets for post-compulsory participation

8

9.

Factors affecting participation in education and training

9

i)

Early school leaving

9

ii)

Socio-economic background

11

iii)

Young people’s attitudes and aspirations

13

iv)

Gender

13

v)

Indigenous Australians

14

vi)

Non-English-speaking background

15

vii)

Rural and regional issues

15

viii) Students with disabilities

16

ix)

Transition from education to work

17

x)

Returns to education and training

18

xi)

Mismatch between provision and industry requirements

18

xii)

Availability of full-time work

19

xiii) Demographic change

2

20

10. The impact of government policies on participation in education and training

20

Conclusion

23

References

24

Youth participation in education – Resource review

Introduction This resource document is designed to accompany and support the summary document produced by the authors for the Tasmanian State-wide consultative Forums to be held in April 2002. These Forums, in which representatives of a range of stakeholders in education and training will take part, have come out of Learning Together, the State’s vision for education, training and information into the 21st century and the Tasmania Together government/community consultative process and will be devoted to consideration of trends and targets in participation that are appropriate and achievable for the State. This document therefore follows the structure of the summary paper in some respects for ease of reference, although naturally, being a more substantial document and work of scholarship it has more sections and a much broader discussion of sources. Throughout, there is reference to Figures and Tables that appear in the summary document and are not replicated here. Therefore the two papers should be regarded as companion documents. Literature and policy documents discussed here are of current standing and relevance. We have not attempted to go back historically, as this would have required a much longer paper - beyond the time and resources of this project. We have attempted to be as inclusive and exhaustive as possible, but in such a large and significant field of research there will always be sources that for one reason or another have been missed. If there are any such, we apologise. We hope that both the papers produced will assist discussion and debate on the important topic of education and training participation for Tasmania, and that they will have a practical role in informing government policy. This project was funded and supported by the Tasmanian Office of Post-Compulsory Education and Training (OPCET), which we acknowledge with thanks. The views expressed herein, however, are entirely those of the authors and may or may not represent the views of OPCET. The Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia, University of Tasmania, with which the authors are associated in various capacities, is a research centre supported entirely by outside funding, competitive grants and consultancies. The Centre’s mission is to consult widely to produce and disseminate high quality research into learning and development in regional Australia.

1.

Overall participation in education and training

i)

State comparison

Australian youth participation in education (school, VET and higher education) has trended upward since 1993 (Figure 1). Lamb, Long and Malley (1998 p19) believe the growth in participation in post-school education and training over the past decade has resulted from several trends. Firstly there has been an expansion of the number of places available. Secondly there has been a substantial increase in the number of young people completing Year 12 and qualifying for entry to universities and other forms of further education (an increased demand for places). Thirdly the downturn in labour market opportunities for young people has increased reliance on VET and on higher education at the completion of school. Tasmanian participation rates have generally followed the national pattern, and have been consistently lower than the ACT, Victoria and New South Wales and the national average (Figure 1). Whilst educational participation by Tasmanian 15-19 year olds in recent years had been lower than that in most other States, the difference is particularly marked for the 20-24 year age group (Figures 2 and 3). ii)

International comparison

Internationally, post-compulsory education and training is increasingly regarded as the norm and a right for all citizens. For instance, post-compulsory education and training has become the socially accepted norm for the vast majority of young people in most EU States – so much so that it is now regarded as a de facto extension of compulsory schooling and virtually a public right (Green, Hodson, Sakamoto & Spoors 1999 p11).


3

Australia has a disappointingly low post-compulsory education profile in comparison with other industrialized nations (Cullen 1998) and the general political consensus has been that participation in education and training needs to be increased (Ainley, Malley & Lamb 1997 p4). OECD figures show that Australia is ranked below the mean OECD country education participation rate for both 15-19 and 20-24 year olds and Tasmanian participation by both age groups ranks near the bottom of OECD country participation rates (Table 1). McLaughlin (1998) made a more specific study of learning and work in Australia and Canada – two countries with similar high quality of life, relatively well-educated workforce, world-class resource base, trading nation status and both facing the challenges of globalisation of the economy, rapid technology changes and their impact on work skills needed, types of jobs available and future prospects. She showed that young Canadians are 50% more likely to than young Australians to be enrolled full-time in a post-compulsory education program. However, young Australians are more likely to be in a post-compulsory education program in the science and technology areas where the current marketplace demand is high. Despite significant growth in the decade since 1989, Australia still lags behind a number of its trading partners, in particular America, Japan and several European countries, in terms of tertiary participation (DETYA 1999a p6). Similarly with regard to VET participation, OECD data indicate that a much smaller proportion of young people in Australia takes part in recognised vocational preparation in the immediate postschool years than in other OECD countries (Sweet 1996). Only only a small minority of young people in Australia takes up new apprenticeships. The participation rate in new apprenticeships is below that of Germany and Switzerland where more than 50% of the upper secondary school age cohort participate in apprenticeship type arrangements. The UK has 24% of its upper secondary school cohort (aged 16-19 years) participating in apprenticeship programs and Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have more than 20% of young people in apprenticeship type arrangements (OECD 1999). In terms of upper secondary school completion, Australia continues to rank behind most other OECD countries (OECD 1998 p44; Curtain 2001a). Curtain (2001a p16) mentions that “at least 80% of the adult population aged 25-64 years in seven countries have attained an upper secondary education or higher (United States, Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Japan and Denmark). However, he notes, “Australia continues to rank below most other OECD countries in terms of the proportion of the population with high school or upper secondary education completed.” On the basis of 1999 data for 28 countries reported by OECD, Australia ranks 17th with 57% of its adult population aged 25-64 years with an upper secondary school education. Looking at the most recent post initial education age group, 25-34 years, Australia drops to 20th position. Curtain (2001a) notes that at least 14% of 19 year olds in 2000 have not attained a minimum level of education necessary to compete in today’s demanding labour market and this proportion has not improved over the last 3 years. He asserts this gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ is not only undermining Australia’s ability to compete in a global knowledge economy, but is also likely to further increase income inequality (and undermine social cohesion). Post-compulsory education and training participation builds the stock of skills in the economy and is an important determinant of future individual and State/national economic and social wellbeing. Cullen (1998) comments that: If education and training reform does not create competitive work skills, there will be less employment and less capacity to reward skills in the labour market. Such outcomes act to discourage future students which, in turn, reduces participation and further reduces competitiveness. This is a cycle, which needs to be blocked by any country seeking to succeed in an increasingly competitive and global marketplace.

4


iii)

Asia-Pacific region comparison

When educational participation rates and expenditure are compared with countries in our region, a different perspective is highlighted. Lenahan, Burke, and Ma (1998) compare participation in postsecondary and senior secondary schooling in eleven Asian countries and Australia. Participation rates yielded no real surprises. Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines and Australia all had a greater than 40% participation rate in post-secondary schooling. Countries with a greater than 50% completion rate for senior secondary education were Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Australia. Again, as expected, when comparing public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP, Australia had one of the highest percentages (5.6% of GDP in 1995). However, when public expenditure on education is expressed as a percentage of all public outlays, Australia (at 14%) is not as highly placed. It is outranked by Singapore (23%), Thailand (20%), Taiwan (19%), Hong Kong and South Korea (both 17%) and Malaysia (16%). Only China and Japan spend a lesser proportion (12% and 11% respectively). (No data was available for Indonesia and the Philippines.) Overall, international comparisons suggest that the current low level of Tasmanian participation could lead to a widening gap in competitiveness and hence well-being between Tasmania, other Australian States and the rest of the industrialised global economy.

2.

School participation

The Tasmanian school participation rate has increased relative to the national average and it has been above the national average since 1997 in the decade from 1991 (Figure 4). Figure 10 also shows the Tasmanian school participation rate as relatively high in comparison with other States. Many researchers have commented that the decline in the number of full-time job opportunities in the teenage labour market during the last two decades has helped fuel the marked increases in school retention and levels of participation in higher education observed in the 1980s and early 1990s (for example, Wooden 1998). This may be particularly true in Tasmania. It is expected that there will be an increase in retention when unemployment increases. The PostCompulsory Education in Tasmania Draft Report states that the Tasmanian education and training participation rates mentioned have occurred in spite of the fact that Tasmania has the highest youth unemployment of all the States and that “the consequences of allowing Tasmania’s skill base to decline could be significant to future economic development” (Department of Education Tasmania 1999 p5). Hence the importance of improving Tasmania’s skill base through increased education and training participation is of central importance within the Tasmania Together exercise.

3.

VET participation

Tasmanian VET participation rates tend to be below the national average (Figure 5), particularly for 15-19 years olds (Figures 6 and 7). Participation rates for both age groups have risen rapidly in recent years in all States, although for 20-24 year olds in the higher participation rate States of Victoria and Western Australia the rates may be plateauing (Figure 7). A contributing factor to Tasmania’s lower participation rate is the different structure of TAFE courses in Tasmania. Preparatory courses are offered only to a limited extent in Tasmania (4.7% of enrolments compared with 20% across Australia). In other States pre-vocational and some Year 11 and 12 courses are provided by TAFE (Department of Education Tasmania 1999 p19). There has been an increase of 14% in apprenticeships and traineeships from 1995 to 1997 in Tasmania, with a significant shift from apprenticeships to traineeships. Traineeship numbers are increasing rapidly. Between 1995/96 and 1997/98 traineeship numbers in Tasmania increased from 1451 to 2310 (Department of Education Tasmania 1999 p19).


5

Participation in VET in Schools programs nationally has grown dramatically over the past five years, from 26,500 in 1995 to 130,000 in 1999 (Frost 2000). By 2000 some 90% of Australian schools were offering such programs (MCEETYA 2000). In Tasmania in 1998, 1824 certificates and statements of results were issued showing that over 15% of government senior school students completed a VET in Schools course (Department of Education Tasmania 1999 p15). Another change has been that many VET entrants now have completed Year 12 at senior secondary school, despite the fact that, in principle, entry to many VET courses is possible after Year 10. Ainley, Malley & Lamb (1997 p9) assert that this is a result of a tight labour market and rising school retention rates and use data from the Australian Committee on Vocational Education and Training and the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission to show that in 1982 17% of VET students in vocational streams had completed Year 12, rising to 22% in 1984 and to 46% in 1995. Lamb, Long & Malley (1998 p19) believe the downturn in labour market opportunities for young people has increased reliance on VET (and on higher education) at the completion of school. However, VET in secondary schools and TAFE (VET subjects) continue to operate as a stream of study that attracts only certain groups of students (Lamb, Long and Malley 1998 p18). VET retains a social division, with participants mainly in government schools with parents from skilled and unskilled manual occupations. It is therefore important to encourage students from all backgrounds to take up these opportunities for VET in schools, and so avoid this horizontal stratification.

4.

Higher education participation

As already stated in relation to school retention, many commentators have observed that the decline in the number of full-time job opportunities during the last two decades has helped fuel the marked increases in participation in higher education observed in the 1980s and early 1990s (for example, Wooden 1998). Despite this, Tasmanian higher education participation rates have been consistently at or near the bottom of the State rates since 1993 (Figure 8). “In 1997, the participation rate of 10% in higher education in the Australian Capital Territory was equal to the participation rate in all tertiary education (VET plus higher education) in Tasmania” (ABS 1998). More detailed examination of the 2000 higher education enrolments shows Tasmania has a relatively low proportion of the Australian 15-19 years age cohort in higher education compared with other States and the national average (Figure 9). Participation by 20-24 year olds is higher than in Queensland and Western Australia and similar to South Australia (Figure 9). The relatively low level of Tasmanian higher education participation may be partly due to our regional demography and our net export of qualified school leavers, with 18.3% of all students enrolled in award courses with declared Tasmanian home addresses enrolled interstate in 1999 (Department of Education Tasmania 1999; Hogan & Lamb 2000).

5.

Participation in employment only

A smaller proportion of Tasmanian 15-19 year olds in October 2001 was employed and not in education than in all other States except Victoria and New South Wales (Figure 10). This is likely to be a reflection of the labour market in general and opportunities for youth employment in particular. There is no similar published or publicly available data for 20-24 year olds by State. Figure 11 shows that over recent years the proportion of teenagers in employment and not in fulltime education or training has tended to be higher than the national average, and consistently higher than Victoria and the ACT in particular. At the national level, two changes observed in the last few years are cause for concern. Full-time jobs are gradually being replaced by part-time casual jobs the majority of which are highly concentrated in low-skill occupations and there is a concentration of teenage employment in small firms

6


that are less likely to invest in training (Wooden 1998). Young people in these low-skilled, casual jobs rather than in more training-intensive jobs may face problems in the light of the observations about links between education and training and future well-being made earlier. Wooden and VandenHeuvel (1999) believe attention needs to be paid to the reasons behind the de-skilling of jobs for young adults’ over the past five years as this is not a trend observed for older adults.

6.

Participation in both education and employment

Young people’s participation in education and training cannot be considered in isolation from their participation in work. An increasing number of young people are combining work and study; a quarter of them in 1998 compared with 16% ten years earlier (Buchanan & Bretherton 1999). The incidence of part-time employment approximately doubled between the 1970s and the mid 1990s. Wooden, Robertson & Dawkins (1994), using ABS data, show that part-time jobs consisted of 10.6% of all jobs in 1970 but by 1994 this had increased to 24%. Young people were central figures in this increase; in 1970 15-19 year olds accounted for 8.6% of total part-time employment but by 1990 their share was 17%. Teenagers still at school accounted for 2.4% of all part-time jobs in 1971 but by mid-1990 the corresponding figure was 10%. Wooden (1998, p32) states that in 1997 80% of part-time teenage workers were involved in fulltime education. A sizable proportion of those classified as unemployed (46%) were actually fulltime students for whom study was presumably seen as a preferred alternative to collecting unemployment benefits; it is strongly suspected that this situation also applies to some of the 553,500 students not seeking work, but who nevertheless might cease study should employment opportunities improve. This had also been suggested by an earlier Tasmanian study (Abbott-Chapman, Hughes & Wyld 1992). The impact of participation in paid employment on students’ studies has been the subject of a number of investigations. Some believe the prevalence of part-time work has led to new expectations and lifestyle decisions among adolescents which may impact on, and sometimes detract from study (Yap 1991). Wooden and colleagues (1994) examine whether the recent growth in part-time employment has had any ramifications for decisions about participation in and retention in higher education. Their data was drawn from the Australian Youth Survey in each of the years between 1985 and 1988. Their results indicate that part-time employment while studying at university or similar level institutions has not been a factor critical to continuing studies. However, employment while at secondary school is found to reduce the likelihood of continuing education for girls but not for boys. This may be related to the type of work available in the service sector that is largely gendered. Tasmanian studies at both the secondary and tertiary level (Abbott-Chapman 1996, 1998) have shown the very widespread involvement of students at secondary and tertiary level in part-time paid employment both as a means of helping to finance studies and also as a source of income to support lifestyle consumerism. The competencies learnt within the workplace may complement rather than detract from studies, although most students’ part-time work is routine, manual, low skill level and low paid. The number of hours per week worked has been found to be crucial in the impact on study success; the higher the number of hours the more the ‘clash’ with study demands. There have been calls for public policy to establish a better matching of employment and education arrangements; to achieve a better fit between education and work, to see if activities in these separate spheres can be mutually reinforcing, instead of co-existing in totally unconnected ways (Buchanan & Bretherton 1999).

7.

Non-participation in education or employment

Figure 12 in the summary document shows that a rapid fall in full-time employment of Australian 15-19 year olds since the late 1970s has been matched by a steady increase in school participation


7

for this age group. The proportion of the age group neither in full time education nor employment shows a slight decline in the 1990s (see Figure 12). However, Curtain (2001a) notes that despite the remarkable growth performance in Australia’s economy for the nine years to mid-2000, the proportion of young people aged 15-19 years considered ‘at risk’ in the labour market in May 2001 (15.1%) shows no sign of real improvement. International comparisons show that Australia has a lower proportion of its youth population in neither education nor employment than the OECD country mean (1998 figures, see Table 2). Other international comparisons show that Australia’s labour market is not as ‘youth friendly’ as other countries that have better-coordinated school-to-work arrangements (Curtain 2001a). The proportion of Tasmanian 15-19 year olds in neither education nor employment was 8.6% in October 1998, equal to the OECD country mean and higher than the Australian figure of 7.4% (see Table 2). Figure 13 shows that since October 1999, less than 10% of the Tasmanian 15-19 age cohort is neither in full-time education nor (any) employment. Tasmanian figures are higher than the national average and appear to be less volatile to the economic cycle than other States.

8.

Targets for post-compulsory participation

Australian targets for post-compulsory education and training attainment for 19 and 22 year olds (the Finn targets) were set in 1991 by Commonwealth and State governments (Finn 1991). Indications are that the first of the Finn targets is not likely to be met. As of May 2000 only 85.6% compared to the target of 95% of 19 year olds were participating in Year 12, had completed Year 12 or completed Year 10 or 11 and were participating in or had completed some formally recognised education or training. On current trends this first Finn target will not be met until 2007 (Curtain 2001a pp15-16). The second Finn target has been reached – with May 2000 data showing 67.7% of 22 year olds (target 60% by 2001) participating in education and training that leads to what is generally regarded as a qualification to denote a skilled worker (or an AQF level 3 qualification, or to be participating in or have completed higher education studies such as degrees or diplomas). However, Curtain (2001a p16) rates the Finn targets as “now seriously out of date” and representing a level of education attainment that is far behind the threshold education benchmark of upper secondary school completion or the equivalent set by leading OECD countries. The notion of a threshold qualification is increasingly being used in the US and Europe. This threshold qualification is the minimum level of certification required to have a reasonable chance of gaining employment or access to further study, such as ‘completing a full upper secondary education with a recognised qualification for either work, tertiary study or both’ (OECD 1999 p6). In Nordic countries, the UK and the USA, government funding in the form of a universal entitlement is made available to encourage all young people to attain a threshold qualification. In Australia, a report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training recommended the adoption of a ‘national youth guarantee’ which would entitle “every Australian under 21 years of age, who has not attained Year 12 at school, to a funded place at a high school, TAFE or a recognised training provider to complete a Year 12 education or its equivalent” (Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training 1999 p37). The government did not support the recommendation of a ‘national youth guarantee’, but did support the principle of encouraging all Australians to complete Year 12 or equivalent studies. A new Victorian government education target was announced in the Premier’s speech to the MP Education Foundation Forum on Monday 23 October 2000 (The Hon. Steve Bracks 2000). The new target commits the Victorian government to achieving a Year 12, or its equivalent, completion rate for 90% of young people by 2010. The completion rate for 22 year olds in Victoria in May 2000 was 72.3%, illustrating the ground that will have to be covered to achieve this target.

8


Curtain (2001a p17) believes the Victorian target sets a new benchmark, albeit a modest one, of what constitutes a basic level of education attainment for young people in Australia as a whole. He notes (in a footnote p18) that it can be argued that the relevant reference point should be a dynamic rather than a static one (should seek to match the education attainment performance of Victoria or Australia with a comparable group of countries). Curtain sees the setting of the Victorian government’s target as an immediate challenge for other governments in Australia to set a target that either matches or goes beyond it. He also notes that this needs to be done at national, State and regional levels. Curtain (2001a p18) predicts that on the basis of the 1997-2000 rate of increase, Australian 22 year olds would not attain the Victorian target until 2020. He also states “on current trends, Australia in the medium term is not likely to lift the threshold education levels of a significant minority of its young people” (Curtain 2001a p18). Recognition of the need to increase both rates of participation in post-compulsory schooling and rates of completion of post-compulsory qualifications in Australia is evident in a recent survey (OECD 2000). The report recommended reform of the curriculum to make senior secondary schooling more relevant and useful to potential early school leavers. There was also encouragement for better cooperation between TAFE and high schools.

9.

Factors affecting participation in education and training

i)

Early school leaving

Level of initial education attained is considered to be an important influence on participation in post-secondary education and training. Lamb, Long and Malley (1998) assert that low achievers at school are far more likely to attempt to enter the labour force on leaving school without undertaking any further formal education of training. High achievers are much more likely to make use of available education and training opportunities. Roussel (2000) found that participation in some form of post-compulsory education or training rose from 82% for individuals with a Year 10 education to 97% for individuals with a post-graduate degree. For the same two groups participation in education/training rates rose from 13% to 43% and participation in formal training rose from 27% to 60%. These data are important in societies, like Australia, which promote the concept of life-long learning. The relative demand in post-industrial societies for labour has shifted in favour of skilled workers and so skill deficiencies arising from inadequate or poor quality education and training represent an increasingly significant obstacle to employment success. Early school leavers are thus likely to find themselves at a much greater disadvantage in the labour market than was the case in the past (Curtain 1998; Ainley, Malley & Lamb 1997; McKenzie 2000). Further to this early school leavers are also likely to find they lack the foundation skills needed to take advantage of further education and training opportunities (OECD 1997 p29; McKenzie 2000.) However, the major benefit of completing Year 12 is the access it provides to higher education and other types of further study (Ainley, Malley & Lamb 1997 p22). Many factors affect the decision to leave school early. Changes to school programs and teaching approaches are particularly important for potential early leavers because the reasons for leaving are largely because students do not like school, and may even be alienated from it (OECD 1998, 1997). There is some evidence that where reforms to curricula, assessment and teaching were most farreaching, there was the most rapid rise in school retention during the 1980s and early 1990s (Ainley, Malley & Lamb 1997). Strategies to encourage marginal youth to remain at school include: the introduction of curricular, pedagogical and organisational changes in the lower secondary years as well as in Years 11 and 12; a shift in perspective towards the school being the delivery vehicle for the range of guidance, employment, health and social welfare services needed to equip young people for a successful transition to adulthood (as in the Full Service School); and providing ways for early leavers to return to the education and training system at a later stage when their motivation and personal circumstances may be more conducive to systematic study (OECD 1997 p30).


9

McClelland, MacDonald and MacDonald (1998 p117) suggest that improvements to access to education and training must continue to be a priority as a number of studies have shown that school-based early intervention programs can play a part in assisting young homeless people to complete their education, therefore a greater commitment, more Commonwealth funding and a nation-wide program for such activities is needed. The rates of early school leaving in the 1990s were strongly related to family educational and cultural resources. Ainley, Malley and Lamb (1997 p19) show that students from families in which either parent has a professional occupation and where the parents are university-educated and likely to have greater knowledge of the school system and have higher education aspirations for their children, far less often experience early school leaving. Much research has shown that the language-speaking background of families also influences the rates of dropping out. Miller and Volker (1989) show that parents in non-English-speaking families have higher educational aspirations for their children and place a premium on completing high school as a form of enhancing their children’s future prospects. Ainley, Malley and Lamb also link early leaving with where families live and the type of school attended (1997 p20). They show that students living in rural areas, where schools are usually smaller and less able to offer a comprehensive range of senior school curriculum options, less often than their metropolitan counterparts continue at school to the final year. This is particularly apparent for rural-based girls. Students attending independent schools, with the benefits provided in terms of selective social intake, high concentrations of physical and teaching resources and a strong focus on preparation for university entrance, have substantially lower drop-out rates. Misko (1999) believes that early leaving may also be attributed to the fact that the Year 12 qualification is losing its value in the eyes of students and employers, or that students are increasingly finding school irrelevant to their daily lives, or because of students’ perceptions about the decreasing probability of their getting a job, (regardless of research data showing increased rates of return), or students’ belief that completing Year 12 will not guarantee a job, or a better job. Furthermore, the continued publicity of high youth unemployment rates in the media may also reinforce this view. Several other factors regarding students themselves that influence early leaving are considered by Misko (1999). The added work and stress associated with completing Year 12 and getting a high university entrance score may dominate the thinking of students and their parents … some students are prepared to do this; others are not. Students of higher ability, in terms of their performance on numeracy and reading achievement tests at the age of 14, are also more likely to complete Year 12 than those of low ability. Non-completers may be leaving because they lack adequate skills to do well in the senior secondary years and Misko questions why these students have been allowed to progress through school without the grounding in basic skills that is required. Another reason students may opt to leave school early may have to do with their lack of particular learning skills. Not all students are aware that putting in the time to learn or become acquainted with specific material that is relevant to the completion of assessments may help them to recall the information when it is required. Not all students are aware that the preparation of assignments requires time and effort. Ainley (1998) raises the issue of achievements of students during their primary school years as well as at secondary level. He highlights the importance of the development of a sense of competence in the early years of schooling. Lamb (1996) investigated the downturn in school completion rates since 1992, noting that there is a substantial (well over a quarter) and growing number of young people who renounce extended schooling even though economic circumstances have not substantially changed in recent times. He suggests that over the last few years there have been stronger influences shaping school leaving decisions than the state of the labour market. Data used in the research is from ABS Schools Australia series and from ACER’s Australian Youth Survey.

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When considering the reasons that might account for the downturn in school completion, Lamb (1996 pp23-24) discounts an increase in the number of young people wanting to take advantage of alternative education and training opportunities such as those provided by TAFE, business colleges, industry skill centres and privately-run training institutions. This is because, importantly, the growth in participation in TAFE and these other agencies has not originated from early school leavers. Similarly the increase in the number of available apprenticeships and traineeships is thought to have helped maintain rather than cause the trend away from school. Lamb also considers an explanation based on changes in labour market opportunities or on developments in training opportunities alone is inadequate (because school participation rates for males and females reached their peak and began to decline at the onset of the 1991 recession). One of the alternative explanations put forward by Lamb is the change in views of young people on the value of remaining at school. The large expansion in school completions during the 1980s has led to a devaluation of the benefits of Year 12. Also because the growth in post-school opportunities, in further education and employment has not kept pace with the expansion in numbers of school users there is a high level of disappointment attached to school completion. Another possible explanation mentioned by Lamb is the experience of school itself. He asserts that young people’s judgements about the relevance of school and wanting to remain there longer are based on their feeling that the time and effort they put is meaningful, rewarding and successful. He cites Teese (1996) as an example of recent work showing the decline in school completion has been strongest in areas and among groups where failure in key subject areas has grown. Given that all students cannot achieve success at the highest academic levels there is a need to promote the valuing of other types of success that are useful in the workplace. Abbott-Chapman and Kilpatrick (2001) suggest in particular the promotion of the vocational education and training (VET) streams in schools. The changing youth labour market and the availability of full- and parttime work also has an impact on early leaving, especially for students alienated from school. While early leavers are usually hopeful of finding a full time job, they may become trapped in the parttime and casual job market and find it difficult to improve their position without further training and qualifications. ii)

Socio-economic background

A wide array of studies have shown that socio-economic status of family background continues to influence participation and retention in education and training, despite the many education and training policy initiatives. Using the data from the Australian Youth Survey, Abbott-Chapman, Easthope and O’Connor (1997) showed that family socio-economic status, and related educational aspirations, were the best predictors of post-school destinations in terms of study, work or unemployment one year after leaving school. Two years after school leaving the first year outcome was the best predictor of subsequent career moves – hence the initial step on the ladder, which is so influenced by family background, is crucial to educational and career success. Gender interacted with socio-economic background in deciding outcomes. Socio-economic status is complex in its impact on participation and may be summarised as part of the family social capital that encourages or impedes participation (Kilpatrick & Abbott-Chapman 2002). Factors such as earlier school achievement, parental occupation, parental education, NESB and home location have been associated with differences in school completion rates in the 1980s (Williams, Long, Carpenter & Hayden, 1993). Lamb (1996) confirmed the continued existence of these associations into the 1990s. He also raised the issue of interactions between gender and socioeconomic background. He noted the decline in retention to Year 12 was greater for young males from “unskilled’ family backgrounds. The rate of school completion for this group had fallen by over 13% since the early 1990s compared with a fall of only 3% for those from professional/managerial backgrounds. Rates for females were smaller and less strongly associated with socio-economic background.


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Lamb, Long and Malley (1998) assert that participation in VET is also related to social background. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to enrol in VET at school than those from higher socio-economic status backgrounds. Young people from professional and managerial backgrounds more often gain access to university than those from other origins and there is little evidence that this has improved over the past decade, even though it might have been expected to because school completion rates grew for all groups and the number of university places increased. However the authors point out that the high levels of participation in higher education do not mean that young people from more advantaged backgrounds ignore post-school VET programs. Rates of participation in TAFE, traineeships and apprenticeships for young people from higher status backgrounds are not that much weaker than for those from lower status backgrounds. Differences between socio-economic groups are much smaller in VET than in higher education, but this does not mean social background differences are not a major equity issue (Lamb Long & Malley 1998 p106). Males and females from lower status backgrounds make up the bulk of those who do not undertake any formal training or further education by their mid-20s. The Australian higher education participation rate of individuals from low socio-economic groups was also reported as relatively low by Andrews (1999 pvii) with 19% of higher education students in 1997 coming from the lowest quartile of the population as measured by socio-economic status. This relatively low level of participation remained largely unchanged for about two decades despite substantial increases in the size of the student body and the introduction of HECS. In 1998, students from the lowest socio-economic status quartile in Australia were participating in higher education at approximately only 60% of their proportional share (DETYA 1999a p6). Other survey findings indicated that although HECS was not a main reason given by individuals for failing to participate in higher education, some potential students from low socio-economic status backgrounds may be averse to accruing debt and therefore abandon plans to participate in higher education (Andrews 1999 p25). He concludes that a possible reason why HECS has had little impact on the social composition of the student population is that the primary reason underlying the low participation by low socio-economic status groups in higher education relates to their values and attitudes towards higher education. Darby (2000 p47) is in agreement with Andrews. She suggests that because the student’s family and background (specifically income advantages, inculcation of educational tastes and aspirations and heredity) are major determinants of university participation in Australia, the effects of specific government policies such as AUSTUDY and other educational subsidies to low income families are going to be muted. However other researchers believe there is certainly no doubt that many students from low socio-economic status homes suffer real financial hardship in order to attend university (Abbott-Chapman 1998). Another contributing factor may be that many individuals from low socio-economic status background also belong to other disadvantaged groups such as indigenous Australians, migrants from particular non-English-speaking backgrounds, or may live in rural, remote or isolated parts of Australia (Andrews 1999 p21). The six DETYA target equity groups are certainly not mutually exclusive (Abbott-Chapman 1998). Concerns have been voiced across the higher education sector in Britain about widening participation and increasing student diversity. Conventional wisdom asserts that widening participation can result in a number of social and economic benefits for social groups and individuals, but less is known about the viewpoints and understandings of the working class non-participants themselves. Archer and Hutchings (2000) sought to establish how close working class non-participants’ views of the value and benefits of higher education were to those of government, industry and the universities. Findings suggested that young people from working-class backgrounds largely agreed with official discourses as to the potential individual economic benefits of higher education, but also showed that the young people saw higher education as inherently risky, demanding great investment and costs, and yielding uncertain returns (Archer & Hutchings 2000 p569). Respondents to the research survey also expressed concerns about becoming middle-class and losing one’s working-class cultural identity through participation in higher education (Archer & Hutchings 2000 p570).

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Lynch and O’Riordan (1998) investigated how social class position affected students’ access to and participation in higher education in Ireland. They identified three barriers facing these particular students – economic, social and cultural, and educational. Relative poverty was regarded as the principal barrier to equality of access and participation for low income working-class students but cultural and educational barriers were also of great significance, and all three were highly interactive. The cultural barriers included working-class students’ beliefs that their social and cultural background was not valued in schools or wider society, some working-class parents’ own negative experience of education, working-class people’s sense that higher education was remote and alien from their lives, or was beyond their reach, often because they did not believe in their own abilities. Educational barriers identified were the middle-class nature of educational institutions and their inflexibility and unresponsiveness to the needs of working-class students. Family is also identified as an important influence on participation in lifelong education and training by Gorard, Rees and Fevre (1999). Their large-scale British study investigated patterns of lifetime participation in education and training of parents and children in the same family in the post-second World War period. The families were drawn from an industrial area in South Wales where the researchers believed that changes, both in patterns of lifelong learning related to shifts in the economic structure and in wider social relations, had been especially marked and rapid. Over the period studied, expectations and opportunities for formal education and training increased but take-up of the increased opportunities by respondents to the survey varied. The authors believe the differences can be traced back to highly complex family influences. iii)

Young people’s attitudes and aspirations

The attitudes and aspirations of young people themselves are very much influenced by family background. Wooden (1999) discusses issues relating to young people’s attitudes and expectations, such as whether the expansion in participation in higher education has resulted in young people having higher expectations of entry level jobs than in the past or whether the expectations of young people have been conditioned by the persistently high levels of unemployment, leading many to recognise the need for higher levels of educational attainment whilst concurrently being prepared to accept any job they can find. Clearly all these attitudes, aspirations and expectations will have an impact on participation rates in post-secondary, TAFE and higher education. In an analysis of the Australian Youth Study (AYS) data Abbott-Chapman, Easthope and O’Connor (1997) found students’ aspirations were an important influence on their future careers. The results confirm for both males and females the importance of aspirational factors, subjects studied and background socio-economic factors in influencing the career trajectories of these young people into study and employment respectively. The importance of students’ aspirations for further and higher education is underlined (Abbott-Chapman et al 1997 p21). iv)

Gender

Females are more likely to participate in education and training than males at the post-compulsory level (Ainley 1998, p54). Since 1992 the participation of females has outstripped that of males, while male participation has more or less plateaued. Ainley (1998) drew attention to the fact that the gap between males and females in participation in post-compulsory education and training widened during a period of overall expansion and continued to widen during the following period of contraction. Lamb, Long and Malley (1998 p104) showed that girls more often complete school than boys and now outnumber them in university, but noted that this trend fails to reveal that there are differences in subjects and courses undertaken in school and university. Faculty distributions reveal the gendered nature of many enrolments. In addition, the post graduation career outcomes do not


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tend to favour females. The higher rates of pay enjoyed by young male university graduates at least until age 24 are partly explained by the difference in subject choice. Marginson (1998 p85) shows that among 17-19 year olds, female participation in higher education at 21.3% outstrips male participation at 14.9%, but that male participation rises in older age groups. In the 25-29 years age group it is just below the level of female participation, and a substantial majority of the students in higher degrees are male. The female share of enrolments in higher education by age group shows the female share exceeded male for the first time in 1987 then plateaued at 53-54% until 1997 (last year of data). The proportion of women was highest among young school leaver entrants, whose enrolment patterns were directly affected by the pattern of relatively high female retention to Year 12. The male share of enrolments was higher in older age groups especially the 25-29 age group where males outnumbered females. Males continued to outnumber females in higher degrees in 1996 – doctoral degree enrolments were 41.1% female, coursework Masters programs in Business and related disciplines were 34.5% female (DEETYA 1996 p94). Young women participated in higher education at a greater rate than young men and the gap was widening (DEETYA 1996 Tables 1 & 2 pp88-89). Robinson and Ball (1998) present 1990, 1995 and 1996 participation rates of 15-19 year olds in vocational education showing female participation as lower than male but closest for 15-16 year olds in all three years. There was a 10% or greater difference between males and females in each age group after age 17 in 1990; with the gap between males and females closing in 1995/1996 due to an increase in female participation. Robinson and Ball (1998) conclude that participation rates by 1519 year olds in vocation education and training have remained unchanged over the 1990s. In 1993 women represented 45% of all students in TAFE (excluding Stream 1000). For Stream 1000 (courses that are non-accredited and foster the development of creativity, social and personal skills) women students represented 75.3% of the total students. Gender based segmentation is particularly marked in relation to field of study (Barnett, Foyster & Werner 1996 p4). Women are concentrated in nontrade related and non-accredited training and over-represented in many preparatory and access courses. Lamb, Long and Malley (1998) found female participation in TAFE outstrips male, but female enrolments cluster in four major fields of study – administration/secretarial studies, hospitality and services, health, and arts/humanities. They believe this affects both pay distributions and opportunities for career advancement. Golding and Volkoff (1997) report on research conducted in 1996/97 into uneven patterns of, and barriers to, access, participation and outcomes in vocational education and training for seven different client groups including women, indigenous and NESB people (and others). Clients in four States and six regions of Australia including Burnie, Tasmania are included in the research. They found that there was considerable overlap between memberships of several of the target groups. For example, one third of those interviewed belonged to four or more of the target groups (Golding & Volkoff 1997 p11). The authors highlighted the difficulty of categorising individual clients and client groups by a single characteristic, or access and participation problems by a single barrier. v)

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians have far less access to learning throughout life than other Australians and much less association with the training and careers that come with paid work (ANTA 2000). In 1996, 71% of indigenous secondary students had dropped out of school before Year 12, compared with 26% of other students. In that same year only 12% of indigenous VET students had completed Year 12 compared with 36% of non-indigenous students. Apprenticeship and traineeship retention and completion rates were significantly lower than for other Australians. In 1996 only 14% of indigenous Australians had a post-school qualification, compared with 34% of non-indigenous Australians (ANTA 2000 p10). Reference is made in the strategy document to the traditional indigenous strong link to place, culture, land and family and the subsequent location of residence

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of the bulk of the indigenous population away from the major urban areas where much education and training is provided. Even though VET delivery has expanded, 64% of indigenous people living in rural areas live more than 50kms from the nearest TAFE college (ANTA 2000 p39). Indigenous higher education student numbers have grown in the 1990s (Encel 2000) though these students are under-represented in the sector (Marginson (1998). Encel (2000 p16) indicates that in 1992, 2812 indigenous students were enrolled in Bachelor degrees and that this number had increased to 4351 by 1999. Again the location of home residence is a factor in participation rates with high proportions of indigenous students having to move from their previous home town in order to study. In 1996 62% of indigenous students relocated, in 1997 the figure was 50% and in 1998 43%. The respective figures for non-indigenous students were 34%, 33% and 28% (Encel 2000 p6). Language is a considerable barrier to access to information about available VET programs and participation in those programs. ANTA (2000 p29) indicates that English is a second language for many indigenous people and they have varying degrees of English proficiency. One in five (21%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia speak an indigenous language as their main language (Volkoff & Golding 1998 p3). vi)

Non-English-speaking background (NESB) excluding indigenous

Volkoff and Golding (1998 p3) report that in 1996, 23% of the Australian population had been born overseas and that 14% of Australians spoke a language other than English at home. This can be a barrier to access to information about and participation in education and training (NSW TAFE 1995; Stephens & Bertone 1995; O’Loughlin & Watson 1997), and also to performance in and completion of courses (ABS 1996). Lamb, Long and Malley (1998 p106) state that their research showed differences in participation in VET related to family ethnicity were small and that young people from non-English-speaking backgrounds were not particularly disadvantaged in terms of post-school VET. However they acknowledged that other research showed that there were differences, and this indicated that there might be specific groups of young people from NESB backgrounds who are disadvantaged in terms of post-school VET participation and others who are not. Wooden and VandenHeuvel (1999 p52) using data from the 1991 Census, show that NESB young adults are more likely than other young adults to be studying. Of NESB immigrant young men, 48% were undertaking part time or full time study whereas only 23% of Australian born young men and 19% of ESB immigrant young men were. Similar figures applied for young women, 45%, 21% and 18% respectively. This may be due to a greater value placed on education by NESB families. vii)

Rural and regional issues

The degree of rurality of a region has an impact on post-compulsory educational aspiration and, consequently, on participation (Abbott-Chapman & Kilpatrick 2001; Kilpatrick & Abbott-Chapman 2002). Young people living in rural parts of Australia have different patterns of participation from their urban counterparts (Lamb, Long & Malley 1998; Stevenson, Maclachlan & Karmel 1999). As mentioned in the earlier section on early school leaving, rural schools are usually smaller and less able to offer a comprehensive range of senior school curriculum options (Ainley, Malley & Lamb 1997) and students living in rural areas less often than their metropolitan counterparts continue at school to the final year. The authors note that this is especially apparent for rural girls. Lamb, Long and Malley (1998) show that those from rural areas participate in higher education to a lesser extent than those from urban locations but participation in VET follows a different pattern. VET is important for young people living in rural parts of Australia. The take up of apprenticeships is higher among teenage males in rural areas than in urban areas, although access to particular types of apprenticeships may be more limited. TAFE participation and participation in work-based


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training do not differ very much by geographical location. Generally, living in a rural area is not an impediment to participation in post-school VET, the only disadvantage being the availability of a wide range of specialised courses and training. Other national longitudinal data suggest that after a period in the early 1980s, when rural/urban differences in post-compulsory education and training seemed to be narrowing, by the mid 1990s (all else being equal) “living in a rural area became a strong predictor of non-completion” of Year 12 (Lamb, Dwyer & Wyn 2000 p28). Explanations may focus upon the economic downturn in the rural areas, the loss of facilities and the population drift to the cities, but family and community values surrounding education and their social capital are also involved (Abbott-Chapman 2001; Kilpatrick & Abbott-Chapman 2002). Recent findings in Tasmania echo those of a decade ago, which showed that rural parents’ socio-economic and educational backgrounds are reflected in their goals, aspirations and intentions for their children in study and work (Choate, Cunningham, Abbott-Chapman & Hughes 1992). Educational and employment experiences of older siblings may also lead parents to encourage or discourage their younger children from further study as found in more recent research among rural school leavers and their families (Abbott-Chapman & Baynes 2002). In Tasmania school retention rates to Year 12 vary considerably between regions, districts and schools. In 1998, within the government school sector the southern region had the highest direct retention rates from Year 10 to Year 11 (78.9%). The rate in the north-west was 70.2% and in the north 66.4%. At a district level, retention rates ranged from 81.9% in the Hartz district to 65.9% in the Macquarie district. At the school level the direct retention rate ranges from 100% to 34% (Department of Education 1999 p13). viii) Students with disabilities There has been little research carried out specifically on the post-compulsory participation and retention of students with physical and sensory disabilities. Research in Tasmania by AbbottChapman, Hughes and Wyld (1991, Chapter 14); Abbott-Chapman, Easthope and O’Connor (1993, 1995) and Abbott-Chapman (1998) has broken new ground in this respect. Findings have revealed the social as well as physical access barriers to full education and training participation of students with disabilities, as well as the policies and practices in schools, colleges and university which are helping to remove those barriers. The self-help programs and activities of students with disabilities themselves have helped to ensure more equal participation of students with disabilities at the postcompulsory level. There are increasing numbers of students with disabilities who are accessing postcompulsory education at every level. For instance, in 1997 a substantial survey showed about 2% of University of Tasmania students stated they have a disability on their enrolment form (AbbottChapman 1998) and the latest available figure for 2002 indicates that the corresponding ‘enrolment’ figure is 1.1%. However in 2002, 471 students disclosed directly to the Student Services Section that they had a disability, which is 3.3% of all enrolled University of Tasmania students (University of Tasmania 2002). Since not all students with a disability choose to disclose this to Student Administration or their lecturers these figures are difficult to verify. In terms of national comparison, however, the University of Tasmania is performing well with respect to increasing participation of students with disabilities. Moreover, Tasmanian research findings have shown that students with a disability “in the main are at no more risk of dropping out than are other students in higher education because they are highly motivated to succeed, have strong support networks including self-help groups such as S.E.A.L. (Students for Equal Access in Learning) and a range of ‘targeted’ supports available to them” (Abbott-Chapman 1998 p149). The sense of “perceived personal control in education” (PPCE) among students with a disability was found to be high because of all of the obstacles they had to overcome (Abbott-Chapman et al 1995 p79). The research emphasised the need for educational institutions and educators to be particularly sensitive to the needs of students with disabilities at a very practical level.

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ix)

Transition from education to work

The transition from initial education to working life is defined in OECD planning documents as the period during which young people move from their principal activity being full-time schooling or its equivalent to that in which their principal activity is work. In Australia the transition period is considered to span the ages 16 to 24 years (Ainley, Malley & Lamb (1997 p12). The ways in which young people move from initial education to employment depend on a complex set of interacting conditions (OECD 1998 p49) and vary according to the country of residence of the young person (Mansuy, Fetsi, Scatoli, Mooney & van den Brandes 2001). Education systems in different countries vary greatly in the degree to which general and vocational studies complement each other and in the ways in which they are sequenced. In Australia the great majority of young people enter a general education pathway at the end of compulsory schooling and the choice of a vocational pathway is both delayed and made by relatively few people. Many of those completing the general education pathway enter work rather than further study and so the path to work is an individually constructed one rather than institutionalised one. A significant minority of young people have difficulties in the transition process, 12% leave education and training by age 16 and 10% are unemployed in their early 20s (OECD 1998 p50). Education-employment linkages are similar to those in much of Canada, New Zealand and the United States. It appears that countries with well-developed pathways from education to work succeed in getting young people into their first job quickly and in limiting long-term youth unemployment (OECD 1998 p52). Longitudinal survey results (McKenzie 2001) show that young people who in their first post-school year have been mainly in either part-time work, been unemployed or outside the labour force are much less likely over their first seven post-school years in total to make a successful transition to full-time employment. Curtain (2001a) showed that in May 2001 just under a third (31%) of 15-19 year olds were not in full-time education. Of those, just over a half were in full-time work, the remainder, representing 15.1% of all 15-19 year olds, were ‘at risk’ i.e. in part-time work, unemployed or not actively looking for work. Curtain believes one of the main contributors to the difficulties experienced by young people in their transition from full-time education to full-time work is the absence of full-time jobs for this age group. Full-time jobs for adults aged 25 years and over between May 1995 and 2001 have grown by 9.5%. Over the same period the number of fulltime jobs taken by non-student young people aged 15-19 years and 20-24 years has declined by 8.6% and 13.3% respectively. Curtain asserts that this shows that young people have more difficulty than any other age group in gaining access to full-time work. However, Curtain (2001a) also notes that overall employment growth is insufficient in itself to help young people, and that effective mechanisms to underpin the transition from education to work are also important. He believes economic growth alone is not likely to overcome the difficulties faced by young people on entering the labour market, especially for those young people who have poor literacy and numeracy skills, or suffer from social disadvantages due to location or race or a combination of these factors. Bagnall (2000) debates general versus vocational education and looks at how France and Australia have attempted to solve the increasingly complex problem of the transition from school to work. He refers to the 1997 McGaw Report Shaping Their Future and the issue of high and low status educational pathways. Bagnall concludes that given the increasingly varied and incremental routes into the adult world, educational provision needs to move away from stereotypes that have evolved over centuries of compulsory schooling. He asserts that providers can no longer give status and prestige to one system and not another. If the vocational and technical educational strand is undervalued not only in the compulsory phase but also in post-compulsory provision, educational policy makers and professionals undermine the very fragile, but essential, solution to youth transition uncertainty. The need for diversity and flexibility of provision has never been greater” (Bagnall 2000 p472).


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The change over the past two decades in the pattern of young people’s participation in work, education and training has been dramatic (Robinson & Ball 1998). Earlier young people used to be either in work or full-time education or training with the only real exception being apprenticeships. Now there are many different pathways with the norm being full- or part-time study, often combined with part-time work, and an expansion of structured training through the introduction of traineeships since the mid-1980s. The responsibility for helping young people make a successful transition from initial education to working life cannot be left to a single institution. Schools naturally have a major role to play but other agencies and organisations have a part too. Sustained support from industry, enterprises and wider society is required for success in this area, particularly where the needs of all students and not just those intending to proceed to university are concerned (OECD 1997 p30). Government policy has as a major objective, to strengthen or even create pathways that connect schooling and work for the majority of young people who neither enter university nor obtain an apprenticeship after leaving school (McKenzie 2000) and this is discussed further in a later section. Many aspects of the institutional provisions in Australia that impact on the transition from initial education to working life are changing as better arrangements for education and training are sought…the system itself is changing (Ainley, Malley & Lamb 1997 p43). Among the changes highlighted were the movement from a high level of differentiation between general and vocational education to a less differentiated system, i.e. more vocational education in schools, orienting of senior school programs towards the world of work, and the broadening scope of programs in vocational education and training. The development of vocational education in schools is resulting in stronger linkages to the labour market in the schools where those programs are strong. x)

Returns to education and training

The lack of growth in participation in vocational education among young people would appear to reflect, at least in part, evidence of low returns to vocational qualifications (Wooden 1999 p2; Ainley, Malley & Lamb 1997 p24). The duration of course may also be a factor. It may be the case that many young people surmise that if three years of study is required for both a TAFE and a university qualification then the returns to the latter will probably be greater. Girls and boys may perceive returns to education differently. Wooden, Robertson and Dawkins (1994) found that employment while at secondary school reduced the likelihood of continuing education for girls but not for boys, and argued that this might be a reflection of greater preference for current income or of lower rates of return to education for girls. Financial returns to undertaking higher education remained high after the introduction and changes to HECS and HECS did not appear to have substantially affected the level of applications or enrolments of students in general (Andrews 1999). xi)

Mismatch between provision and industry requirements

Possessing a qualification may not necessarily imply possession of skills that are sought by employers. Wooden (1999 p15) suggests that it is possible that, despite its expansion, the formal education system has contributed to the mismatch between skills demanded and skills supplied by being poorly adapted to user’s needs. The ability of vocational education systems to keep pace with the changes that have been happening in workplaces is questioned (Wooden 1999) and in particular the failure of the apprenticeship system to adapt to the changing nature of work is held responsible for many problems (Sweet 1995, 1996; Dorrance & Hughes 1996). Survey data so far indicate contrasting views. Employer satisfaction with graduates from the TAFE system is shown to be relatively high (NCVER 1997) and a survey of small businesses including those using and not using TAFE graduates concludes that there do not appear to be any fundamental mismatches

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occurring between the demand for VET from small businesses and the supply of publicly funded VET (Baker 1995). This same survey however, showed that 35% of all respondents who had knowledge of the availability of TAFE courses indicated that TAFE training was not well suited to the needs of their business. Wooden (1999 p18) suggests that if the current systems of VET delivery are to better assist young people to acquire skills that are valued by the market, then delivery needs to be re-focussed on the new growth industries and not on the traditional trades. Others have argued that the quality and work-relevance of education in Australia, including basic schooling has declined (Dorrance & Hughes 1996). Schools, as providers of VET programs, are not immune from this criticism with concerns being expressed that curricula have not responded appropriately to changes in the labour market and that a greater role for VET in schools is warranted (Wooden 1999 p18). There have been calls for greater links between schools and industry (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training 1997) and the need for young people to learn to work while still at school (Sweet 1994). xii) Availability of full-time work One of the main contributors to the difficulties experienced by young people in the transition from full-time education to full-time work is the absence of full-time jobs for this age group (Curtain 2001a). Full-time jobs for adults aged 25 years and over between May 1995 and 2001 have grown by 9.5%. Over the same period the number of full-time jobs taken by non-student young people aged 15-19 years and 20-24 years has declined by 8.6% and 13.3% respectively. Curtain asserts that this shows that young people have more difficulty that any other age group in gaining access to full-time work. McClelland, MacDonald and Macdonald (1998) used data from ABS Labour Force survey of May 1996 to show that there were an estimated 187,700 15–19 year olds (almost 15%) engaged in marginal activities at one point of time. The actual figures for the three different categories of marginal activity were 67,800 not studying and in part-time work, 78,200 not studying and unemployed, and 41,700 not studying and not in the labour force. Over a three-year period around 9% of teenagers were engaged in marginal activities, and this translates into a large number of young people whose future may be very constrained. The authors suggest there is a need to minimise early school leaving and at the same time take early action to ensure that early leavers have more structured employment and training options. They also suggest it is imperative that economic development produce more full-time jobs, though improvements to access to education and training must continue to be a priority Full-time jobs are gradually being replaced by part-time casual jobs the majority of which are highly concentrated in low-skill occupations (Wooden 1998). The incidence of part-time employment approximately doubled between the 1970s and the mid 1990s. Wooden, Robertson and Dawkins (1994), using ABS data, show that part-time jobs consisted of 10.6% of all jobs in 1970 but by 1994 this had increased to 24%. Young people were central figures in this increase: in 1970 15-19 year olds accounted for 8.6% of total part-time employment but by 1990 their share was 17%. Teenagers still at school accounted for 2.4% of all part time jobs in 1971 but by mid-1990 the corresponding figure was 10%. The new part-time casual jobs appear to be largely consistent with the preferences of young people still involved in full-time education. However, for non-students the exposure to low-skilled, casual jobs rather than more training-intensive jobs may be problematic in the light of the observations about links between education and training and future well-being made earlier. Wooden and VandenHeuvel (1999) believe attention needs to be paid to the reasons behind the de-skilling of jobs for young adults’ over the past five years as this is not a trend observed for older adults. The fact that such a trend is observed concurrently with an increase in rates of participation in education may mean that the supply of highly educated youth is outstripping demand. Also if de-skilling of jobs for this age group continues, skills


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acquisition as a solution to long-term unemployment will simply serve to delay the entry of these young people into the full-time labour market but will not provide them with employment commensurate with their skills (Wooden & VandenHeuvel 1999 p52). The concentration of teenage employment in small firms – in 1993, 43% of teenage employees were employed in businesses with fewer than 20 employees compared with only 22% of adults (Wooden 1998, p.41) - is further cause for concern since small businesses are less likely to invest in training. xiii) Demographic change This is a key factor that will affect education participation rates considerably. Any attempts to offset this will be a serious challenge. Jackson (2002 p2 forthcoming) looks at the effects of population ageing on the younger age groups and projects that by 2011 Tasmania will be Australia’s oldest State and will be the first State/Territory to enter natural decline. Jackson says the decline is not being caused by very low fertility but by a sizable bite in the age structure over the key reproductive ages and is offset by the fact that in the decade to 2000 Tasmania experienced a net loss of over 19,000 people aged 18-38 years – or 12.5% of those at these ages (2002 p 4). Japan is acknowledged as the world’s oldest and fastest ageing population and Jackson believes that Tasmania has more in common with the speed of ageing of Japan’s population than Australia’s. In the next several decades Jackson asserts there will be dramatic changes in the size of all age groups but most particularly those at the oldest and youngest age groups and in the ratios between them (2002 p 6). There will be a substantial drop in numbers in the 6-11, 12-16 and 17-24 years age groups. The number of students participating in Year 10, 11, 12 and in TAFE and higher education will be similarly reduced. Jackson (2002 p 10) predicts that TAFE and university participation rates will be further affected by the decrease in the labour force entry-exit ratio (or the decrease in the number of young people reaching the age of labour force entry to those approaching retirement and leaving). She suggests that this will increase the demand for the labour of youth and it will be strongly competed for. Such a situation could see a reduction, rather than an increase in TAFE and university participation. This opinion is echoed by many, (Wooden 1999; Gregory 1995; Larum & Beggs 1989; Karmel 1995; Lewis & Koshy 1997) who believe that the principal driving factor for the expansion of participation in education appears to be lack of employment opportunities rather than the prospect of increased rewards for education. Jackson and Thompson (2002, forthcoming) suggest acceptance of, and preparation for, the demographic changes by considering the short- and medium-term measures that might be taken to maintain school and university (and labour force) populations at or near their current sizes. They also refer to the opportunities that may be provided by the demographic changes. They highlight the fact that for the first time in modern human history we can look forward to deepening investment in human capacity, rather than always having to stretch limited dollars across more and more people.

10. The impact of government policies on participation in education and training Government policies and changes to these policies, in particular changes in educational financing, have enormous potential to affect participation in education and training. In Australia, the introduction of HECS has been suggested by many as a factor that has contributed to the low rate of higher education participation of individuals from low socio-economic groups. Marginson (1998) showed that in 1996 56.5% of all students elected to pay their HECS on a deferred basis through the tax system, 23.1% paid at the point of enrolment, 12.8% paid upfront tuition fees (including international and postgraduate students) and the remainder had their fees paid by a third parties or were exempt.

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Financial returns to undertaking higher education have been found to have remained high after the introduction and changes to HECS and, as has already been mentioned in relation to socio economic status, HECS did not appear to have substantially affected the level of applications or enrolments of students in general (Andrews 1999). Andrews (1999 p25) expresses no surprise over this finding as the HECS payment can be deferred. Marginson (1998 p97) also indicated that in its first five years HECS had little effect on the socioeconomic composition of higher education. However he believes the 1997 increases in the level of HECS charges and the introduction of undergraduate fees in 1998 add two new potentially influential elements to the equation. The introduction of the Common Youth Allowance in July 1998 was intended to simplify payments for young people and increase them for young homeless people and some students. The Allowance was also meant to encourage 16-17 year olds to see that their long-term futures are reliant on their continuing in full-time education and training (McClelland, MacDonald & MacDonald 1998 p117). A large number of funding and policy changes may have impacted on the participation and outcomes of 15-19 year olds in the vocational education and training sector since 1990. Funding for pre-vocational courses stopped at the end of the 1980s, the Training Guarantee Act was introduced in 1990, the off-the-job training subsidy component of CRAFT was dropped, except to group schemes (1990), traineeships were introduced in 1985 and extended to all age groups in 1992, and in 1994 the Working Nation strategy included National Training Wage traineeships that allowed some traineeships to be all-on-the-job and encouraged the penetration of traineeships into new areas of the labour market. In 1993 an ANTA agreement introduced changes in intergovernment arrangements for the governance and management of TAFE and training based on a national cooperative system. To overcome a perceived funding imbalance between TAFE and schools and universities the Commonwealth injected an additional $70million of growth funds in each year from 1993 to the VET sector. In 1995 the Australian Vocational Training System was introduced building on apprenticeships and traineeships and introducing changes to curriculum and assessment, conversion of courses to a competency base and recognition of prior learning. Overall, however, Robinson and Ball (1998) concluded that participation rates by 15-19 year olds in vocational education and training have remained unchanged over the 1990s but the training agreement arrangements and courses being undertaken by the group have changed. There has been a shift away from apprentices training in the vehicle and building occupational groups since 1990, consistent with the decline in demand for these skills. Expansion of traineeships since 1990 has expanded entry level training notably in the ‘clerks’ and ‘salespersons and personal service workers’ occupational groups. A large proportion of apprentices and trainees in the 15-19 year age group are training in industries that are forecast to decline relative to other industry sectors to 2000-01. Research suggests that there are substantial advantages to individuals who undertake vocational education, particularly in the initial years of employment. Entry-level training continues to be important because the notion of continual skills upgrading of employees has not yet become ingrained across industries. Technological change and globalisation has rendered obsolete the notion that getting skills virtually guaranteed better jobs, higher wages and greater economic security (Loble 2001). There is now general agreement that we must raise educational sights and attainment to open up opportunities for national progress but Loble believes that educational strategies alone will be insufficient (2001 p146). As has been mentioned already, Buchanan and Bretherton (1999) stated the need for public policy to establish a better matching of employment and education arrangements, to achieve a better fit between work and education and to see if activities in these separate spheres can be mutually reinforcing instead of co-existing in totally unconnected ways. McKenzie (2000) states that it has been a major objective of government policy to strengthen or even create pathways that connect schooling and work for the majority of young people who


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neither enter university nor obtain an apprenticeship after leaving school. Another objective has been to help young people navigate their way through the increasingly complex array of education and training options that are now available. Over the last decade McKenzie believes that many steps have been taken to improve the educationto-work transition and he lists these as: ◆ the development of a national framework for education and employment policy within a federal political structure ◆ curriculum and financing changes that have helped lift education participation rates ◆ the attempts to strengthen linkages between the education sector and enterprises ◆ the emphasis on providing young people with multiple pathways, including more vocationally oriented options in secondary school ◆ flexible delivery of education and training. The challenges remaining are listed as: ◆ how to continue reforming upper secondary education so that it is relevant and inclusive for the whole age group and not just those oriented to higher education ◆ how to strengthen education-industry partnerships where there is limited tradition of this type of relationship ◆ how to better meet the needs of the 15-20% of young people who are at greatest risk of not finding suitable employment ◆ the need to clarify the respective responsibilities of the Commonwealth, the States, and public and private institutions for policy development and program delivery ◆ how to generate employment growth – answers to transition problems have to be also found on the demand side of the youth labour market, and not just on the supply side where most of the attention seems to have been directed (McKenzie 2000 p10) The Prime Minister’s establishment of the Youth Pathways Action Taskforce in late 1999 is an attempt to develop a set of policy directions that will provide a more coherent notion of pathways for all young people, with particular attention to those for whom secondary schooling is least attractive and who may lack access to other social support services. McKenzie notes (2000 p11) that the Taskforce’s terms of reference are concerned with young people’s transition to independence not just work, indicating recognition of the many and inter-related transitions occurring in young people’s lives. McKenzie shows that those who leave school early find it harder to overcome any initial poor start in the labour market and face greater risks of exclusion in a society that requires active learning over the lifespan (2000 p11). He believes that important and valuable policies will be those that reduce the incidence of early school leaving, improve the information and counselling available to young people and their families, track the experiences of school leavers, and intervene at an early stage to assist those at risk in the transition process. McKenzie also suggests that prevention is central; through improving young people’s foundation skills for lifelong learning and providing learning environments that are attractive and relevant to the great majority of the young (2000 p11). Commonwealth government policy in general has sought to broaden the social, educational and occupational composition of the potential pool of entrants to higher education. A major focus has been the participation of indigenous students and between 1994 and 1996 the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled increased from 6264 to 6956 (Marginson 1998).

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There are other examples of national policies that generally encourage higher participation rates. The Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century (MCEETYA 1999) states that “all students have access to the high quality education necessary to enable the completion of school education to Year 12 or its vocational equivalent and that provides clear and recognised pathways to employment and further education and training.” The Australian National Training Authority Strategy for Vocational Education and Training A Bridge to the Future (ANTA 1999) lists five objectives identified by the ANTA Ministerial Council. These are: equipping Australians for the world of work, enhancing mobility in the labour force, achieving equitable outcomes in vocational education and training, increasing investment in training, and maximising the value of public vocational education and training expenditure. The Federal government’s higher education objectives set out in Higher Education Report for the 19992003 Triennium (DETYA 1999b) are to expand opportunity, assure quality, improve universities’ responsiveness to varying student needs and industry requirements, advance the knowledge base and contribute to national and global innovation and ensure public accountability for cost-effective use of public resources. At a meeting in Adelaide in April 1999, the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) identified the following elements as priorities for action in 1999-2004: further expansion of VET in Schools and part-time New Apprenticeships for senior secondary schools; specific measures to address organisational and cultural change in schools; introduction of specific strategies to improve access for students in rural and remote areas and for educationally disadvantaged students; and establishment of arrangements for the assessment of CVET to provide a direct contribution to tertiary entrance scores in order to ensure that genuine pathways exist.

Conclusion In conclusion, the review findings show that the barriers to education and training of disadvantaged groups at social, economic and cultural levels, are so pervasive that only political leadership through government policy initiatives, and concerted educational and community collaboration to achieve goals set, will bring about any sort of improvement. This is why the Tasmania Together process, and all that has sprung from it, are so important for the well-being of the whole Tasmanian community.


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