Pathways through vocational education and training for school

leavers

David D Curtis

10th Annual AVETRA ConferenceEvolution, Revolution or Status Quo?

Victoria University

11-13 April 2007

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

• The research being reported was funded and

commissioned by the Department of Education

Science and Training (DEST)

• The research is part of the LSAY program, a

joint DEST / ACER initiative

• This presentation deals with some aspects of

the study, which is still in progress

• The views expressed are the author’s and are

not those of DEST

Outline

Participation in VET programsVET Program types:

Apprenticeships;

Traineeships;

Non-Apprenticeship courses

Completion of VET programs

Outcomes following VET programsEmployment status;

Weekly earnings and hours worked;

Benefits to program completion

Data and Methods

• Data sourcesLongitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth

(LSAY)Cohort sampled in 1995 (Y95) in Year 913,613 participants; 2 stage stratified sampleVET sector courses commenced by 2001Outcomes assessed in 2004 (Age = 23 years)Attrition: 2001, n=6,876; 2004, n=4,660

• LimitationsStudy restricted to young people in transition

(Much VET provision for older workers)

• MethodsCross-tabulations and logistic regression

Results 1: DemographicsNo PSS Apprnt’shp Traineeship Non-app

VETUni

Sex

Female 22 3 11 27 47

Male 25 20 8 21 35

Indig.St.

Indigenous 30 14 24 25 22

Non-Indig 23 12 9 25 42

Location

Metro 21 10 7 26 46

Regional 26 14 12 21 37

Remote 25 14 14 24 34

Results 2: Family BackgroundNo PSS Apprnt’shp Traineeship Non-app

VETUni

Parent Occ

Prof & para 16 8 7 20 59

Manag. 18 11 10 24 47

Clerical 22 11 11 26 40

Trades 26 18 10 25 32

Machine op 30 7 11 31 32

Labourer 28 10 12 26 33

Parent Ed.

Inc. sec 29 11 11 25 32

Comp. sec 25 11 12 25 38

Trade 21 16 10 25 38

Post sec. 13 8 7 19 64

Results 3: School FactorsNo PSS Apprnt’shp Traineeship Non-app

VETUni

Achieve Qtl

Lowest 35 16 11 31 15

Low-mid 26 13 11 29 32

Mid-high 19 11 11 22 49

Highest 13 7 6 15 68

Schl sector

Govt 27 13 11 26 33

Catholic 16 9 7 24 53

Independent 13 7 6 19 66

Results 4: School FactorsNo PSS Apprnt’shp Traineeship Non-app

VETUni

Yr Level

Yr 10 42 29 14 22 1

Yr 11 41 25 14 24 4

Yr 12 18 6 9 25 51

VETiS

No VETiS 18 7 8 22 54

VETiS 29 15 12 31 22

Program Completion

• Apprenticeships84% of commencers complete (m 87%, f 60%)

• Traineeships83% of commencers complete (m 81%, f 84%)

• Non-apprenticeship VET73% completion, but…

83% for lower certificates78% for higher certificates65% for diploma programs

• No influence of individual demographic factors• Substantial effects by field of study• Caution

These completion rates are higher than those reported by NCVER based on AVETMISS data

Outcomes

• Outcomes investigated were:1. Employment status (at 2004 interview)

FT employment; FT study; PT employment; Unemployed; NILF

2. Weekly gross earnings and hours worked

• Outcomes were assessed by1. Program type

2. Completion status

Education & Labour Market Status 2004

Sex Program FTS FTW PTW Unemp NILF

Female No PSS 2 60 14 7 18

Appshp 3 72 15 2 8

Trshp 3 76 8 4 8

NAV 5 70 11 4 11

Total 4 67 12 5 13

Male No PSS 2 78 8 9 4

Appshp 1 94 2 1 1

Trshp 2 87 6 0 5

NAV 4 82 7 5 2

Total 2 84 6 5 3

Earnings and Hours Worked

0

200

400

600

800

1000

Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male

No post-school study Apprenticeship Traineeship Non-app VET

Wee

kly

earn

ing

s

20

40

60

80

100

120

Ho

urs

Earnings Hours

Benefits to Completion

FTW PTW

Male Female Male Female

No PSS 78 60 8 14

App’shp Inc 85 75 12 4

Comp 96 70 1 22

Tr’shp Inc 89 68 11 8

Comp 87 78 6 8

Non-app VET

Inc 76 59 10 11

Comp 84 73 6 10

Results: Summary

• Substantial differences in post-school education and training pathway by:

Family SES; Sex; Country of birth; Indigenous status; Location;

• Apprenticeship pathway is important for:Males; School non-completers; Regional youth;

• Traineeship pathway is important for:Females; Indigenous youth; Rural youth;

• Non-apprenticeship VET pathwayprovides equitable access on most characteristics.

• Higher education is accessed by:Females; high achievers; high SES; OS NESB;

Results: Summary

All VET pathways are associated with more favourable outcomes than no post-school study

Increased FT work; Reduced unemploymentbut variable earnings benefits

Apprenticeships have the most favourable outcomes, but these appear to relate to fields of training/work and are gender-related

Traineeships work well for young womenBenefits to Non-app VET are less pronounced cf

apprenticeships, but typically Non-app VET courses do not require labour market experience

Implications

• Skills FormationYoung people who do no post-school

training are at risk of marginalisation

Not all pathways are equally productive for all young people

Apprenticeships important for males – labour market segmentation

Traineeships important for females

Higher education participation is related to ability and aspiration. Aspiration (and intention) mediate achievement and language background (Khoo & Ainley, 2005)

Implications

• Advice for Young PeopleYoung people form school completion and

post-school intentions by early secondary school

Career decisions are based on some good and some poor information (Beavis et al., 2005)

Poor information requires remediation

Some pathways are more promising than others for sub-groups of young people

Advice on the outcomes of alternative pathways could be provided explicitly during early secondary schooling