This paper reports on research examining a number of ways in which participation in vocational education and training (VET) in schools might be associated with different post school pathways. The paper describes levels of participation, examines post-school destinations, and presents evidence that there are gender differences in these destinations that are associated with the level of participation in VET in schools

Fullarton, Sue

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Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) ACEReSearch 2001 - Understanding Youth Pathways 1997-2008 ACER Research Conference Archive 2001 Does VET in Schools Make a Difference to Post-School Pathways? Sue Fullarton ACER, sue.thomson@acer.edu.au Follow this and additional works at: https://research.acer.edu.au/research_conference_2001  Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons Recommended Citation Fullarton, Sue, "Does VET in Schools Make a Difference to Post-School Pathways?" (2001). https://research.acer.edu.au/research_conference_2001/3 This Conference Paper is brought to you by the 1997-2008 ACER Research Conference Archive at ACEReSearch. It has been accepted for inclusion in 2001 - Understanding Youth Pathways by an authorized administrator of ACEReSearch. For more information, please contact repository@acer.edu.au. BackgroundMost Year 12 curriculum structures in Australia haveevolved from frameworks that were traditionallyoriented towards university study. However, the 1980ssaw profound changes to the face of secondary schoolsin Australia. Due to a combination of a declining youthlabour market, changes in student financial supportand efforts to broaden the appeal of senior secondaryschool, the apparent retention rate to Year 12 increaseddramatically from 35 per cent in 1980 to a peak of 77per cent nationally in 1992. This marked rise in schoolretention led to reconsideration of the emphasis ofsenior secondary schooling.In all states and territories major changes were madeto the provision of programs in the senior secondaryschool to accommodate the requirements of a broaderrange of students. A variety of alternative studies wereintroduced into the curriculum, however these werenot usually linked to forms of continuing study.During the 1990s these alternatives were largelybrought into the ‘fold’ of the senior secondarycertificate. The 1990s also saw the emergence ofanother form of alternate program, VocationalEducation and Training in Schools, which was linkedto the VET system and provided pathways toemployment or further education for students. Theintroduction of VET subjects into the senior secondaryschool was seen as a means of providing real choicefor those students not inclined towards academicstudies, and to provide alternatives for those studentsat-risk of early school leaving.There are a number of reasons that students should beencouraged to remain and complete their secondaryschooling. One is purely pragmatic. Evidence from avariety of research studies suggests that those wholeave school early are at risk. Students who leaveschool early earn less money, face a greater chance ofunemployment, a higher probability of obtaining lowskilled work, and a higher probability of not being inthe labour force at all, compared to their peers thatremain and complete Year 12 (Lamb & Rumberger,1999; Kirby, 2000; Marks et al., 2000).There is also evidence that a curriculum that fosterscloser links between school and work results in higherlevels of student satisfaction (Warner, 1992; Batten &Russell, 1995), and a key aim of recent policy inpost-compulsory education and training has been tostrengthen these links. This focus has seen thedevelopment of structured workplace learningprograms involving collaboration between schools andlocal industries, and collaborative arrangementsbetween schools and local Technical and FurtherEducation (TAFE) colleges and some private VETproviders.The inclusion of VET subjects in secondary schoolsalso adds a further dimension to education. VET inSchools ideally promotes the concept of lifelonglearning by presenting students with a picture of aworld in which education and work are intertwined,providing them with opportunities to enter eitherwork or tertiary education, or some combination of thetwo. For most young people, there will be a need forparticipation in some form of education and trainingthroughout their lives, thereby “’learning-to-learn’ fornew job opportunities in an advanced knowledge,communications and technological society” (Kirby,2000, p37). Students who remain in school andcomplete a recognised course of education are morelikely to be able to respond to such requirements.Recognising this, MCEETYA (1999) stated explicitly inthe Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schoolingin the Twenty-first Century that all students should havehad access to vocational education and trainingprograms while in their senior secondary years, andaccess to education that provides clear and recognisedpathways to employment and further educationand training.NomenclatureThe term ‘VET in Schools’ in Australia refers tovocational programs that comply with the NationalTraining Framework and which also form part of asenior secondary certificate. This definition includesprograms incorporating structured workplace learningas well as a large number of school-based vocationalACER Research Conference 2001Understanding Youth Pathways: What does the research tell us?40Does VET in Schools make a difference to post-schoolpathways?Sue FullartonACER, fullarton@acer.edu.auSue Fullarton is a Research Fellow at ACER, where she is primarily engaged on the program of Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth. Shehas wide-ranging professional experience in education; teaching mathematics at secondary and tertiary level, lecturing in statistics, computingand research methodology at tertiary level, working with medical doctors in using appropriate research methods and data analysis. Her majorresearch interests lie in the area of engagement with learning, particularly in mathematics, but broadly as well. Her work at ACER has includedmanagement of a major international professional development project in science and mathematics, in-depth analysis of data from TIMSSexamining school and teacher effects in addition to reports for the LSAY program on subject choice at Year 12 and VET in Schools.ACER Research Conference 2001Understanding Youth Pathways: What does the research tell us?41programs that do not necessarily involve work-basedlearning or school/industry partnerships. The termrefers to programs where the curriculum andassessment are based on designated competencies, andoutcome standards are industry-based.The largest portion of VET in Schools programs do notinvolve students being engaged in a work orwage-based training contract as part of their studies.Recent years have also seen the introduction of School-based New Apprenticeships (SBNA). In this type ofprogram a young person attends school for off-the-jobskills training and subjects associated with the end ofschool certificate, but also works as an employeeengaged under a New Apprenticeship contract. Theconfiguration of school and work in this type ofprogram differs from state to state and betweenindustry areas, but generally takes the form of a youngperson studying for their end of school certificate whilesimultaneously being indentured to an employer.Data for this study: The LongitudinalSurveys of Australian YouthThe Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY)program at ACER studies the progress of severalcohorts of young Australians between school,post-secondary education and training and work. Theoldest cohort in this study was born in 1961, while theyoungest was a nationally representative sample ofYear 9 students selected in 1998. The data used in thisstudy were from the 1995 cohort of LSAY, which wasfirst surveyed in their Year 9 class in 1995 and at thetime of the 2000 interviews had, for the majority ofsample members, completed Year 12 two years earlierin 1998. This cohort have been surveyed each yearsince 1995 and asked a broad range of questionsexamining participation in education, training andwork, and including questions that tap into students’beliefs about education, teachers and schools.For this study, participation in VET in Schools wasdefined from positive responses to questions on the 1997and 1998 surveys asking students whether (in Year 11and Year 12 respectively) they were participating in anyform of VET in Schools. Responses to these items helpedcategorise the respondents into one of three groups:• those students who took no VET in Schools;• those students who took VET in Schools in eitherYear 11 or Year 12; and• those students who took VET in Schools in bothYear 11 and Year 12.The extent of VET participation is an indication insome ways of how seriously the student has takenparticipation in VET in Schools. Some studentspursued vocational education to a greater extent thanothers, who may simply wish to “sample” VET duringtheir senior years.Around three-quarters of the original Y95 sample ofstudents participated in Year 12 in 1998 (Marks et al.,2000). Of these students, 15 per cent said that they hadtaken some VET in Schools subjects at either Year 11 or12, and around 7 per cent that they had completedsubjects at both Year 11 and Year 12.The question raised in this paper is “Does VET inSchools make a difference to post-school pathways?”There are difficulties in attributing causality that shouldbe acknowledged. Outcomes may be more about theaspirations and preferences of students than aboutparticipation in VET in Schools, and choices may wellreflect students’ interests or abilities. As well, we haveonly a brief period of time after completing school forwhich we can examine outcomes. In this study we areessentially looking at positive associations with VET inSchools, in which case we should begin by looking atwhich students participate in VET in Schools.Participation in VET in SchoolsA recent analysis of participation rates for VET inSchools for the Y95 data (Fullarton, in preparation) hasdescribed the following differences, from an “otherthings equal” analysis which included state,achievement in literacy and numeracy in Year 9, schoolsector, locality, parents’ country of birth, parents’occupation and gender as controls.• Compared to students in New South Wales (21%participation rate), students from Queensland (41%)and Western Australia (29%) were more likely toparticipate in VET in Schools and students inVictoria (12%) and South Australia (18%) were lesslikely to participate.• Students from the lowest achievement level werethe most likely to participate (37%, compared to29% for the lower middle achievement level).• Those from non-Catholic independent schools wereless likely to participate than those in governmentschools (14% compared to 26% in governmentschools).• Those students whose parental background wasfrom a non-English speaking country, and thosewhose parents were employed in professional ormanagerial occupations were less likely toparticipate.• There were no gender differences in participation,and, all other things equal, no differences by schoollocality.A further multivariate analysis was carried out usingdata from the Quality of School Life subscales thatstudents answered in Year 9. These subscalesrepresented students’ general satisfaction with school,opportunity (the student’s belief in the relevance ofschooling), achievement (a sense of confidence in one’sability to succeed), and attitude to teachers (a feelingACER Research Conference 2001Understanding Youth Pathways: What does the research tell us?42about the adequacy of the interaction betweenstudents and teachers). Holding other things equal, itwas found that a student’s strong self-confidence intheir ability was predictive of their non-participationin VET in Schools. However, students who held strongbeliefs that what they learn in school will be useful inthe future, that it will be a resource that will provideopportunities, in other words that schooling is relevantto them, are more likely to do VET in Schools.Pathways from school toemployment, education and trainingThe paper examines the immediate post-schooldestinations of the 1995 cohort of Year 9 students whocompleted secondary school in 1998. These outcomeswere broadly categorised as working (full-time orpart-time, with or without study, or enrolled in anapprenticeship or traineeship) or not working(studying, unemployed or not in the labour force).VET in Schools participants were much more likely thantheir non-VET peers to be in the workforce in their firstyear after completing school. Of those students who didno VET in Schools, some 19 per cent were workingfull-time in 1999, compared to 29 per cent of those whodid one year VET in Schools and 32 per cent of thosewith two years. A further 7 per cent of those with noVET entered into apprenticeships or traineeships,compared to 15 per cent of those with one year and 17per cent of those with two years VET in Schools.Correspondingly, students who had not participated inVET in Schools were more likely to be in tertiaryeducation. Around 63 per cent of the students who didnot participate went on to tertiary study in their firstyear after school, compared to around 44 per cent ofthe students who did VET in Schools. The latter groupwere more likely to move on to TAFE than university,with around one-quarter enrolling in TAFE and one infive enrolling at university. For those who did no VETin Schools, almost one-half enrolled at university whileone in six enrolled in a TAFE course.Gender differences: An example of theeffect of participation in VET in SchoolsMost noticeable when the data were disaggregated bygender were the marked gender differences inparticipation in full-time employment or tertiary studyand the interaction with level of VET in Schools study.For young females, level of participation in VET inSchools was not associated with either the level ofparticipation in full-time work or the level ofenrolment in tertiary study. Participation in thefull-time workforce was highest for those who hadparticipated in VET in Schools and lowest for thosewho had not. Correspondingly, enrolment in tertiaryeducation was highest for those females who did notparticipate in VET in Schools and lowest for those whohad. Whether it was one year of VET in Schools or twoyears however, made little difference.However, for young males there were strikingdifferences. Levels of participation in full-timeemployment were lowest for those who did no VET inSchools, increased for those who had completed oneyear, and were substantially higher for those who hadcompleted two years of VET in Schools.Correspondingly, levels of participation in tertiaryeducation were highest for those males who had no VETparticipation, substantially lower for those with one yearparticipation and lower still for those who hadcompleted two years of VET in Schools. It may be thatthe types of program that young males and femalesundertake are substantially different, with a strongerlikelihood that the type of program that is undertakenby young males will lead to full-time employment.ConclusionThis research examines a number of ways in whichparticipation in VET in Schools might be associatedwith different post-school pathways. There are avariety of reasons that participation in VET in Schoolsis of benefit to a significant proportion of students inour schools, and it is important that participation andoutcomes are monitored.This paper describes levels of participation in VET inSchools, finding that participation is higher in somestates than others, and that participation is highestamong those students in the lowest achievementquartile, from government schools, from an English-speaking background and among those whose parentsare employed in unskilled manual occupations. Thepaper also examines post-school destinations, andpresents evidence that there are gender differences inthese destinations that are associated with the level ofparticipation in VET in Schools.ReferencesKirby, P. (Chair) (2000). Ministerial review of post-compulsoryeducation and training pathways in Victoria interim report April2000. Melbourne: DEET.Fullarton, S. (in preparation). VET in Schools: Participation andpathways. (LSAY Research Report).Lamb, S. & Rumberger, R. (1999). The initial work and educationexperiences of early school leavers: A comparative study of Australiaand the United States. (LSAY Research Report No. 14).Camberwell, Victoria: ACER.Marks, G. N., Fleming, N., Long, M. & McMillan, J. (2000).Patterns of participation in Year 12 and higher education inAustralia: Trends and issues. (LSAY Research Report No. 17).Camberwell, Victoria: ACER.MCEETYA (1999). The Adelaide declaration on national goals forschooling in the twenty-first century. Availablehttp://www.curriculum.edu.au/mceetya/national goals/.Melbourne: Ministerial Council on Education,Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).

Does VET in Schools Make a Difference to Post-School Pathways?

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Does VET in Schools Make a Difference to Post-School Pathways?

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