In education policy, as in many other policy fields, well-designed policy reforms may fail to get enacted because policymakers may suddenly become confronted with a public backlash against their reform agenda. Thus, understanding the dynamics of public opinion is important in order to be able to assess the chances of successful reform. There is a…

This paper examines trends in school-to-work transitions of young men and women with lower and higher secondary education in West Germany between 1984 and 2005. This period was marked by an increase in young women's educational attainment and a continuous growth of the service sector. We assume that both developments have benefited women more than…

The aim of this report is to examine the potential use of information from the Student Outcomes Survey, including the use of student course satisfaction information and post-study outcomes, as a means of determining markers of training quality. In an analysis of the student course satisfaction measures, the authors found there are very small…

There has been a discernable focus within many Australian industries on improving the rates of completion amongst their apprentices and trainees. This paper outlines the results of a study which involved a multivariate analysis of data relating to apprenticeship and traineeship completion, derived from a database developed by the Victorian…

Low levels of education generally among people with a disability is one of the factors contributing to their lower rate of labour market participation. What role vocational education and training (VET) plays in ameliorating this is the focus of this report. Using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia surveys, the report…

This research investigates the incidence and wage effects of overskilling for vocational education and training (VET) graduates in Australia between 2001 and 2006. Overskilling is defined as the extent to which workers are able to use their skills and abilities in their current job. The authors compare overskilling with other measures of skill…

To increase the rate at which adult basic skills students advance to and succeed in college-level occupational programs, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) developed the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training, or I-BEST. In the I-BEST model, a basic skills instructor and an occupational instructor team…

Over the past two decades, both the number and the proportion of students undertaking formal study past the compulsory school years have increased dramatically. Between 1991 and 2000, for example, the number of people aged 19 and under participating in all forms of vocational education and training (VET) increased by more than 50 per cent (NCVER,…

This support document accompanies the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) report "From School to Work: The Role of Traineeships" (ED493902). It contains a comprehensive review of the literature referred to in that report and detailed descriptions and results of the econometric modeling upon which the findings are…

The return on investment (ROI) obtained by enterprises that invest in training was examined through case studies of seven Australian work organizations. The case study organizations included a government-owned transportation company, a privately owned company, a major nongovernmental charitable organization, a publicly listed corporation, and two…