The vocational education and training (VET) system can provide an entry point to the education sector for people who have experienced disadvantage in their lives. Participation in VET can provide personal benefits as well as lead to further study and/or employment. How disadvantaged learners participate in vocational education and training is an…

This paper brings together recent statistics relating to the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education. A number of key statistical realities relating to their enrolment into, retention during, and completion of, their university courses are depicted. Foremost among these realities is that despite…

The purpose of this study was to examine disproportionality in transition services for students with disabilities. The authors predicted that students' transition services and secondary programs would be driven not only by their postschool goals, but also by their gender, ethnicity, disability, and school setting. To test this hypothesis, the…

Estimates say that nearly 30 percent of adults in the United States have a criminal record--roughly 65 million individuals. While not all of them have served a jail or prison sentence, they nonetheless face barriers to gainful employment due to the stigma of a record, as well as generally lower levels of education and job training. The overall…

This paper is based on a small-scale mixed-method research project, which was located in south-east England and was funded by the British Academy. The project, investigated the factors that affected young people's decisions not to progress to higher education (HE) after following a Level 3 vocational pathway in upper secondary education. Set…