Sheldon Rothman

This paper examines the influence of SES on student achievement using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), a national program of research on the transitions young people make from school. LSAY encompasses data from earlier Australian longitudinal studies—Youth in Transition (YIT; 1978-2002), the Australian Longitudinal Survey (ALS; 1984-1987), and the Australian Youth Surveys (AYS; 1989-1997)—and earlier studies

Youth in Transition (YIT), a program of longitudinal surveys conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), began in 1978. The program was designed to trace national samples of 6 000 young people who were born in 1961 and had participated as 14-year-olds in the Australian Studies in School Performance in 1975 (Keeves & Bourke, 1976). New samples were

The ‘Little children are sacred’ report concluded that improving the quality of education provided the key to solving, or at least ameliorating, the incidence of child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities. The report identified poor educational outcomes as being at the heart of the exclusion of Aboriginal people from confidently participating in either their own culture or mainstream culture.845 A

Findings presented in this report are based on the On Track telephone survey of 36,022 Year 12 or equivalent completers and 4,676 early leavers from the 2008 school year in Victoria. Year 12 or equivalent completers are defined as those who completed a Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), International Baccalaureate (IB) or Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL, Senior or

This report examines recent school leavers who commenced non-apprenticeship VET courses in Australia during the late 1990s. The focus is on the early post-school years, up to age 20. The report has two broad aims: to describe the educational, training and labour market pathways of non-apprenticeship VET course entrants; and to identify factors associated with persistence in non-apprenticeship VET courses.

The VET sector provides several major pathways for young people from education to work and one of them is the apprenticeship. Apprenticeships combine participation in work and formal learning in an extended education and training structure that contributes to skill formation for individuals and the wider skills base. This paper uses Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth data to examine patterns of participation in and completion of apprenticeships. Participation in apprenticeship is a predominantly male activity associated with family backgrounds in skilled trades, realistic vocational interests and below average school achievement. Vocational interests developed by middle secondary school are associated with higher participation levels in traditional apprenticeships. Apprenticeship is more common amongst those who have studied vocational subjects in secondary school or who do not complete Year 12. Overall completion rates are approximately 80% with variations across fields of tr...

This report provides details of the experiences of the 2003 cohort of 15 year-olds of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) in 2005. Information on this cohort was first collected in 2003 when these young people participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). A follow-up telephone interview that year collected further information on the cohort. The reference period for this report is 2005, when the age of respondents was 17 years. Information about the activities of the 2003 cohort of 15 yearolds in previous years is available in earlier reports in this series.

This report examines the influence of a range of factors on the literacy and numeracy achievement levels of Year 9 students in Australia. The data were obtained from students in the first wave of LSAY and were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling to account for the sample design of LSAY. Modelling procedures followed a theoretical construct, incorporating variables believed to be important influences on achievement in literacy and numeracy. In addition, variables were selected to ensure consistency between cohorts and between literacy and numeracy. Included in the analyses were variables relating to students (gender, Indigenous background, language background, home location), their parents (education level, occupation, birthplace), attitudes toward school, aspirations and self-concept.

The literature on career decision-making suggests that students make their decisions based on the degree of match between their own attributes and certain perceived characteristics of occupations and that these perceptions are generally accurate (Gottfredson, 2002). However, in Australia, there is also evidence that students have misunderstandings about the status of some occupations, including trades (Alloway, Dalley, Patterson, Walker, & Lenoy, 2004). The sources of career advice available to middle-secondary students and their satisfaction with that advice was found through a survey of a representative sample of Australian 15-year-old students. Nearly all Year 10 students reported that they had received career advice at school and they stated that they were satisfied with that advice. It was found, however, that students' career aspirations do not match well with the opportunities in the Australian labour market and that some students (a minority) are embarking on educationa...