- Title
- Choosing VET as a post-school activity: What are some influences on non-metropolitan students?
- Creator
- Smith, Erica; Foley, Annette
- Date
- 2021
- Type
- Text; Conference paper
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/182209
- Identifier
- vital:16096
- Identifier
- https://avetra.org.au/resources/Documents/Conference Archives/Conference Archive 2021/Smith__Foley-Choosing_VET_as_a_post-school_activity-What_are_some_influences_on_non-metropolitan_students.pdf
- Abstract
- This paper draws on data from recently-completed research funded by the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) and undertaken in the State of Victoria, in six non-metropolitan communities: three in rural/regional areas and three in peri-urban areas. The rationale for the research was that, despite decades of effort, education outcomes for rural and regional areas in Australia remain well under the Australian average (Napthine et al, 2019), partly because so many young people need to leave home to attend tertiary education (McKenzie, 2014). There is almost no specific research on peri-urban areas. For this paper we have extracted data, from selected phases of the project, specifically to find out why young people may or may not make VET choices. The method for this paper comprised analysis of data from each site, consisting of: • Interviews with VET-sector organisations; • ‘Snapshot surveys’, completed, prior to interviews and focus groups, by 80 young people in schools and 32 in their second-year out; • Publicly-available government ‘On-Track’ data (DET, 2018), of young people in their first year out of school. Recent related literature looks at VET choices in terms of the perceived and actual financial rewards of VET choices (e.g. Norton & Charastidtham, 2019); or in terms of the perceived status of VET choices (e.g. Billett, Choy & Hodge, 2019). Our research showed a complex picture with a number of factors (personal, environmental, cultural background and geographic) influencing choices; and also a perception that VET means apprenticeships, almost to the exclusion of traineeships or full-time VET. The agency of individual schools and of VET providers or apprenticeship organisations was also found to be important. The findings have clear implications for both policy and practice.
- Publisher
- AVETRA
- Relation
- AVETRA 21 Virtual conference: recover, rethink, rebuild: all eyes on VET, 19-23 April 2021
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright @ 2021 Avetra
- Rights
- Open Access
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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