Author Description

Increasing the pathways between vocational and higher education is a central concern of Australian governments. Governments want more pathways to support occupational progression, skills deepening and social inclusion. They consider that the number of pathways and number of students traversing them to be inadequate, and have commissioned many research reports over the last ten years to find out why the pathways are not as strong as desired and how they can be improved. This report is part of a wider three-year program of research, "Vocations: the link between post-compulsory education and the labour market," which is investigating the educational and occupational paths that people take and how their study relates to their work. It is specifically interested in exploring the transitions that students make in undertaking a second qualification (that is, whether they change field of education and/or move between the VET and higher education sectors). It also looks at the reasons why they decide to undertake another qualification. The authors use a combination of data from the 2009 Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Education and Training and interviews with students and graduates, as well as managers, careers advisors, learning advisors, teachers and academics, to examine these transitions. The finance, primary, health and electrical trades/engineering industries are used as case studies. Appended are: (1) Methods; (2) Profile of interviewees; and (3) Additional tables. (Contains 3 figures and 13 tables.) [For the related document, "Vocation Project Interview Questions--Support Document," see ED536633.].