A greater focus on developing technical skills in secondary schools is required to draw more young Australians into apprenticeships, according to John Ainley and Matthew Corrigan. Their study examined the characteristics and completion rates of participants in New Apprenticeships drawing on the experiences of a group of young Australians who were in Year 9 in...

Young Australians are highly satisfied with their life and careers, according to Kylie Hillman and Julie McMillan. A study of over 6000 young people explored how their self-reported life satisfaction is related to educational activities and various labour market outcomes during the early post-school years. The findings suggest that being fully occupied in work, study...

Sue Thomson shows that subject choice has a major influence on the educational and career options open to Year 12 students after finishing school. Although most students make a successful transition to tertiary study or work, some parts of the Year 12 curriculum act as better pathways to post secondary education and training than others...

Teacher education is high on the political agenda in Australia, with several parliamentary inquiries on the topic underway at federal and state levels. Drawing on a survey of all Victorian teachers who graduated from teacher education programs in 2002, Lawrence Ingvarson looks at how well these new teachers felt that their teacher education program had...

Siek Toon Khoo and John Ainley examine how attitudes influence decisions to continue with school and education beyond school. Using data from 13,600 young people who were sampled when they were in Year 9 of school in 1995 and whose educational and occupational activities have since been followed annually, they found a strong relationship between...