Roger Harris, Michele Simons and John Bone show that the preferred workplace features of trainers and New Apprentices in manufacturing were quite different from those in retail and community services. The nature of work and industry shapes what is expected to support learning in any particular workplace. The practicalities of industry workplaces mean that preferences...

The number of people starting an apprenticeship or traineeship has grown for the sixth successive quarter, based on seasonally adjusted data. In the twelve months to 30 September 2005, the number of commencements increased 5 per cent over the previous year to 267,600.

School vocational education and training (VET) programs were introduced to provide more diverse pathways to work and further study for young people. Alison Anlezark, Tom Karmel and Koon Ong find that participation in school VET programs has a small negative impact on retention from Year 10 to Year 12 overall but that there is a...

In this updated report Susan Dawe and Richard Elvins incorporate the findings of two additional studies. In both cases they support the key messages of the earlier report, with an additional influence on the likelihood of skills development for the mature-aged leading to employment emerging from one of these studies.

Stephen Kemmis, Marianne Thurling, Roslin Brennan Kemmis, Peter Rushbrook and Richard Pickersgill explore the extent and distribution of Indigenous staffing in vocational education and training (VET) and various aspects of their employment experience within the VET sector. They note a recent decline in Indigenous staff numbers to below the set targets that, they argue, are...