This paper explores the experiences of young early school leavers undertaking vocational education to illuminate broader issues of equity and access. We argue that to overcome many of the sector’s shortcomings, policymakers and provider communities must first affirm equity and access as central to the sector’s core business.

This publication presents information on vocational education and training (VET) undertaken by school students as part of their senior secondary certificate of education.

This publication estimates the completion rates of VET programs in Australia for both total VET and government-funded (broadly defined as all Commonwealth and state/territory government-funded programs [either Commonwealth or state recurrent funding, Commonwealth specific purpose funding or state specific funding]), in order to fill a gap in performance measures for the VET sector.

The data in this publication cover the period of 1 January to 31 March 2018. For comparative purposes, it also examines this data against previously submitted data for the 1 January to 31 March 2015, 2016 and 2017 periods and also 1 January to 31 March 2018.

The size of our future prosperity will be determined partly by our ability to innovate and harness new technologies. This will require a skilled workforce that can match and beat our global competitors. So, what are the skills needed for a more interconnected, global world? This discussion paper explores this question and aims to encourage...