Making it real: The benefits of workplace learning in upper-secondary vocational education and training courses

Abstract

In OECD countries, 'real world' upper-secondary vocational education and training (VET) programs are used to engage less academically oriented youth in learning, while helping to prepare them for post-school work and/or further education. In general terms, VET programs with high employer involvement, such as apprenticeship schemes, are considered to be superior to classroom-based VET programs that are typically found in many English-speaking countries. In this study, we examine outcomes from a potential 'third way': classroom-based VET with a short-term structured workplace learning component. Using propensity score matching and PISA data linked to information from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth, we find this model is associated with higher school completion rates and better employment transitions. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

Author Keywords

workplace learning vocational education and training Educational economics

Index Keywords

learning training workplace Vocational education educational development Australia numerical model secondary education model test OECD

Author Affiliations

Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland, Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES (NCCR LIVES), Switzerland, IZA - Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Funding & Acknowledgements

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government, DEEWR

Grant: 2/11

The authors assume jointly first authorship of the paper. This research was funded in part by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations ( DEEWR ) under the Social Policy Research Services Agreement (2010–12, project 2/11) with the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not represent those of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research or DEEWR. The authors would like to thank David Black and Rezida Zakirova for helping to prepare the data for an earlier version of this paper, Jongsay Yong, Sandra McNally, two anonymous referees and participants at the Australasian Econometric Society Annual Meeting 2012 and the Conference of the European Association of Labour Economists 2012 for their helpful comments and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and the Australian Data Archive for making the data available.

Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne

The authors assume jointly first authorship of the paper. This research was funded in part by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations ( DEEWR ) under the Social Policy Research Services Agreement (2010–12, project 2/11) with the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not represent those of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research or DEEWR. The authors would like to thank David Black and Rezida Zakirova for helping to prepare the data for an earlier version of this paper, Jongsay Yong, Sandra McNally, two anonymous referees and participants at the Australasian Econometric Society Annual Meeting 2012 and the Conference of the European Association of Labour Economists 2012 for their helpful comments and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and the Australian Data Archive for making the data available.

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Making it real: The benefits of workplace learning in upper-secondary vocational education and training courses

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