Disadvantage, Disability and Vocational Education and Training: a Research Report

This book details the finding of a research project initiated as part of the NSW Department of Education's commitment to improving the number of enrolments, successful completions and employment outcomes resulting from access to the Smart and Skilled system within vocational education and training (VET) and to ensuring that VET (beyond Smart and Skilled) is delivering for all students. This research project focused on looking at interventions that might improve the completion and...
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This book details the finding of a research project initiated as part of the NSW Department of Education's commitment to improving the number of enrolments, successful completions and employment outcomes resulting from access to the Smart and Skilled system within vocational education and training (VET) and to ensuring that VET (beyond Smart and Skilled) is delivering for all students. This research project focused on looking at interventions that might improve the completion and employment outcomes for disadvantaged students, in particular those with disability, in order to develop effective policy responses in this area.The research collaboration was guided by three broad questions:1. How do people from disadvantaged backgrounds in general, and disability in particular, engage with the NSW VET system in general and the Smart and Skilled system in particular?2. What skills and employment outcomes are associated with these groups' engagement in VET?3. How, if at all, can aspects of Smart and Skilled be changed to improve the engagement and outcomes of people from disadvantaged backgrounds in general and disability in particular?The report is based on findings from a four-stage research process. This involved:1. Critical analysis of how policy has evolved in this domain over the last half century.2. A mapping of the scale of disadvantage and how it currently engages with the vocational education and training system based on statistical data.3. A detailed analysis of the dynamics of how vocational education and training currently operates with an exemplar disadvantaged group, ie people with disability. This involved a systematic review of all available literature on the topic, a detailed qualitative case study involving two localities (one metro and one non-metro) involving over 70 interviews, as well as two policy hackathons with over 60 participants.4. A synthesis of findings derived from returning to the outcomes of the policy research to identify options for system design and specific policy recommendations.The report uses this data to develop a comprehensive policy response to improve the participation and experience of people with disability in vocational education in NSW with the aim of improving employment outcomes.