New statistics show that people who do not complete a training course are not always dropping out; they can be creating their own skills mix.
If Victoria’s results turn out to be typical across the country, FREE TAFE completions over four years will be just over 50%; a bit above the all-of-system outcome.
Certainly completed quals are the go, “particularly where credentials are required for entry, regulation of progression within an occupation,” but it’s not the certificate, the whole cert and nothing but the cert that is the only outcome that appeals to planners.
A couple of weeks back, Skills Minister Andrew Giles floated the idea that people could pick up what they wanted to learn without completing an entire course, saying he wants “to recognise the reality that reaching course completion isn’t the priority for every single student.”
And now Jobs and Skills Australia has published the paper he pointed to, which finds people who “partially complete” a training course, “can translate into improved labour-market outcomes even where a full qualification is not recorded as completed.”
They don’t do as well as those who stick it out, but partial completers’ employment rates improve 10% (to three-quarters) and they have a $7,000 median income increase, compared to $14,000 for those who finish. The results are better for apprentices and trainees who bail on study, “consistent with work-based learning pathways.”
And many of the exiters know, or work out the benefit; “many learners return to build capability as their work and life circumstances evolve,” the report said.
Nearly a third enrol in further VET within a year. “For many learners, rather than signalling permanent exit from education, partial completion often forms part of a broader, ‘stackable skills’ learning journey,” JSA states.
JSA found the results by linking administrative records for 900 000 domestic students and the take-out is the findings; “ strengthen the case for a skills system that recognises and supports job-relevant learning, re-entry, and progression. At a national level, this is the contribution of VET: a more capable workforce, stronger participation, and more resilient communities delivered not only through qualifications awarded, but through the skills that help Australians move into work, stay connected to work, and keep building capability over time.”
How helpful that JSA is already working on a National Skills Taxonomy, “designed to make every skill visible, valued, and transferable – helping individuals, educators, employers, and policymakers navigate a rapidly changing world of work.”