Annotated Biliography

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Lifelong Learning: AnAnnotated Bibliography

Compiled by Beverley Axford and Thea Moyes

LifeLong Learning Network

University of Canberra

03/15

Evaluations and Investigations ProgrammeResearch, Analysis and Evaluation Group


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Lifelong learning bibliography

ii

Commonwealth of Australia 2003

ISBN 0 642 77391 2

This work is copyright. It may be reproduced in whole or in part for study ortraining purposes subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of thesource and no commercial usage or sale. Reproduction for purposes otherthan those indicated above, requires the prior written permission from theCommonwealth available from the Department of Communications,Information Technology and the Arts. Requests and inquiries concerningreproduction and rights should be addressed to Commonwealth CopyrightAdministration, GPO Box 2154, Canberra ACT 2601 or [email protected].

This report is funded under the Evaluations and Investigations Programme ofthe Department of Education, Science and Training.

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of theDepartment of Education, Science and Training.


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Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................ivInformation for Readers............................................................................... ixPolicy (general)............................................................................................ 5Policy statements, reports, and research monographs ........................................... 5Conference papers and conference proceedings ................................................ 11Journal articles................................................................................................ 12Books and book sections.................................................................................. 17Sectoral perspectives ................................................................................. 19Schools .......................................................................................................... 19Higher Education ............................................................................................ 29

Vocational Education and Training ................................................................... 38Adult Community Education ............................................................................. 44Cross sectoral perspectives ........................................................................ 51Policy statements, reports, and research monographs ......................................... 51Conference papers and conference proceedings ................................................ 56Journal articles................................................................................................ 59Books............................................................................................................. 62Labour markets and education/training..................................................... 63Policy statements, reports, and research monographs ......................................... 63Conference papers and conference proceedings ................................................ 68Journal articles................................................................................................ 71Books............................................................................................................. 76References (author/title list) ....................................................................... 77Keywords .................................................................................................. 91APPENDIX A: Abridged list of lifelong learning bibliographical

entries ................................................................................................ 94


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Introduction

This annotated bibliography has been prepared for the Lifelong Learning Networkas part of the DEST funded project LifeLong Learning in Australia: Policy Directions and

Applications. Stage 1 of the project was to identify gaps in research that need to beaddressed. This annotated bibliography brings together 224 separate reports andresearch papers assembled by the Lifelong Learning Network to illustrate the scopeof contemporary research on lifelong learning. The collection is not exhaustive. Thenumber of publications either drawing on the concept or on associated issues isexpanding daily. At the same time, and for reasons discussed below, it is difficult todraw a clear boundary around lifelong learning as a policy and research domain.

Breadth of issuesThe bibliography aims to demonstrate the breadth of issues being addressed underlifelong learning. It is arranged under a series of subject headings that reflect:

The traditional education and training structures; Current moves towards increased cross-sectoral provision of education and

training; and

Current trends towards linking education and training provision and outcomesmore directly with labour markets.

The bibliography indicates that lifelong learning is a term widely adopted bypoliticians and policy agencies as a catch-all term used to address the wide range ofeducation and training issues that have arisen along side the economic andtechnological changes that have occurred in recent times and that are captured bythe term globalisation. Thus lifelong learning is a central concept in internationalforums such as OECD and UNESCO.

In Australia lifelong learning has been a key theme in policy statements and reviewsof education and training in each of the sectors: schools, higher education,

vocational education and training (VET), and adult community education (ACE).

For example, key government reviews that draw on the concept have included:

West, R. (1998). Learning for life: Final report - Review of higher educationfinancing and policy (West Report). Canberra, Department of EmploymentEducation Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA).

ANTA (Australia National Training Authority) (1998 ). A Bridge to the Future.Brisbane, ANTA.

Crowley, R. (1997). Beyond Cinderella: Towards a learning society. Canberra, AustraliaSenate Employment Education and Training References Committee

Crowley, R (Chair) (1998) A Class Act: An Inquiry into the Status of the TeachingProfession. Canberra, Australia Senate Employment Education and TrainingReferences Committee


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of the flavour of a motherhood statement that is, it is unquestionably worthy ofsupport, unarguably meritorious and praiseworthy (Macquarie Dictionary). As aconsequence, although the term is widely used in policy contexts, it continues tolack a unitary conceptual foundation. In fact, the term appears to be used to

support a number of distinct discourses and political agendas.In the materials reviewed for this bibliography there appear to be at least threediscernible theoretical trajectories drawing on the term. The first of these appears tobe drawing on learning theory, the second from a redefinition of education andtraining as a valuable commodity, the third posits a link between education andtraining and human resource development (or labour markets).

Learning as empowermentMuch of the rhetorical power of the term lifelong learning stems from its

resonance with established concepts drawn from learning theory. One of the bestexemplars of this use of the concept is to be found in the 1996 UNESCO reportLearning, the Treasure Within(the Delors Report). The pillars of learning identified inthis report speak to a humanist tradition in educational theory that harks back tothe educational philosophy of John Dewey and others. The pillars of learningidentified in the UNESCO report are:

Pillar 1: learning to know Pillar 2: learning to do Pillar 3: learning to live together Pillar 4: learning to be.

These pillars allow the notion of life long learning to be coupled with a wide rangeof curriculum issues from, for example, learning to learn to education forcitizenship, to increased vocational emphasis in the curriculum. This notion alsoallows engagement with international concern over basic education provision forthe worlds poor which is an important element of the UNESCO agenda.

Learning and education and training structural reformA second arena in which the term life long learning is currently being invoked is

that of structural reform of education and training provision. On this trajectoryissues of articulation, credit transfer, and sectoral boundaries have become centralpolicy issues. Pathways, seamlessness, open education markets and privateproviders have become key concepts all aimed at achieving greater flexibilityand responsiveness which will, in turn, benefit the students/clients by making thesystem more responsive to their changing education and training needs.

It is at the rhetorical level at the level of justifying structural change in terms ofbenefits to students (and the community) - that notions embedded in the termlifelong learning (drawn from the learning as empowerment paradigm) appear tofind their appeal within this discourse.


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Learning and labour market reformThe notion of lifelong learning resonates well with contemporary debates over theneeds of workers/organisations in the globalised market place. The rhetoricalcoupling of continual skills upgrading and economic success (maintaining a

competitive edge) gives the concept a powerful link to contemporary agendas thatlie outside the traditional fields of education and training. Within this paradigmeducation and training outcomes are defined in terms of their links withemployment destinations, human-resource planning and supply-side economics.Reports from the OECD provide some of the best examples of the approach tolifelong learning, although there are many Australian examples in thebibliographical collection. This way of conceptualising lifelong learning hasgenerated research related to issues as diverse as:

Education and training links with employment destinations; Workplace restructuring, and workplace training and retraining; On-the-job and just-in-time training; and Continued professional development.

AudienceThe bibliography clearly illustrates the diverse range of policy issues that draw onthe rhetorical power of the lifelong learning term. But to what extent has this termreached beyond the boundaries of policy-makers and been actively taken up by

either the academic community or by education and training practitioners? Or, toput it another way, how much critical debate is taking place outside the policy-making domain? To address this question we have divided each section in the mainbibliography into four sections, as follows:

Policy statements and reports. The reports include both government reportsand research monographs;

Conference papers and published collections of conference papers; Journal articles; and Books and book sections.In addition, we have drawn from the main bibliography a sub-set of the materialsthat refer specifically to lifelong learning in their titles or abstracts This resulted ona sub-set of 64/224 items (see Appendix A). This sub-set was then divided into thesame categories as those set out above, with the following results:

Policy statements and reports (25/64); Conference papers and published collections of conference papers (22/64); and Journal articles, books and book sections (17/64).In dividing the materials in this way it was assumed that the first set of materials are

those that promote the policy agenda directly either through policy statements or asagency-funded research.


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The middle sectionconference paperstend to lie at the intersection betweenthe policy-driven construction of issues and the research community. Theconference papers tend to be a mix of:

Policy-makers (and funding bodies) speeches to the research community; and Presentations to peers of research methods and findings.It is assumed that the third sectionjournals and other non-report writingrepresent the space where more independent and critical analysis of the policyconstructs takes place. We should emphasise that we are not claiming that thebibliography, or the sub-set drawn from it, is exhaustive. The bibliography wasdesigned to illustrate the range of themes currently being addressed in policydebates in the area. Given the motherhood statement status of the lifelonglearning term an exhaustive collection would need to incorporate most currentdebates in education and trainingfrom foundation studies, to training andretraining, to the University of the Third Age (or cradle to grave learning).

Nevertheless, if the bibliography is representative of the range of materials in thearea then the different types of materials, and their relative numbers, can be takenas an indication of the extent to which the lifelong learning concept is policy driven.From this perspective, the fact that independent journal articles make up so small apart of the sub-set on lifelong learning is significant in that it suggests that theconcept is not one that is being widely taken up outside the policy domain orsubject to much critical analysis.

Obviously not all journal articles are equally rigorous or challenge the policy-makers assumptions to the same degree. Of our sample at least half could bedefined as articles that accept the meaning of lifelong learning as self-evident that

is, the concept appears unproblematic (examples include Aspin et al., Chapman,Bagwell, Sinclair). Of those remaining we found a predominance of articlesaddressing higher education concerns, particularly in relation to theories of adultlearning (examples: Cornford, Duke) and changes in delivery modes brought aboutby the new communications technology (example: Gorard & Selwyn). Several, mostnotably Allport and Schuler & Field, and Tight, address deeper assumptions aboutthe nature of globalisation and economic restructuring and its relationship toeducation and training. One article in the sample, that by Levin, looks at thequestion of lifelong learning from the perspective of the economics of education.

By using this rather crude categorisation we conclude that the lifelong learning

concept appears to have been widely adopted at the policy level but has lesspurchase in the wider education and training community. This is not to say that theterm does not have the rhetorical power associated with its motherhood statementstatus it would be difficult to find someone who, at the common sense level ofunderstand, thought lifelong learning was a bad thing. What it does suggest isthat the term is not being critically interrogated by the education and trainingprofession and its meaning is not a site of struggle for practitioners. Or, to put itanother way, our examination of the literature leads us to conclude that the termappears to have little resonance with the curriculum issues faced by teachers andtrainers in their day-to-day practice.


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ConclusionThis bibliography illustrates the wide range of education and training issues thathave drawn upon the rhetorical power of lifelong learning. It demonstrates that,because the concept draws on traditional notions of the importance of educationand training for personal and social development, it has found acceptance both

within the education and training profession and in the wider community.However, the bibliography also indicates that the ready adoption of the term bypolicy makers, addressing a range of issues from structural reform of education andtraining provision to human resource management and the impact of technology,has rendered the term rather hollow something of a motherhood statement the meaning of which is mostly assumed. The different ways it is used in policystatements and commissioned research is not sufficiently interrogated in theacademic literature for the concept to develop the strength necessary to usefullyengage with current education and training issues and debates. The emerging trendsdo not give much heart to those who would wish to see the concept become moresharply defined.


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Information for Readers

SourcesThe reports and papers listed in this annotated bibliography come from a range ofelectronic and print sources, most of which are readily accessible in Australia.Readers should consult their library about the best way to obtain copies of thepublications. Most reports and papers published in Australia and overseas relatingto vocational education and training (VET), adult education and lifelong learningare available through the VOCED database at the NCVER website:. European publications on vocational education and trainingcan be accessed through the European Training Village website:. OECD reports can be purchased from the OECD

website: . Recent government reports are generally accessiblethrough the web-site of the relevant government department. All publicationsprinted in Australia should be held by the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

Endnote bibliographical softwareThe bibliography has been prepared using Endnote bibliographical software. Thedata can be provided to any work station that supports the Endnote software. If

read in this format the database can be searched on any of the fields shown on theWord or hardcopy versions.

Further informationFor further information about the bibliography, or the availability of any of thespecific items listed, contact the Lifelong Learning Network, as follows:

Lifelong Learning Network

Division of Communication and EducationUniversity of Canberra

Phone: 02 6201 2478

email: [email protected]


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Annotatedbibliography


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Policy (general)

Policy statements, reports, and research monographs

Aungles, P., Karmel, T., & Wu, T. (2000). Demographic and social change:Implications for education funding: Occasional Paper Series No. 00B.Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

This paper focuses on the ageing population, changes in educational participationand the growth of social expenditures as potential key pressures on the funding of

the education sector to the Year 2021. The purpose of the paper is to explorecurrent issues and trends and the environmental pressures within which policy mayneed to operate. It is evident that population growth and changes in the agestructure represent a steady, though moderate pressure, on education funding overthe longer term. It is difficult to predict the influence of broader factors such aslonger term trends in participation and the impact of social expenditures. Futuretrends in mature age participation and developments in lifelong learning could havesignificant ramifications for education funding over the next twenty years, as couldthe trend by young people to undertake longer courses.

Borthwick, S., Roussel, S. and Briant, J (2002), Why people dont participate: factorsinhibiting individual investment in education and training. DEST, 2002.

This study uses survey data (particularly the Australian Bureau of Statistics 1997Survey of Education and Training) to analyse individuals reasons for not investingin post-secondary education and training. Empirical studies suggest that individualsregard the costs and benefits of education and training as a package: a given barriermay prevent, limit, or make no difference to an individuals investment in humancapital, depending on the extent of incentives to learn. Non-investment byindividuals may be either a rational response to the expected balance of costs andbenefits or a decision arising from unawareness of the costs and benefits.

Business/Higher Education Round Table. (2001). What is needed to make

Australia a knowledge-driven and learning-driven society?(BHERTPosition Paper No. 5).

This paper aims to identify major public policy challenges that stem from a properunderstanding of the nature of knowledge and learning. The question underconsideration has two aspects:

Are our prevailing notions about 'knowledge' and 'learning' adequate to meetthe demands of contemporary society?

Are our systems of education appropriately structured to maximise theirpotential social and economic benefits?


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Curtain, R. (2001). An Entitlement to Post-compulsory Education: InternationalPractice and Policy Implications for Australia. Adelaide: National Centre for

Vocational Education Research.

This paper surveys European and United States approaches to public funding for

post-compulsory education and offers an analytical framework describing howfunding is allocated. The author identifies the principles which governments use todetermine access to public funding for post-compulsory education. The paper hasidentified two stages in post-compulsory education now common in Europe andmore recently the United States of America (USA) and their respectiveentitlements. The first stage refers to the additional education undertaken betweenthe age at which the requirement for compulsory schooling ends and the attainmentof a 'threshold qualification'. The second stage refers to education beyond aminimum threshold level. This paper identifies the different underlying principlesthat governments use in funding the two stages of post-compulsory education inEurope and the USA, describes mechanisms for disbursal of government funds for

post-compulsory education and discusses implications for Australia.

DEETYA (Department of Employment Education Training and Youth Affairs)(1998)Australia's young people: Towards independence - A report on youthaffairs. Canberra, Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Outlines the Commonwealth Government's policies affecting young people aged15-24 years as a commitment to:

Encouraging young people to complete secondary education and to undertakepost-school education and training

Improved assistance to young unemployed people to ensure they are betterprepared for work Ensuring that young people can assess a satisfactory level of service and that

their needs are catered for in mainstream delivery of services

Ensuring that services to young people are well co-ordinated; and young peopleare given an effective voice in government.

Delors, J. (Chair) (1996) Learning: The Treasure Within - Report to UNESCO ofthe International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century.UNESCO.

Education has a fundamental role to play in personal and social development. It isone of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious formof human development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance,oppression and war. The coming century, dominated by globalisation, will bring

with it enduring tensions to overcome, tensions between the global and the local,the universal and the individual, tradition and modernity, long-term and short-termconsiderations, competition and equality of opportunity, the unlimited expansion ofknowledge and the limited capacity of human beings to assimilate it, and thespiritual and the material whatever the diversity of cultures, and systems for socialorganisation, there is a universal challenge of reinventing the democratic ideal to

create, or maintain, social cohesion. In this context, learning throughout life will beone of the keys to meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century. TheInternational Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, chaired by


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former European Commission President Jacques Delors, proposes in this reportthat all societies should build on the four pillars that are the foundations ofeducation - learning to be, learning to know, learning to do, and learning to livetogether.

DETYA (Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs) (1999) Preparing youth for the 21st century: The policy lessons from the past two decades.Speech by the Minister, The Hon Dr David Kemp

Ministerial speech delivered in Washington DC, February 1999. Outlines AustralianGovernment policies in relation to youth. (See also DETYA 1998 'Australia's

Young People: Towards Independence'.)

Doets, C., & Westerhuis, A. (2001). A life long of learning: elements for a policyagenda: the six key messages of the European Memorandum in a Dutch

perspective. Hertogenbosch, Netherlands: CINOP.

The European Union's 'Memorandum of Lifelong Learning' published at the end of2000 emphasised the importance of lifelong learning for all citizens in the MemberStates. The Memorandum proposed a number of possible policy measures in theform of six key messages which Member States were requested to discuss and toformulate a standpoint where possible. As a response to this request, CINOP wascommissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences toundertake a literature study of recent discussions around the six key messages andassociated measures at a national level in the Netherlands. The study focused on

what is known about the demand for lifelong learning from citizens, the existingprovision of lifelong learning opportunities, and the policy of government and

social partners. This report presents lifelong learning development trends in theNetherlands and an examination of recent developments with respect to each ofthe six key messages of the Memorandum. The report concludes with a synthesis ofthe key points from the previous chapters into the elements of a policy agenda forlifelong learning in the Netherlands. Appendices contain a bibliography and the textof the Memorandum.

European Commission for Research Technological Development and Innovationand Education Training and Youth (1995) European Commission white

paper teaching and learning: Towards the learning society.

This White Paper stems from the observation that the changes currently inprogress have improved everyone's access to information and knowledge, but haveat the same time made considerable adjustments necessary in the skills required andin working patterns. It is a trend that has increased uncertainty all round and forsome has led to intolerable situations of exclusion. Everyone's position in society

will increasingly be determined by the knowledge he or she has built up.Tomorrow's society will be a society that invests in knowledge, a society of teachingand learning, in which each individual will build up his or her own qualification. Inother words, a learning society.

European Commission for Research Technological Development and Innovation

and Education Training and Youth (1997) Towards a Europe of Knowledge. A communication, prepared by the European Commissioner for research,technological development and innovation and education, training and youth, that


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sets out guidelines for future Community activities in the fields of education,training and youth for the period 2000-2006. The communication was prepared forthe Council of Ministers concerned with a view of preparing for the presentation oflegislative proposals in spring 1998 and deals with decisions about the new

European Programs dealing with education, vocational training aid youth to betaken in 1999.

Finn, B. (Chair) (1991) Young people's participation in post-compulsory educationand training: Report of the Australian Education Council ReviewCommittee. Canberra, Australian Education Council Review Committee:188.

Both individual and industry needs are leading towards a convergence of generaland vocational education. There is an increasing realisation internationally that themost successful forms of work organisation are those which encourage people tobe multi-skilled, creative and adaptable. At the same time schools are broadeningtheir programs and curriculums to offer greater access to vocational education forthe increasing proportion of young people staying on past the end of compulsoryschooling. There is also a related process of convergence between the concepts of

work and education. Increasingly, as regular updating of skills and knowledgebecomes essential to maintaining and enhancing productivity in the workplace, theconcepts of working and learning will converge. This view implies that in order toserve their clients' needs, both schools and TAFE will need to change: schools tobecome more concerned with issues of employability and the provision of broad

vocational education; TAFE to recognise that initial vocational courses mustincreasingly be concerned with competencies that are more general than those

which, for example characterised the traditional craft-based apprenticeships. Inindustry, all parties will need to take a more active role in the development andsupport of on-going training which is integrated with employment. The FinnCommittee recommends the adoption of a new national participation target '...thatby the year 2001, 95 percent of 19 year olds should have completed Year 12, or aninitial post-school qualification or be participating in formally recognised educationor training (Recommendation 3.2)'.

Great Britain Dept for Education and Employment. (2001). Opportunity and skillsin the knowledge-driven economy: a final statement on the work of theNational Skills Task Force from the Secretary of State for Education andEmployment. Nottingham, U.K.: DfEE.

The National Skills Task Force was established in the United Kingdom (UK) in1998 to develop a National Skills Agenda to ensure that the workforce had thenecessary skills to maintain high levels of employment, to compete in the globalmarketplace, and to provide learning and employment opportunities for allindividuals. This document from the Secretary of State for Education andEmployment, sets out the Dept for Education and Employment's (DfEE's) plansto act on the recommendations of the National Skills Task Force to realise the skilldevelopment required for economic success. The plan aims to strengthen the linkbetween learning and employment, create excellence in vocational learning, providesecond chance learning opportunities for adults, ensure equal opportunities for

both men and women in job searching and skill development, and engageemployers in the skills agenda.


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National Board of Employment, Education and Training (1996), Lifelong Learning- Key Issues.

The paper identifies seven key issues: assessment; delivery; the social dimension oflearning; access to lifelong learning opportunities; curriculum; recognition of prior

learning; and technology. These issues are discussed particularly in relation to theVET and schools sectors.

OECD (1996) Lifelong Learning for All. Paris, OECD.

How can education and training systems adapt to the evolving needs of anincreasingly global and information-based economy? What kind of policies canrespond directly to the recognised need to develop the capacity to continuouslyadapt and renew? OECD Education Ministers adopted a program of lifelonglearning for all as the strategic framework for guiding education and training policy.

This framework seeks to foster learning societies where every individual receives

the necessary knowledge and skills, where all are encouraged to engage in lifelonglearning. Emphasising individual capacity and motivation to learn means tappingthe potential for strengthening innovative energies, democratic foundations andsocial cohesion; it also means encouraging wide economic participation. This reportprovides elements of broad strategies, tailored to each OECD country.

OECD (1999) OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard:Benchmarking Knowledge-based Economies. Paris.

As economies become increasingly knowledge-based and globalised, scientific andtechnological efforts become essential determinants of industrial performance andinternational competitiveness. For policy design and evaluation purposes,governments need to be able to monitor as accurately as possible recent trends andstructural shifts pertaining to industry and technology, not only in their owncountries, but also as they compare to others. This report provides recentinformation on trends and competitive challenges in science, technology andindustry in the OECD countries. It draws on a large number of statistical databasesand indicators.

OECD. (2001). Cities and Regions in the New Learning Economy: OECD, Paris.

Is there a "new learning economy"? Do regions and cities play new roles in terms ofgovernance and intervention in order to promote learning, innovation, productivity

and economic performance at the local level? This publication explores the ideathat learning regions and cities, which are especially well attuned to therequirements of the new learning economy, may be fostered through thedevelopment of appropriate strategies of public governance and intervention. Therelationships between various forms of learning and economic performance at theregional level are analysed and provide strong evidence of the importance ofindividual and firm-level organisational learning for regions' economicperformance. Case studies of five regions and cities indicate that social capitalaffects both individual and organisational learning.

OECD. (2001). Economics and Finance of Lifelong Learning. OECD, Paris

OECD Member countries have committed themselves to making lifelong learning areality for all. But the resources required to meet that goal are potentially large andcountries differ in their capacity to generate them. Can OECD Member countries


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rise to this challenge? This report seeks to provide some answers by identifying andexamining the economic and financial issues that arise in implementing the goal,and the strategies that the public and private sectors are pursuing to achieve it. Itdeals with issues such as individual learning accounts, recognition of non-formal

learning, and measures to raise rates of return to lifelong learning. The report isintended to provide a basis for continued in-depth discussion by public authoritiesand their social partners. It aims to inspire future actions that ensure that lifelonglearning serves as a sustainable and equitable strategy for human development. Thereport draws on analyses, findings, and lessons from the OECD's earlier work andthe proceedings of the international conference on "Lifelong Learning as an

Affordable Investment" (Ottawa, December 2000).

UNESCO International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century(1998) Education for the twenty-first century: Issues and prospects.UNESCO Publishing, Paris.

Contributions to the work of the International Commission on Education for theTwenty-first Century, chaired by Jacques Delors. Prepared during the work of theCommission (whose report, Learning: The Treasure Within, was published in1996), the papers that make up this volume were intended to complement existingliterature, to respond to questions that arose in the course of the Commission's

work, and to illuminate specific issues that cross disciplines. They are a sampling, aseries of insights into issues and problems as seen by some outstandingcontemporary thinkers on education.

Victoria. Dept of Education Employment and Training. (2001). Knowledge,innovation, skills and creativity: a discussion paper on achieving the goalsand targets for Victoria's education and training system. Melbourne:Communications Division, Dept of Education, Employment and Training,.

In October 2000, the Victorian Government set challenging goals and targets foreducation and training across the state. The Dept of Education, Employment and

Training (DEET) has identified a range of issues and options associated withachieving the goals and targets. These are outlined in this discussion paper. A seriesof public consultations have also been planned that will feed into a final report toGovernment on the short, medium and long-term strategies to achieve the goalsand targets, associated advice on resources and the process for measuring andreporting on progress towards them.

Watson, L. (1999) Lifelong learning in Australia: Analysis and Prospects.Discussion Paper No 1, Lifelong Learning Network,University of Canberra.

This paper examines the implications of the OECD policy goal of lifelong learningfor Australian education and training. Lifelong learning for all is an economic policygoal that challenges the focus and purpose of Australia's traditional system ofeducation and training provision through schools, vocational education andtraining, and higher education institutions. The paper begins with a definition oflifelong learning and describes the economic rationale behind the goal of lifelonglearning for all. The paper then looks at the extent to which Australia is achievinglifelong learning for all. The final section identifies competing policy perspectives ineducation and training that could stand in the way of Australia becoming a learningsociety.


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Conference papers and conference proceedings

Coffield, F. (1996), A Tale of three little pigs: building the learning society with straw.Paper presented at the EU Conference on Research on Lifelong Learning:

Implications for Policy and Practiceat Newcastle University.

The first part of the paper argues that the policies of both the British governmentand the European Commission with regard to building a learning society are timid,narrowly conceived and inadequate to the task. Politicians are trying to construct anew society with the equivalent of straw rather than bricks. Strategies for a learningsociety concentrate on improving the vocational education and training ofindividuals, diverting attention away from more radical measures. The second halfof the paper proposes some more robust policy alternatives for discussion anddebate.

Gallagher, M. (1999) Life-long learning: Emerging issues for policy makers.Lifelong Learning Network First National Conference, held 27 August 1999,Canberra.

Examines five policy areas: forming partnerships for taking the agenda forward;establishing effective foundations in basic education and workforce entry-leveltraining related to agreed learning outcomes; increasing accessibility by buildingpathways across sectors and formal and informal learning modes; addressingaffordability of participation through a fair sharing of costs; and providingconsumer protection through accreditation and quality assurance and performancereporting.

Haw, G. W. and Hughes, P. W. (eds) (1998) Education for the 21st century in the Asia-Pacific region: Report on the Melbourne UNESCO conference 1998,Canberra, Australian National Commission for UNESCO.

Education is the priceless investment in our current and future generations...Ourchallenge is to focus on ways to improve the delivery of education in the Asia-Pacific Region through the development of national initiatives that recognise ourdiverse backgrounds and vastly different needs. As a method of meeting thischallenge, UNESCO initiated the International Conference, Education for the 21stCentury in the Asia-Pacific Region, which took place in Melbourne in March1998...This book is the compendium of all proceedings, including the

recommendations, of the Melbourne Conference. It offers us a range of options forthe way we could proceed in education in the next century, a focus for localdiscussion and an aid to planning in education.

Kennedy, K. J. (1997) Implementing life long education as a policy priority for thetwenty first century. OECD Seminar, Korean Educational DevelopmentInstitute, Seoul, Unpublished.

Ministers from OECD countries agreed on the importance of life long learning as apolicy priority in 1996 (OECD, 1996). A common argument to support theirposition is based on the widely held view that a skilled workforce is essential to theeconomic competitiveness of modern nations. The assumed link between education

and the economy also raises important equity considerations, as has been arguedmore recently (OECD, 1997). The equity issue is to ensure that all citizens haveaccess to education and training opportunities. The economic and social justice


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arguments in relation to life long learning are not mutually exclusive: they aredifferent sides of the same policy coin.

McKenzie, P. (1999) How to make lifelong learning a reality. Rapid Economic

Change and Lifelong Learning Conference, Melbourne, Centre for theEconomics of Education and Training.

'Lifelong learning' has become one of the most frequently used terms in educationand training circles in the late 1990s. Policy documents at national, state andinstitutional levels are increasingly being framed from a lifelong learningperspective. At international level lifelong learning has been adopted as the keyorganising concept in the education and training programs of the European Union(1995), the OECD (1996) and UNESCO (1996). In Australia recent reports on thefuture shape of higher education (West, 1998) and the national strategy for

vocational education and training (ANTA, 1998) have been framed in terms of theneed for continual learning over the life span. Lifelong learning is a response to theincreasingly rapid changes under way in modern societies. Those nations,enterprises and individuals who are not able to anticipate and adapt to change - tocontinue learning - face bleak futures in an increasingly competitive world. Theneed to equip young people to be active and engaged learners over their adult livesis widely recognised, as is the need to provide retraining and updating opportunitiesfor adults on an on-going basis. This paper focuses on some of the key policy issuesfor furthering the goals of lifelong learning. The paper addresses five mainquestions: what is lifelong learning; what are the key elements of the policy agenda;

what are the highest priorities; how much will lifelong learning cost; and how caninvestment in lifelong learning be stimulated.

Ralph, D. (2000, 7-8 September 2000). Creating a state of learning: The SouthAustralian strategy. Paper presented at the Agenda for the Future: AdultLearners Week Conference, 7-8 September 2000, Adelaide, SA.

The author examines initiatives being undertaken to establish South Australia as a'state of learning'. He presents an overview of the policy context then some keystrategies being used. These strategies include: the establishment of the Centre forLifelong Learning and Development, the Information Economy 2002 Statement,structural and legislative changes within the Education portfolio, strengthening theadult community education (ACE) sector, the development of learningcommunities, the Community Builders program and the Learning to Learn project.

The paper concludes with an examination of some future challenges.

Journal articles

Blackmore, J. (1998) Changing educational policies [Review of the essayEducational policy and the politics of change by S. Taylor, F. Rizvi, B.Lingard, and M. Henry. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education19(2): 249-253.

Education policy has become a contentious area in recent times. The context ofeducation policy has significantly altered during the 1980s, and restructuring hastransformed how education is organised, funded, and delivered, as well as how


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research in education is undertaken. How policy works, both symbolically and inpractice, is a key issue for government and for those in education.

Doyle, J. (1994) Reflecting on 'new right' agendas in education policy reform.

Forum of Education49(2): 53-61.Examines the nature of 'New Right' discursive practices in educational policyformation by reviewing current themes and debates at both the compulsory andpost-compulsory level in Australia and Britain. Explores the emergence of theeducational 'new right' in view of the traditional tensions between liberal andMarxist rhetoric. In this conservative climate, the need for a critical 'lens' whenanalysing education policy discourse is crucial if social justice issues are to remain'visible' in the policy arena. Such a 'lens' can be established by using Gramsci'sconcept of 'hegemony' as a theoretical framework when analysing policy formationat the broader societal level.

Dwyer, P. (1997) Outside the educational mainstream: Foreclosed options in youthpolicy. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education18(1): 71-85.

There is a double-edged effect to recent developments in the area of youth policy:while the formation of a 'highly-skilled' and 'flexible' workforce is a professed goalof national policy, the 'flexible' demands of economic markets are currently at odds

with what the 'highly skilled' have been led to expect for themselves. What remainsfor both the mythical mainstream and the disadvantaged minority as a commonoutcome is the prospect of foreclosed options written into current youth policy.

Edwards, R., Armstrong, P., & Miller, N. (2001). Include me out: Critical readings

of social exclusion, social inclusion and lifelong learning. InternationalJournal of Lifelong Education, 20(5 (Sept-Oct)), 417-428.

Social exclusion and inclusion have emerged as strong policy-leading concepts atboth the national and international level in recent years. Policies on lifelong learningare themselves in part premised on the contribution education and training canmake to promoting an inclusive society. It is argued that social exclusion offendsagainst human dignity, denies people their fundamental human rights and leads, inconjunction with social and economic instability, to marginalisation and deepeninginequalities, which threaten the stability of democracy. Social inclusion thereforeappears to be an unconditional good. The argument in this paper suggests that thisis not the case. Drawing on critical social policy studies and post-structuralistphilosophy, the authors argue that the notion of inclusion relies on exclusions,some of which may be chosen and even desirable. They suggest that thoseinterested in lifelong learning should take a more critical stance towards the socialinclusion agenda to which it is being harnessed.

Gorard, S., Rees, G., Fevre, R. and Furlong, J. (1998) Society is not built byeducation alone: alternative routes to a learning society. Research in Post-compulsory Education3 (1): 25- 37.

This article examines the notion of a learning society in Britain by outlining someof the chief arguments currently being used to advocate the establishment of such a

society. These arguments have two main strands that the standard of educationand training has a direct impact on the economy and that therefore expenditure onlifelong learning is an investment which will be recouped, and the claim that there is


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a lack of justice in the distribution of education and its rewards in Britain today. The article also involves a brief consideration of the extent to which a learningsociety already exists. Using preliminary findings from a large-scale study ofparticipation in adult education and training over 50 years in industrial South Wales,

it concludes that to some extent learning society is used by policy-makers andacademics as a term of convenience. It is an ideal notion (but one with very prosaictargets couched in terms of certification) which helps mask the lack of real progressin some respects towards an educated public.

Gorard, S. and Selwyn, N. (1999) Switching on the learning society? - Questioningthe role of technology in widening participation in lifelong learning. Journalof Education Policy14(5): 523-534.

The creation of technologically-based 'virtual education' has been portrayed as ameans of widening access to learning opportunities for those currently excludedfrom participation in lifelong education and training. Now in the UK these claimsare being operationalised under the 'University for Industry' initiative and associated

Virtual College programs all of which aim to make real the concept of Britain as a'learning society' for all with an emphasis on reaching those traditionally seen asnon-participants in learning. This paper examines these claims in the light ofcurrent knowledge about the characteristics of non-participants in lifelong learningand the barriers that they face. It is suggested that the application of 'technologicalfixes' to underlying socio-economic determinants of participation will solve someproblems, create others, and leave many unaffected. In this way the paper arguesfor independent research on the impact of the 'virtual college' movement, andbegins to outline the form such research could take.

Kazuhiko, F. (2001). Lifelong education in Japan, a highly school-centred society:Educational opportunities and practical educational activities for adults.International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20 (1 & 2)(January-April), 127-136.

In Japan the use of the term lifelong education has become widespread throughoutthe 1990s and is central to educational policies, which actively tackle crucial subjectsthat take place in a wide area of education in a drastically changing contemporarysociety. This paper examines in detail the present situation of the development oflifelong education, in particular concerning adults, relating to the traditional ideasand systems on education called a highly school-centred society.

Keep, E. and Mayhew, K (1999), The Assessment: Knowledge, Skills andCompetitiveness, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 15, No.1.

The paper introduces a number of studies of recent progress in research and policythinking about the UK system of vocational education and training. Policy changesare seen as concentrating almost exclusively on promoting the supply of skills, withlittle stress on the possible lack of a demand for skills. The systems failureunderlying the lack of demand has been much less researched than market andadministrative failures. Skills and knowledge form simply one important element

within a much wider matrix that helps support high levels of economicperformance.

Levin, H. M. (1998) Financing a system for lifelong learning. EducationEconomics6(3): 201-217.


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This article attempts to set out a framework for financing lifelong learning that willbe more comprehensive, efficient, equitable and flexible than the existing approach.

After specifying the essential components of lifelong learning, it raises the questionof how the system should be financed and who should pay. The article proceeds by

suggesting a method for constructing both international and national databases onlifelong learning that can assist in improving finance. Special emphasis is placed onthe roles of information, incentives and consolidation of existing sources of financeinto a more nearly unified approach.

McKenzie, D. (1997) Educational vouchers: An idea whose time should nevercome. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies32(2): 163-174.

In the drive to produce more pedagogically effective and/or more economicallyefficient education systems, policy makers, politicians, and social reformers seem toperiodically 'rediscover' certain educational practices and offer them as solutions tocurrent crises. This paper outlines the historical roots of, and current argumentsfor, educational voucher schemes as the panacea for improving the quality of stateeducation. It takes the position that such schemes, and the assumptions thatunderpin them, have never in fact presented a strong case pedagogically, eventhough they have appeal within certain political ideologies, and should continue tobe resisted.

Meredyth, D. (1997) Invoking citizenship: Education, competence and socialrights. Economy and Society26(2): 273-295.

This article explores the effectiveness of appeals to 'active citizenship' as an answerto the 'neoliberal' political vocabulary of consumer choice and market freedom. It

does so through a case study on recent reforms to post-compulsory education inAustralia. a common response to education and social welfare policy is to expectgovernment to accord with ideals of citizenship such as self-determination,participation and equality. However, the case study suggests that the governmentalrationalities of modern mass-education systems are irreducible to these abstractions.Reference to the social rights of citizens is embedded in the rationales of social andeducation policy. Nevertheless, this should not be construed as the recognition ormisrecognition of an absolute ideal or principle. Instead, the negotiation of socialrights can be seen as the product of the mass school system's own capacity to applycommon norms to a population and to use these norms in maintaining thesettlements negotiated within expanding social welfare systems.

Noble, D. (1994), Let them eat skills, The Review of Education Pedagogy/ CulturalStudies, 16 (1), pp. 15-29.

The paper contends that any link between educational achievement and the nationseconomic strength is mediated by a host of prior factors such as adequate jobs,appropriate management, a strong labor presence and a committed employmentpolicy. Reichs argument that a highly skilled workforce will attract corporateinvestment and thus create quality jobs is seen as putting the cart before the horseby insisting on the primacy of education and training. Current problems lie largelyin the existence of a labour surplus rather than a skill shortage.

Schuler, T. and Field, J. (1998) Social capital, human capital and the learningsociety. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 1998(19/2/99)


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The idea of a learning society assumes that certain types of social arrangements aremore likely to promote lifelong learning than others. Yet although the idea of alearning society has been widely and enthusiastically embraced by politicians andeducationalists, there has been little debate over the precise types of social

arrangement that promote communication, reflexivity and mutual learning overtime. Specific studies of learning within such social institutions as the family or the

workplace have rarely been accompanied by a wider conceptual framework onsocietal learning. Considers the potential of one such framework, that of socialcapital.

Smith, D. G. (1999) Economic fundamentalism, globalization, and the publicremains of education. Interchange30(1): 93-117.

Economic fundamentalism as the new colonialism. Features of global religiousfundamentalism. This historical rise of economic fundamentalism in the West sincethe end of the Cold War. The impact of economic fundamentalism on nationalidentity, governmental power, and educational policy. Education in the age ofglobalisation.

Soucek, V. (1999) Education in global times: choice, charter and the market.Discourse20(2): 219-234.

The issues of choice and charter do not constitute an easy problematic. They arecharged with antagonistic purpose, integrating progressive notions of teacher,student, and parental empowerment, excellence in educational achievement andpedagogical innovation with the invisible but fatefully blind hand of the market. Itis an antagonistic battle, because it is about the access to and control over limited

and diminishing resources. The crucial link between the new social order andschooling is being forged by the state, which itself is struggling to survive. Thispaper identifies four key factors instrumental in making schools a conduit for arenewed and highly rigidified process of social stratification: market-leddifferentiation between schools, worsening conditions for teachers, polarisation ofthe teaching workforce, and rekindling the subliminal drives underpinning the classstruggle.

Tight, M. (1998) Education, education, education! The vision of lifelong learningthe Kennedy, Dearing and Fryer Reports. Oxford Review of Education24(4): 473-485.

The year 1997 witnessed the publication of three major policy reports related to thedevelopment of lifelong learning in the UK: the Kennedy, Dearing and Fryerreports on further, higher and continuing education, respectively. These reportsproduced responses from government, and underlay the consultative paperpublished early in 1998. This article examines these documents, not so much forthe policies they propose, but for the conceptualisations of lifelong learning theycontain. It concludes that, in this context, while the promotion of lifelong learningis to be welcomed, the documents suffer from three failings: they accord too muchpriority to vocational education and training, VET; they betray a tendency to blamenon-participants, while placing responsibility on them for changing their behaviour;and they threaten economic and social exclusion for those who do not participatein the future.


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Troyna, B. and Vincent, C. (1995) The discourses of social justice in education.Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education16(2): 149-166.

What the existing organisation of schooling presupposes is that in consumptionterms, the world consists of equally powerful individual actors. Such, of course, is

not the case in a hierarchically ordered capitalist system, where labour and capital,and indeed different forms of both, have differential access to resources enablingthem to consume. By largely intervening only in provisional relations, the state failsto recognise the central dynamic of education - that provision and consumption arenot coterminous. In essence, state intervention does not go far enough

Wagner, A. (1999) Tertiary education and lifelong learning: Perspectives, findingsand issues from OECD work. Higher Education Management: Journal of the Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education11(1): 55-67.

In their call for the progressive implementation of lifelong learning for all, OECDEducation ministers adopted a 'cradle to grave' perspective and emphasisedcontinuity and transition, learning and learners of all ages. This broad view oflifelong learning finds parallels in an equally broad vision for tertiary education:inclusive; diverse in form and content of provision as well as in the backgroundsand interests of those who participate; and spanning sectors or boundaries. A broadlifelong learning perspective implies new responsibilities and roles for tertiaryeducation to bridge the divide between secondary and tertiary education; facilitatethe transition to work; deepen the engagement and partnership with employers; and

widen the sharing of costs. In these fields among others, a broader concept oflifelong learning opens up new ways of thinking about responses to new challenges

and constraints for tertiary education.

Books and book sections

Aspin, D. Chapman, J. and Collard, J. (1999) Lifelong learning in Australia.Learning across the life-span. Leicester M and Field J (eds). London,Falmer.

Overview of lifelong learning policies and practices in Australia. Assumes threeobjectives: (a) for economic advance; (b) for personal growth; and (c) for socialinclusion. Argues that the concept of lifelong learning 'is emerging as a unifyingidea for the provision of education across the lifespan in Australia as the countrymoves towards the development, furtherance and extension of educationalopportunity in the 21st century.

Chapman, J. (1996) A new agenda for a new society. International handbook of educational leadership and administration. Leithwood J, Corson D,Hallinger P, and Hart A (eds). Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Kluwer

Academic. 1, Part 1: 27-59.

International trends in economy and society point to the need for a new

educational agenda, one that is appropriate for the knowledge economy and thelearning society. The changing nature and patterns of employment, population anddemographic change, labour force participation rates, the changing types of jobs


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and their availability, changes in technology, workplace skills and competencies, andglobalisation, have all set up a series of imperatives that are above and beyond thepossibilities of their being addressed simply within the confines and time scales oftraditional patterns of learning and the front on provision of education and training.

Nothing less that a substantial reappraisal of the provision, resourcing and goals ofeducation and training and a major reorientation of its direction towards theconcept and value of the idea of lifelong learning is required. To bring this aboutgovernment, in cooperation with other agencies and individuals in the public andprivate sectors, must reconsider aspects to do with the governance, managementand financing of education; new concepts of knowledge and advances in cognitivedevelopment.

Jarvis, P. (2001). The age of learning: education and the knowledge society.London: Kogan Page.

Learning is now at the forefront of the educational agenda for teachingprofessionals, policy makers and organisations. This book provides amultidisciplinary analysis of the key features of learning in contemporary society,including lifelong learning, learning organisations and the learning society. Thechapters are: The emerging idea / Linda Merricks; Social, economic and politicalcontexts / Stephen McNair; The changing educational scene / Peter Jarvis; Fromeducation policy to lifelong learning strategies / Colin Griffin; The learning society/ Colin Griffin and Bob Brownhill; Lifelong learning / Bob Brownhill; Paying forthe age of learning / Stephen McNair; Work-related learning / Paul Tosey andStephen McNair; Facilitating access to learning: educational and vocationalguidance / Julia Preece; Implications of the learning society for education beyondschool / Linda Merricks; The school in the age of learning / John Holford and GillNicholls; Corporations and professions / Peter Jarvis and Paul Tosey; Implicationsfor the delivery of learning materials / John Holford and Tom Black; Implicationsfor including the socially excluded in the learning age / Julia Preece; The publicrecognition of learning / Peter Jarvis; Questioning the learning society / Peter

Jarvis; Civil society and citizenship in a learning age / John Holford; Futuredirections for the learning society / Peter Jarvis and Julia Preece.


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Sectoral perspectivesSchools

Policy statements, reports, and research monographs

Crowley, R. (1998) A class act: Inquiry into the status of the teaching profession.

Canberra, Australian Senate: Employment, Education and TrainingReference Committee: pp51 of 1998.

Relevant terms of reference include: the perceived relevance, to young people, ofschool and its links to vocational training and employment; social factorsinfluencing the expectations and attitudes of school students, and especially theimpact on teachers of 'at risk' and violent behaviour from students; new patterns of

work organisation in schools; teachers' work; teachers' continuing professionaldevelopment.

Dusseldorp Skills Forum (1998) Summary of a workshop on the concept of anational youth commitment, Youth Commitment Workshop, Sydney.

Summarises the key issues related to patterns of school retention as set out in apaper prepared for the Workshop by Helen McDonald of the Brotherhood of StLaurence. Documents the decline of school retention from a high of 77% in 1992to just over 71% in 1996, and shows that even at Year10, completion rates havefallen markedly. Issues facing special needs/'atrisk' groups are addressed.

Dusseldorp Skills Forum (1999) The cost to Australia of early school-leaving.Dusseldorp Skills Forum, Sydney.

In recent years the Dusseldorp Skills Forum, in collaboration with a number of Australia's leading research organisations, has endeavoured to provide a

comprehensive picture of the learning and work circumstances of young Australians. The results of that collaboration are documented in two landmarkreports 'Australia's Youth: Reality and Risk' (1998) and 'Australia's Young Adults: TheDeepening Divide' (1999). It became apparent from these reports that those youngpeople leaving school early are at much greater risk of becoming trapped inmarginal activity, finding no secure place in either learning or work.

Dusseldorp Skills Forum (1999) How young people are faring, Dusseldorp SkillsForum, Sydney.

How are young people faring in their move from full-time education to full-time

work? What proportion of young people are at risk of not making a successfultransition and how does this compare over time? How well do young people do inAustralia compared with other similar countries? Is the educational level of young


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Australians improving? How do our levels of educational attainment compare withother countries?

Dwyer, P. (1996) Opting out: Early school leavers and the degeneration of youth

policy. National Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, Hobart.In 1996, over 200,000 Australians aged 15 to 19 were not in full-time education orfull-time work. This Youth Research Centre report determines the concerns,problems and needs of those defined as early leavers, and identifies effectivestrategies that would give them the opportunity to choose to continue theirschooling beyond the compulsory years. The report includes extensive data on earlyleavers and reviews both the policy and research backgrounds to the issue, placingthem within an international context. The many programs demonstrate thateffective responses are possible including examples of supportive school culturesand comments from teachers and students in these schools. 'If we wish to re-engage potential early leavers, we need quite consciously to disengage their needsfrom the current preoccupation with Year 12 retention/completion rates...What isat stake for them is to find ways in which their future choices are informed by apositive and successful experience of schooling rather than by a feeling that"anything is better than school".'

Eldridge, D. (2001). Footprints to the Future: Report from the Prime Minister'sYouth Pathways Action Plan Taskforce. Canberra: Youth Pathways ActionPlan Taskforce.

This report was commissioned by the Commonwealth government to examineways of improving assistance for young people and their families as they negotiate

transitions from school to an independent livelihood. It addresses ways to:

Strengthen pathways for young people from school to work, further educationand active citizenship;

Provide the earliest possible assistance for those young people at risk Strengthen and support the capacity of families and the community to help

young people; and

Expand opportunities for young people to participate fully in the social andeconomic life of their communities.

MCEETYA (Ministerial Council on Education Employment Training and YouthAffairs) (1999) The Adelaide declaration on national goals for schooling inthe twenty-first century, Ministerial Council on Education Employment

Training and Youth Affairs.

Australia's future depends upon each citizen having the necessary knowledge,understanding, skills and values for a productive and rewarding life in an educated,just and open society. High quality schooling is central to achieving this vision. Thisstatement of national goals for schooling provides broad directions to guide schoolsand education authorities in securing these outcomes for students. It acknowledgesthe capacity of all young people to learn, and the role of schooling in developing

that capacity. It also acknowledges the role of parents as the first educators of theirchildren and the central role of teachers in the learning process.


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McIntyre, J., Freeland, J., Melville, B. and Schwenke, C. (1999) Early SchoolLeavers at Risk. NCVER, Adelaide.

The key problem explored by this research is whether initial vocational educationand training, VET and associated support services assist early school leavers to

negotiate an effective transition from school to adult roles. Despite increasededucation and training participation rates, and despite the changes to general and

vocational education, there still exists a significant group of teenagers who havebeen identified as 'at risk' in the transition from school to work. It is estimated thatsome 15% of 15-19 year olds fall into this category. The experience of early schoolleavers are not generalisable: they do not constitute a homogenous group , and theirexperiences upon leaving school are variable. The circumstances that influence theirdecision to leave school prematurely include socio-economic status, Aboriginality,ethnicity, geographic location, parenthood, and familial situations. Furthermore, inall of these cases young females tend to be relatively more disadvantaged than theirmale peers.

National Board of Employment Education and Training (1995) Students' attitudestowards careers and post-school options for education, training andemployment. Canberra,.

This report provides advice to the Minister for Employment, Education andTraining on the ways in which young people acquire knowledge about, and developattitudes towards: options for careers and post-compulsory education and training;and Australia's economic system and the nation's economic future.

OECD. (2000). From initial education to working life: Making transitions work

OECD ParisThis final report from the OECD's thematic review of the transition from initialeducation to working life sets out six key features of effective transition systems:

1. Well-organised pathways;2. Workplace experience combined with education;3. Tightly woven safety nets;4. Good information and guidance;5. Effective institutions and processes; and6. A healthy economy.

Teese, R., Davies, M., Charlton, M., Polesel, J. (1995) Who wins at school? Boys and girls in Australian secondary education. Department of Education Policyand Management, University of Melbourne.

Media stories have given increasing weight in recent years to the view that girls arenow more successful at school than boys. Girls complete school more often, theystudy subjects that lead into employment in growth areas in the economy, they arebetter at English and perhaps also at maths, and enter university in greater numbersthan boys. The tables have turned. Boys have become the new disadvantaged. They

are more likely to fail, to develop behaviour problems, to experience isolation andrejection, and to drop out. The jobs they are more likely to get are in decline andhave no long-term career prospects. Who Wins at School? examines trends in


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participation and performance in different curriculum areas in senior secondaryschool across Australia to set these claims - and counter-claims - in perspective.

The authors argue that labour market and workplace training opportunities leavegirls with fewer choices than boys and pressure them to make more intensive use of

school. But the fact that they invest more years in school dies not necessarily meanthat they gain competitive advantages over boys. Everything depends on thelocations within the curriculum which girls take up and on how well they succeed atthese locations, given prevailing pedagogical conditions (including teacherexpectations, sanctioned learning styles, and assessment practice). Over the longterm, girls have steadily colonised the once-male terrain of mathematics and thephysical sciences. But progress has been very uneven and not so impressive duringthe last decade. Girls from lower status backgrounds continue to be especiallydisadvantaged, and some subjects have proved almost impervious to populationchange. There is evidence that girls under-enrol in higher level mathematics andthat their talents and energies are not sufficiently recognised. Conversely, boys tend

to over-enrol in mathematics and pay the corresponding penalty. Socio-economicstatus exercises a large influence over participation and performance.

Who Wins at School?illustrates the extreme contrasts which exist between girls fromlower working-class backgrounds and boys from upper professional backgrounds.It is in English that the disadvantages experienced by boys are most evident, butonce again this depends on family origins and geographical location. Poorperformance in English weakens boys' attainments in other areas, eg., mathematics,but girls do not necessarily gain advantages over boys from superior performance inthis subject. Relative advantage depends on where a subject is situated within thehierarchy of the curriculum. Who Wins at School? builds on curriculum and

assessment data drawn together by the Gender Equity in Senior Secondary SchoolAssessment (ESSSA) project and the Educational Outcomes project, both fundedby DEET.

Conference papers and conference proceedings

ACER. (2001). Understanding Youth Pathways: What does the research tell us?Paper presented at the ACER Research Conference 2001. Understanding

Youth Pathways: What does the research tell us?, Melbourne, 15-16 October2001.

The conference provided a review of major issues in relation to youth parthwaysand lifelong learning in Australia. It includes papers by David Raffe, JohnSpierings, Barry Golding, Robin Sullivan, Shelagh Whittleston, Jane Figgis, RichardCurtain, Harris van Beek, Jan Carter, Peter Buckskin, Richard Sweet and ChrisRobinson.

Ball, K. and S. Lamb (1999) Curriculum choice in senior secondary school and theoutlook for lifelong learning. Lifelong Learning Network First NationalConference, held 27/8/99, Canberra.

Early post-school education and labour market outcomes influence the

opportunities for individuals to participate in lifelong learning. The paper discussesthe role of subject choice in senior secondary school in assisting young peopleaccess learning opportunities post-school. The paper analyses the post-school


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outcomes in the tertiary education sector and in the labour market at age 21 ofstudents surveyed in the Australian Youth Survey who undertook year 12 between1990 and 1994. The curriculum was mapped nationally to 20 mutually-exclusivesubject groupings, as part of a broader study examining the education, training and

employment pathways associated with year 12 curriculum choices. The subjectgroupings are presented under the broad curriculum groups of 'arts andhumanities;, 'business studies', 'business studies and humanities', 'business studiesand sciences', sciences and maths' and 'sciences and humanities'. The methodologyused to achieve the mapping is discussed in the paper. The results of this analysisprovide information on the important role played by curriculum choice in seniorsecondary school in providing young people with future learning opportunities.

Spierings, J. (2001). Regional and local government initiatives to support youth pathways: Lessons from innovative communities. Paper presented at the ACER 'Understanding Youth Pathways' Conference, October 2001,

Melbourne. Two years ago the Dusseldorp Skills Forum and the then Australian StudentTraineeship Foundation (now the Enterprise and Careers Education Foundation)entered a partnership to develop innovative community responses to the need formore dynamic, locally based pathways for young people. This 'national youthcommitment' project sits alongside a multitude of initiatives including Full ServiceSchools (now defunded); Local Learning and Employment Networks in Victoria(LLEN); the Enterprise and vocational Education strategy in South Australia; theyouth pathways re-evaluation taking place in Queensland; local VET alliances andpartnerships, and others all attempting to provide a more inclusive set ofmainstream learning options for young people. This paper presents an analysis ofthe approaches being adopted in national 'youth commitment' communities, thedifficulties and positives encountered and some emerging implications for policy.

Journal articles

Bell, K. (1992) Overcoming the rural disadvantage. Youth Studies Australia(Winter): 46-.

It has long been acknowledged that certain sections of the general community aredisadvantaged in opportunities for adequate schooling and employment. Onesignificant group classified in this way are those living in rural communities.Suggestions as to causes of this rural disadvantage and strategies for overcoming ithave been proposed for almost as long as the problem has been acknowledged.

While there have been a number of reforms, the most recent inquiry into educationand training for young people (Finn et al, 1991) makes suggestions that the authorbelieves sound familiar. For this reason, she has developed a framework thatattempts to incorporate both existing structures and new arrangements moreappropriate to the rural situation.

Bentley, T. (2000-2001). The creative society: reuniting schools and lifelonglearning. VOCAL: Australian Journal of Vocational Education and Trainingin Schools, 3, 5-9.


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Education in the United Kingdom is facing a major challenge: individuals need tobecome lifelong learners to keep up with the pace of change taking place. Theauthor argues that while government policies are showing a recognition of thischallenge, they have yet to produce a long term approach. To achieve a learning

society, the social and institutional contexts which underpin learning must also betransformed. The solution he suggests is the creation of a learning society throughlearning communities. This can be achieved through a combination of structuralchanges at the national level, a shift in the political climate to encourage judiciousrisk-taking among practitioners, and a move towards more systematic innovation atthe school and local community level. He identifies three priorities in making thesechanges: reducing curriculum content, increasing opportunities for learning beyondthe classroom, and transforming the nature of teaching.

Beresford, Q. (1993) The really hard cases: A social profile and policy review ofearly school leaving. Youth Studies Australia(Summer): 15-16.

Increasingly, the interaction between social and educational failure and the need forpolicy to address early school leaving is attracting wider attention. This paperprovides an overview of this issue; the extent of the problem; the socialbackgrounds of young people affected; and the policy responses called for. Such anoverview serves to highlight both the urgency and the magnitude of educationalreform in the emerging era of 'compulsory' post-Year 10 education.

Biggart, A. and Furlong, A. (1996) Educating 'discouraged workers': Culturaldiversity in the upper secondary school. British Journal of Sociology ofEducation 17(3): 253-266.

Through a qualitative study of the experiences of young people in the second yearof post-compulsory education in schools in four contrasting Scottish labourmarkets, we investigate the existence of a 'discouraged worker' effect. We argue thatin the modern upper secondary school, which contains pupils with a range ofattainment levels, it is possible to identify a number of distinct orientations toschool life and suggest that the types of opportunities available within local labourmarkets affect young people's decisions to remain at school. We suggest thatcultural responses to the school have become more individualised and that'discouraged workers' can be identified in both the middle and the lower attainmentbands.

Borghans, L. de Grip, A. and Heijke, H. (1996) Labor market information and thechoice of vocational specialization. Economics of Education Review15(1):59-74.

The choice of a vocational specialisation at school is often hampered by the needfor labour market information that is not available. This article investigates whetherstudents of the Dutch junior secondary technical schools anticipate future labourmarket situations. We try to answer this question by introducing two extrememodels: the cobweb model and the rational expectations model. By using theestimation results, the extent of the information problem is measured, indicatinglarge mismatches due to unanticipated changes in the labour market. These resultssuggest the importance of additional public labour market forecasts to assiststudents' choices.


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Chuang, H.-L. (1997) High school youths' dropout and re-enrolment behaviour.Economics of Education Review16(2): 171-186.

Numerous studies have investigated the behaviour of high school dropouts fromeconomic, sociological, and educational points of view. However, data from the

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicate that being a dropout is notnecessarily a permanent condition. This paper attempts to empirically studythrough the application of logit models the dropout behaviour of youths, as well asthe decision of dropouts whether to return to school. Most results from the logisticregression for dropping out of school are consistent with the common finding inthe literature. One exception is that the characteristic of being black is found to beless likely associated with dropping out. Results from the logistic regression forreturning to school parallel the findings in the data analysis. Both results indicatethat a dropout's AFQT (Armed Forces Qualification Test) score, age, and out-of-school duration are significant factors in determining the probability of returning toschool. However, dropouts' activities during their out-of-school period have little

influence on their decision to return to school.

Cornford, I. R. (1998) Schooling and vocational preparation: Is a revolution reallytaking place?Australian Journal of Education42(2): 169-182.

Ongoing technological and economic revolutions have resulted in concerted effortsto increase the vocational content of the curriculum. Viewed from historical andsociological perspectives, what is occurring is an overdue realignment of curriculumcontent and the needs of the society. Polarisations and false dichotomies promotedby the idealised liberal education philosophy are disappearing. Changes to thenature of knowledge, skill, and work require new forms of vocational education

which reconcile the theoretical and practical, while research seeking more effectiveacademic learning is itself increasingly emphasising the need for closer linksbetween the theoretical and practical. The major problem remains of a class-based,discriminatory educational system which separates the more challenging intellectualand academic from the practical and more occupationally focused. It is argued thata real revolution in schooling and vocational preparation will only have occurred

when the changed nature of work, knowledge, and skills is reflected in schoolcurricula.

Crawford, L. and Williamson, J. (1992) Change the school environment. YouthStudies Australia (Winter): 43-.

Some issues in the provision of post-compulsory education examining the type offacilities, supporting organisation and ambience that could be developed to providea learning environment more appropriate and acceptable to young adults.

Dwyer, P. (1995) Compulsory post-compulsory education and the disaffiliation ofyouth. Forum of Education50(1): 1-.

Retention to Year 12 has become such an article of faith in the field of education in Australia since the mid-eighties that few have been ready to challenge theassumptions that lie behind it. Many educators support the goal of virtuallyuniversal participation and see it as a direct flow-on from the progressive and

reformist agenda of the former Schools Commission and the Whitlam years (Taylorand Henry, 1994). That agenda now finds expression in the development of'mainstreaming' policies aimed at universal post-compulsory participation by the


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year 2001. This article provides a caution based on the long-standing Americanexperience of mainstreaming policies. It re-examines that policy agenda in the lightof the persistence of a substantial minority who do not conform to the mainstreamexpectation. It suggests that in accepting a supposedly progressive target of

universal 'participation' we are also accepting what is in intent a restrictiveredefinition of the transition to adulthood and in effect a disaffiliation of asignificant minority of young Australians.

Dwyer, P. and Wyn, J.(1998) Post-compulsory education policy in Australia and itsimpact on participant pathways and outcomes in the 1990s. Journal of Education Policy13(3): 285-300.

The substantial redefinition of youth and education policy in Australia over the pastdecade has been associated with an increased emphasis on university entrance andthe adoption of a sequential model of pathways between the two worlds of studyand work. These new policy settings are examined in the light of research findingsfrom a major longitudinal study of young Australians who left school in 1991.Definite signs of incompatibility between policy and outcomes are identified withregard to non-university study pathways, uncertain career prospects, and theassumed linear sequence between study and work. The analysis articulates atheoretical concern about the inappropriateness of the policy settings and leads intoa re-examination of the data with reference to a typology of 'life patterns' morecompatible with young people's experience than the prevailing imagery ofpathways. This shift of focus also opens up the possibility of combining researchfindings from the two - often separate - fields of education and youth studies in a

way that would do justice to the increasing complexity of the educational and lifechoices confronting the post-1970 generation.

Foskett, N. H. and Hesketh, A. J. (1997) Constructing choice in contiguous andparallel markets: Institutional and school leavers' responses to the new post-16 marketplace Oxford Review of Education23(3): 299-319.

Since the 1992 Fu

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