Generic skills--skills that apply across a variety of jobs and life contexts--are taking on increased importance in Australia and internationally. There is a high demand for generic skills in the workplace because employers seek to ensure business success by recruiting and retaining employees who have a variety of skills and personal attributes as…

Emerging and potential Australian industries were surveyed to identify the skills needed by their current and future workers and to determine how Australia's vocational and training (VET) system can best respond to those skill needs. The study investigated industries emerging from the work of Australia's Co-operative Research Centres program. The…

Australia's accommodation, cafes, and restaurants industry represents more than half of the nation's total tourism and hospitality employment. It accounts for roughly 4.5% of all jobs in Australia (400,000 workers). Since 1987, the number of jobs in the sector has risen from about 257,000 to about 372,000. Approximately 57% of employees are…

Australia's agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry represents about 5% of the nation's total employment and growth in the last 10 years has averaged only about 0.3% per year. In 1996, it was estimated that 4.7% of government-funded training was directed toward this industry. A 1997 employer satisfaction survey indicated that 11% of…

Australia's cultural and recreational services industry encompasses radio and television broadcasting, motion pictures, theatre, music, other performing arts, and sports and services to sports. Only 2.5% of the nation's labor force is employed in the industry. The sector has a particularly high level of part-time employment (over 40%). Employment…

The implementation of competency-based assessment (CBA) under Australia's National Training Framework was evaluated to provide indicators for improvement in CBA policy and practice. The evaluation included three data collection activities: a survey of 258 teachers, trainers, and assessors (response rate, 43%); a survey of 68 Industry Training…

This publication is part of the study materials for the distance education course, Adults Learning: The Changing Workplace B, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University. The first part of the document analyzes the relationship between technology, skill, and work within the context of the debates concerning deskilling and managerial control…

Student outcomes at Australia's technical and further education (TAFE) institutes were compared to those at Australian universities. The study was based on data from a survey completed by 39,426 individuals who had graduated from TAFE courses in 2000 and a survey of the more than 150,000 individuals who graduated from an Australian university in…

This report analyzes teacher education and development policies in countries that participated in the Repeat of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study at the Eighth Grade and scored as well as or higher than the United States, also providing information on the systems of Australia, England, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands,…

Australia's retailing sector is the largest single industry of employment, with more than 1.2 million workers. It is characterized by high levels of part-time and casual employment; a young work force, including many young people still in full-time education; and employment widely distributed geographically. Over the past 10 years, employment has…

A research project chronicling the nature and extent of the structured staff development undertaken by teachers and trainers employed at public and private providers of vocational education and training (VET) in Australia was one component of a larger study that examined the changing role of staff development for VET teachers and trainers. Data…

This document contains eight papers on social literacies across communities, cultures, and contexts in Australia. "Social Literacies" (Jean Searle) is an introduction to the other papers, which each report on small action research projects examining how particular groups of people use literacy. "Recognising Shifting Delivery Modes:…

This publication provides a detailed description of Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system in the context of Australians living in rural and remote regions who undertook some form of VET in 1997--about one-third of all students who participated in training in public institutions. The nine sections of the report cover the…

Australia's personal and other services industry is the sixth smallest of the 17 industry divisions in numbers employed. The industry, a collection of quite diverse businesses and services in the public and private sectors, has three subdivisions: personal services, other services, and private households employing staff. The employment level has…

Statistical information about employment in 13 engineering trades occupations in Australia was examined to identify skill shortages in the country's engineering trades. Data from various Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (DEWRSB) reports regarding the supply of and demand for skills in the engineering trades…