Participation in Vocational Education and Training (VET), including secondary students

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Vocational Education and Training

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Key Facts

In Australia in 2023:
- 26.8% of 15–19-year-olds completed at least one unit of competency at AQF Certificate II or above, up from 26.3% in 2022.
- Almost half (49.2%) of qualifications gained by 15–19-year-olds were at AQF level II and 33.6% were at AQF level III.
At the national level, the long-term trend in the proportion of 15–19-year-olds participating in VET was downward, from 29.6% in 2015 to 26.8% in 2023.

Why does ACARA collect and report data on participation in Vocational Education and Training?

Data on participation in VET provides insights into changes in the skill needs of the Australian workforce and informs workforce development planning and policy and the allocation of resources to support skill development..

What information is reported?

The Key performance measure of participation in VET (KPM 1(f)) is the proportion of the population aged 15–19 years who, in the calendar year, successfully completed at least one unit of competency as part of a VET qualification at AQF Certificate II or above. The specification of the successful completion of a unit of competency in the KPM is a marker for genuine participation in a VET course, as opposed to an initial enrolment which may not be followed through. It is not intended that this KPM be seen as a measure of attainment.

The national VET in Schools data collection is compiled by NCVER from data provided by states and territories. In some jurisdictions, students who have left school but are receiving credit for a VET course towards a senior secondary certificate may be included in these counts. To the extent that these students are included, this inflates the data as a measure of the number of secondary school students undertaking VET.

In addition to the KPM, there are two additional approved program measures for VET:

VET program measure 1: Occupation and industry profile of VET engagement for 15–19-year-olds who in the calendar year, successfully completed at least one unit of competency/module as a part of a VET qualification at AQF Certificate II or above.
VET program measure 2: Level of AQF certification for 15–19-year-olds who in the calendar year successfully completed a VET qualification.

Notes and caveats

Key performance measure for schooling in Australia 1(f) - Participation of young people, including secondary students, in VET
Proportion of the population aged 15–19 years who, in the calendar year, successfully completed at least one unit of competency as part of a VET qualification at AQF Certificate II or above.
The KPM for participation in VET includes all 15–19-year-old VET students (whether or not they are enrolled in school) as a proportion of the 15–19-year-old population. Students are counted as participating if they have successfully completed at least one unit of competency or nationally accredited module in a VET qualification at AQF Certificate II or above.
From January 2014, all registered training organisations (RTOs), including private providers, were required to collect and report full Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS) data on all nationally accredited training. This represents a break in the series.
From January 2015, VET students have been allocated a Unique Student Identifier (USI). From 2015 onwards, NCVER has applied a de-duplication process, using the USI, to better estimate the counts of students participating in VET activity. This change constitutes another break in the time series between 2014 and 2015. Data from 2015 is consistent year-on-year. For further information, please refer to Counting Students in Total VET students and courses.
'Major course' relates to the highest qualification attempted by a student in the reporting year.
'State/territory' excludes 'Multiples states', 'Overseas' and unknown values. Similarly, 'Sex' and 'Geolocation' exclude unknown values. Therefore, disaggregated values may not sum to the totals.
For 'Language background', unknown values are included in 'English'. Similarly, unknown 'Indigenous status' values are included in 'Non-Indigenous' as the largest category.
In 2014-2016 the sum of individual states and territories does not equal the Australian total as there is some activity that was reported with state or territory of delivery 'unknown' as well as instances where a student received training in more than one state or territory.
In 2018, there was a much higher than usual proportion of unknown values for sex, language background, Indigenous status and geolocation in Western Australia's participation and completions data. This affects data for these categories for Western Australia and Australia.
In 2018, there was a higher than usual proportion of unknown values for Sex and Geolocation in Victoria's completions data.
VET program measure 1
Occupation and industry profile of VET engagement for 15–19-year-olds who in the calendar year, successfully completed at least one unit of competency or accredited module as a part of a VET qualification at AQF Certificate II or above
Three measures of VET program measure 1 are provided: participation by field of education; participation by occupation group; participation by Skills Service Organisation.
Further information about Skills Service Organisations can be found here: Skills Organisations - Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government.
VET program measure 2
Level of AQF certification for 15–19-year-olds who in the calendar year successfully completed a VET qualification
One measure of VET program measure 2 is provided: qualification completions by qualification level of major course.

Sources: NCVER, National VET in Schools Collection 2009–23; NCVER, National VET Provider Collection 2009–23; ABS, National, state and territory population June 2023 (release date 14/12/2023, based on the 2021 Census of Population and Housing).

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