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Young people losing out on study and jobs
A COAG progress report on education is prompting calls for redoubled efforts to get more young people engaged in further study or the workforce. By Antonia Maiolo
More than one in four young people are not engaged in full-time work or study, a report from the Council of Australian Governments has revealed. The COAG reform council five-year progress report on education shows that the proportion of 17- to 24-year-olds not fully engaged in work or study grew from 26.1 per cent in 2006 to 27.3 per cent in 2011.
Professor Greg Craven, deputy chairman of the COAG reform council and vice-chancellor at the Australian Catholic University, said prospects for indigenous students seem particularly bleak, with the report showing about 60 per cent are not engaged in work or study after school, compared to 26 per cent of nonindigenous Australians.
Students from poorer backgrounds also appear to be falling through the cracks; 41.7 per cent of those in the category are unemployed and not enrolled in further study.
“ The figures on indigenous people are particularly challenging,” Craven said.“ It’ s almost six out of 10. If you look at particular regions in the country, those figures are also quite challenging.”
Australia’ s peak youth affairs body urges governments across the country to redouble efforts to support postschool transitions for young Australians, particularly the most disadvantaged.
“ If we don’ t act now, we run the risk of allowing more young people to fall into cycles of long-term unemployment and poverty,” Australian Youth Affairs
Coalition( AYAC) executive director Gabi Rosenstreich said.
“ Quite apart from the social impact of marginalising this group of people, as our workforce ages Australia simply can’ t afford to do without their economic contribution.
“ We need to increase youth development services that use proven strategies to get young people into jobs and keep them there.”
Rosenstreich said COAG members needed to increase the availability of programs to guide post-school transitions for all young Australians.
The findings also show that while more young people are participating in vocational education, fewer are finding fulltime jobs at the end of their training.
“ We’ ve focused too much on enrolling people in qualifications and ticking boxes on government reports at the expense of meaningful skills and jobs,” Naomi Dinnen, executive officer of the Group Training Association of NSW and the ACT, said.
The best way to learn how to work, she said, is by undertaking a traineeship or apprenticeship that allows young people to complete their vocational education qualifications.
She said that, while the COAG report cites structural economic shifts like the global financial crisis and the trend towards part-time work as the cause of the growing mismatch between training and work for young people, government policies are also to blame.
“ Government is losing sight of the other half of the equation – what employers want in terms of skills and training for new entrants to the workforce,” she said.
“ Government should be providing more support for apprenticeships and traineeships, so young people come out at the end of their training with both a qualification and employable skills.
“ In fact, the traineeship system was set up intentionally to ease disadvantaged young people into work.”
In response to the report, Greens higher education spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon said that although she understands post-school study isn’ t for everyone, and that some young people may wish to take a break before entering university, TAFE or the workforce, she was alarmed by what some of the figures revealed.
“ The growing gap between disadvantaged students and those more well-off is a worrying trend,” she said.
She said the Greens are concerned that under the“ regressive” policies of the Abbott government, the gap would continue to widen.
Pointing to education minister Christopher Pyne’ s plan to privatise HECS debt, she said it would increase fees and deter students from disadvantaged backgrounds attending university.
“ The proposed $ 2.3 billion cuts to higher education, which include the scrapping of the start-up scholarships used by tens of thousands of students on youth allowance, will further exacerbate this inequity,” she said. ■
6 | campusreview. com. au