VET
Where the
middle road leads
Study finds age, field have biggest impact on effectiveness of mid-level qualifications. By Nick Fredman
36 | Issue 8 2013
Vocational certificates have traditionally been tied to the trades, and bachelor’ s degrees to the professions. What’ s the labour market niche for those qualifications that fall in between?
In the Australian Qualifications Framework’ s descriptions of diplomas, advanced diplomas and associate’ s degrees, each one is depicted as preparing graduates to“ undertake advanced skilled or paraprofessional work and as a pathway for further learning”.
But how well do such qualifications provide a route into further education? And how well do they prepare young people entering the labour market to gain highly skilled or paraprofessional work? How well do they help existing workers advance up the occupational skills ladder?
Tom Karmel and colleagues at the National Centre of Vocational Education Research have, over the past seven years or so, highlighted something of an identity crisis for mid-level qualifications – in particular the vocational diploma. They point to a steady decline of diploma enrolments from 2001 to 2007 and showed from NCVER’ s annual Student Outcomes Survey that whilst diplomas can provide employment and wages benefits for graduates, they generally do not do so for those already holding a Certificate IV. Further, census data from 1996 and 2006 suggests that the skill level of jobs held by those whose highest qualification is a diploma is declining, and that many jobs that were previously dominated by diploma graduates have become dominated by bachelor’ s degree graduates.