The National Centre for Education and Training Statistics

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The National Centre for Education and Training
Statistics
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Session outline

• Education and training statistics in Australia
• The ABS response
• NCETS and NETSU - structure
• Past and current work
• The education and training IDP
• Future work

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Statistics
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A game with many players

• No single integrated national approach
• ABS coordinates Schools statistics
  
• VET statistics by NCVER
• Higher education and international statistics by
  DEST
• Others, too

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Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
Primarily a cross-sectoral focus
Australian Statistics Advisory Council (ASAC)
NCETS (the Centre)
NETSU (the Unit)
Education and Training Statistics Advisory
Group (ETSAG)
NETSU Management Board
Primarily an intra-sectoral focus
MCEETYA Taskforces National Training Statistics
Committee
Other National Committees
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NCETS activities

• General ET subject matter expertise
• National Schools Statistics Collection
• Surveys
• Other
• Improving Indigenous statistics
• International
• National Education and Training Statistics Unit

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National Education and Training Statistics Unit

• A partnership between all states and territories,
  ABS and other Australian Government agencies
• joint funding - 600k annually
• Governed by a Management Board
• Reviewed in 2003 after initial three year period

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What does the Unit do?

• Established to further develop education and
  training statistics
• Strong cross-sectoral focus
• 'Big picture' thinking
• Statistical leadership
• Much broader interests than other committees
• complements not competes

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Past and current projects

• Framework
• Data stocktake
• Comparability of data
• Data dictionary
• 15-24 year olds' participation and attainment
  measures
• Economic statistics
• Lifelong learning
• Plan to improve the quality, coverage and use of
  education and training statistics

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Plan to Improve the Quality, Coverage and Use of
Education and Training Statistics

• Joint agreement about directions in statistical
  development
• To help ensure education and training statistics
  meet current and emerging policy needs
• Articulates 28 priorities for information
  development
• Identifies where we'd like to be in 3 years,
  action in train, and lead agency

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The Plan approach used

• A stocktake of data across the major sectors of
  education and training identified gaps and
  deficiencies
• Used
• the Framework for Education and Training
  Statistics
• the data comparability project
• existing reviews (DEST in 1999 Teese and Watson
  in 2001)
• participation by NCETS staff in statistical
  working groups, taskforces and committees.
• Priorities for action developed

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Agreed priorities - cross-sectoral

• Education and training economic statistics
• Indigenous peoples education and training
• Full-time equivalent student measures across
  sectors
• Increase the use of statistical standards
• Increase the analysis of data

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Agreed priorities - sector specific

• Early childhood education
• Schools
• Implement Key Performance Measures
• Teaching workforce
• Rationalise schools sector data
• Improve information on
• 15-24 year olds participation and attainment
• Lifelong learning

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Agreed priorities - sector specific (cont.)

• Vocational education and training (VET)
• Private providers
• Students' pathways - within VET, and other
  sectors
• VET workforce
• VET in schools
• Non-participants (unmet demand)
• Longer term outcomes of VET participants
• Higher education
• Private higher education institutions

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Agreed priorities - maintain key data sources

• Key sectoral collections
• International assessments (PISA and TIMSS)
• Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth
• Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children

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Agreed priorities - maintain ABS collections

• Core collections
• Census of Population and Housing
• Survey of Education and Work
• Survey of Education and Training (4-yearly)
• General Social Survey (4-yearly)
• Annual economic statistics
• Non-core - user funded
• Survey of adult literacy and numeracy

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Future work

• Apparent retention rates
• Labour market outcomes
• Early childhood education
• Qualifications profile
• Student identifier
• Minimum national data set
• Economic statistics
• Adult Literacy Survey
• Review of Survey of Education and Training and
  Survey of Education and Work, 2009

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Comments and questions