Recent research into Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) sector demonstrates how important data linkage techniques are in developing a better understanding of the sector’s effectiveness, according to a new report released today by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).
The report Data linkage in VET research: opportunities, challenges and principles shows how linking datasets from various sources, such as the ABS Census and the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth is useful. It assists in capturing a more complete picture of an individual’s lifelong journey through education and employment, including the VET sector.
“Data linkage techniques provide us with an enormous opportunity to see the ‘bigger picture’ of how the VET system is truly working in Australia,” said Dr Craig Fowler, Managing Director, NCVER.
“Data linkages are used increasingly by governments and other Australian organisations to provide more complete evidence for policy decisions. A number of NCVER research projects have already demonstrated its feasibility and utility for VET.”
A recent NCVER study was able to track how VET in Schools students had fared five years after participating in the program by using data linkage. The study connected VET in Schools data with the ABS Census of Population and Housing, demonstrating how many students had gone on to obtain employment or undertake further study.
“There are however a number of challenges associated with data linkage techniques, chiefly privacy and ethical concerns,” Dr Fowler said.
“The success of data linkage also depends on data custodians, who must actively pursue cooperation across jurisdictions and sectors to foster these linkages, particularly in the VET sector.”
The new report presents six principles based on insights gained from past NCVER data linkage projects. These are supplied to guide data custodians and researchers when embarking upon a data linkage project.
The report Data linkage in VET research: opportunities, challenges and principles is now available from www.ncver.edu.au/publications.
This work has been produced by NCVER on behalf of the Australian Government and state and territory governments, with funding provided through the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.
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