AUSTRALIA'S TRANSITION SYSTEM IN AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE CONTEXT

This paper argues that transition systems are shaped by a complex set of structural and institutional relations in education and the labour market. It argues that different configurations of government with different institutional structures and welfare systems result in quite different educational and employment outcomes for young people making the transition from school. Using the employment/education logic framework of Raffe (2008) and the varieties of capitalism approaches adapted by Bosch and Charest (2008) and Hall and Soskice (2001), it analyses transitions from school in the Australian state of Victoria. It analyses data from a major government survey of the post-school transitions of school completers, with destinations broken out by socio-economic status, location (metropolitan and non-metropolitan) and gender. It focuses on the role of senior secondary programs in that state in providing effective transitions into the labour market, into further vocational training and into higher education. It presents an argument that transitions for students participating in vocational programs in secondary school are weakened by an approach to VETwhich is both theoretically weak and fixed with in an "education logic" framework. It further argues that senior secondary vocational programs in Australia can be strengthened by examining and adapting aspects of systems with strong employment logic approaches (such as in Germany and Denmark), but only within the framework of a political approach that incorporates the participation and support of the social partners and industry.