The socio-economic status of vocational education and training students in Australia

This report investigates the relationship between socio-economic status and participation and achievement in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. The research examines the extent to which training opportunities provided by the public VET system are taken up by people from different socio-economic backgrounds. The focus of this project was the student population enrolled in the public VET system in Australia in 2001. The research found that there is an over-representation of students from low socio-economic areas in the Australian VET sector. This over-representation is partly driven by the relatively high participation by students in VET in regions outside the capital cities, which on average tend to be lower socio-economic areas. As well, people from low socio-economic areas tend to undertake lower-level qualifications, however VET students from lower socio-economic areas complete qualifications at a better-than-average rate.