Destinations of school leavers who participated in structured workplace learning programs

This paper reports the destinations of school leavers who participated in structured workplace learning (SWL) programs funded by the Enterprise and Career Education Foundation (ECEF)- formerly the Australian Student Traineeship Foundation. Background There has been a concerted effort to provide school students (especially in the senior years) with vocational education and training (VET). SWL provides options for all students to attain enterprise skills and entry-level qualifications which will help them with career options, employment or industry-specific accreditation towards further study. VET in Schools programs have also been introduced as a means of providing incentives for students, who may be at risk of leaving school early, to stay on at school and complete their secondary schooling. This is because year 12 non-completers have been found to be especially disadvantaged in the labour market. They often spend more time in unemployment than year 12 completers for the same amount of time out of school. Although the unemployment rate declines for bot