Early School Leavers Survey

The Early School Leavers survey is the Queensland Government's statewide survey on the destinations of students who left Queensland schools prior to completing Year 12 at government and non-government schools. The survey collects information about the initial study and work destinations of young people after leaving school, and has been conducted on an annual basis since 2007.

The 2012 Early School Leavers survey was conducted in three stages; February 2012, April 2012 and July 2012. Young people who left school in 2011, prior to the completion of Year 12, were contacted and asked to participate in the survey via a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) or a web-based questionnaire.

Results of the 2012 Early School Leavers survey will be available in 2013.

Background

Objectives

Scope

What does the survey ask?

Results

Further Information

Background

The Queensland Government has a strong policy commitment to assisting, and tracking, young people's transitions to successful education, training or employment.

Since 2005, the Queensland Government has conducted an annual survey of Year 12 completers from government and non-government schools across Queensland. The survey, called Next Step, was commissioned by the former Department of Education, Training and the Arts as part of the Schools Reporting initiative and supported the Queensland Government's Education and Training Reforms for the Future (ETRF), which aimed to have every young person either learning or earning.

A similar survey conducted by the Victorian Government also includes the destinations of young people leaving school prior to Year 12.

The Early School Leavers survey was designed to closely align with the Next Step survey, and provide complementary results about the destinations of young people who did not complete Year 12. Many items exploring main destinations, work and study choices are shared between the two surveys.

Objectives

The Early School Leavers survey collects information on the post-school destinations of people leaving Queensland schools prior to completing to Year 12 in order to inform and better understand:

the degree to which 'early school leaving' is occurring in Queensland schools
'early school leaving' across Years 10, 11 and 12
the options taken by students leaving school before completion of Year 12
the potential policy responses as they affect the transition from school to further study and employment for students, especially in the senior years of schooling.

Scope

The 2010 Early School Leavers survey collected data from every student who left a government schools prior to the completion of Year 12. From 2011, the Early School Leavers survey was expanded to also include those students who left non-government schools.

What does the survey ask?

The survey asks whether young adults are currently studying, working or neither, and the details of these destinations.

If working, the survey asks their occupation, industry, hours of work and whether employed on a casual basis;
If not working, the survey asks whether they are looking for work and reasons why they may not be;
If studying, the survey asks where they are studying, the course, level of the program, whether they are studying full-time or part-time; and
If not studying, the survey asks their reasons for not currently studying and whether they are waiting for their course to start.

Responses are predominantly collected by computer-assisted telephone interview or a web-based questionnaire.

Results

The results of the survey are disseminated in a statewide report analysing statewide trends and patterns.

Further Information

For further information about the background, purpose or reporting of Early School Leavers, please contact the Next Step team at the Department of Education, Training and Employment.

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