Page 1123 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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Government can play a significant role in mitigating the peaks and troughs that occur in the construction and consulting industry as the economy moves through its usual cycles. Benefits of undertaking major public investments in infrastructure such as roads, public housing, hospitals, schools et cetera during slower periods in the economy are well understood. Investing in our people through improving education opportunities is another key factor to help drive employment in the ACT through the ACT government’s focus on education.
As mentioned by my colleague Minister Burch in this house on a number of occasions, literacy and numeracy achievement at school is paramount to future economic success. In 2013, the average score in NAPLAN testing for ACT students was the highest or equal highest in the nation across all of the 20 areas tested.
The ACT VET system is effective in preparing people for employment. The government is delivering a training system that enables the effective participation of the working age youth and delivers skills relevant to employment markets. A measure of how effective the VET system is in responding to the skill requirements of the ACT economy is the level of employer satisfaction with training as a way of meeting their skill needs.
Over half of employers in the ACT use the VET system. Satisfaction remains high among ACT employers who arranged or provided their employees with nationally recognised training, closely followed by employers who require formal vocational qualifications and employers of apprentices and trainees.
Almost all young Canberrans make a successful transition from school to work, with the most successful path in general being the completion of year 12 plus further study. Compared to the rest of the nation, ACT youth have thrived in recent years, achieving exceptional outcomes in education and employment. ACT youth aged 20 to 24 years are more likely than youth in the rest of the nation to have a year 12 certificate or equivalent or certificate II or above.
The ACT is the only jurisdiction to exceed the COAG target of a national attainment rate of 90 per cent for 20 to 24-year-olds with a year 12 certificate or equivalent or certificate II. Quality VET outcomes for Canberra’s youth and social equity groups is the foundation for further improvements in overall education levels and employment participation.
The gap between the proportion of Indigenous and non-Indigenous 20 to 64-year-olds with, or working towards, a non-school qualification is smaller in the ACT than in the rest of the nation. Of course, this mirrors the overall improvement in Indigenous tertiary education that has occurred in this country over the last 40 years. Back in 1969 there was just a handful of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country with a university qualification. The most recent statistics in 2012, I understand, indicate that 25,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a university qualification.
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