This report was originally published 07 April 2017.

Summary

Main post-school destination

In 2016, 70.2% of Year 12 completers and 54.3% of early school leavers were in some form of education and training six months after leaving school.

Among Year 12 completers, the main post-school destination continues to be a Bachelor degree (51.2%), while 6.5% had entered a Certificate IV, Diploma or Advanced Diploma, 2.7% in a Certificate I, II or III, 5.5% in an apprenticeship and 4.3% in a traineeship. The remaining 29.8% of Year 12 completers were not participating in any form of further education and training. Typically, these Year 12 completers had entered full-time (8.6% of all Year 12 completers) or part-time (13.2%) employment, while 5.2% were looking for work and 2.8% were not in the labour force, education or training.

Since 2015, there has been a 5.0 percentage point decrease in Year 12 completers entering some form of education and training, which is now at its lowest point in the time series. This trend is associated with a decline in Year 12 completers entering a Certificate IV, Diploma or Advanced Diploma (down 2.4 points since 2015), or Certificates I, II or III course (down 2.1 points). The pattern of small annual increases (although not statistically significant from year to year) in the percentage of Year 12 completers entering a Bachelor degree since the 2010 survey appears not to have continued. The 2016 result was 2.0 percentage points lower than seen in 2015.

Initial post-school destinations among early school leavers continue to be very different to those who complete Year 12. The most common post-school destination for early school leavers continues to be an apprenticeship (27.8%), while 9.1% had entered a Certificate IV+, 9.6% had entered a Certificate I-III and 6.5% had entered a traineeship. Overall, 45.7% of early school leavers in 2016 were not participating in any form of further education. These early school leavers were typically looking for work (15.3%) or working part-time (13.5%) or working full-time (10.1%). A few (6.9%) were not in the labour force, education or training.

The main post-school destination of early school leavers in 2016 was comparable to earlier surveys in the time series. The only notable trend was a continued decline in the proportion of early school leavers participating in Certificate I-III courses (down 9.8 percentage points since 2010). The proportion not in the labour force, education or training has remained higher than seen in 2010.