New data gathered through the Pathways for the Future Program will be used by the NSW Department of Education to identify barriers and drivers of effective education and employment outcomes and help shape policy development.

The Department uses insights from the program to improve access, opportunities and choice across post-school pathways for all students and learners.

The Pathways pilot program was launched in 2017 and used de-identified data to map how young people in NSW, aged 15 to 24, moved through education into work between 1996 and 2016.

Findings from the pilot, including key pathways from study to successful employment, have been published in a summary report, fact sheets and two interactive data tools.

This suite of publications provides insights into the most common pathways from education to work and the circumstances that influence employment and earning outcomes. The resources also allow users to explore the pathways previous students have taken through education and training into the workforce.

A refresh of the de-identified data occurs annually to ensure insights remain relevant to current and future student cohorts in NSW.

The upcoming 2024 refresh will include de-identified data from early childhood education students, primary and secondary school students, and students who have undertaken a vocational education and training qualification, or completed an apprenticeship, traineeship or higher education qualification in NSW from 1996 to 2023. Several new datasets will be also added.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Centre of Health Records Linkage are the authorised authorities that link and de-identify the data. The Department and its partners are committed to meeting all legal, privacy, ethical and data security requirements while maintaining the confidentiality and security of the data.

Students and learners can ask for their data to be withdrawn from the 2024 refresh of datasets through the Pathways for the Future webpage by 26 September 2024. People who have previously asked to have their data withdrawn from the Pathways dataset do not need to complete this form again.

For more information, visit the Pathways for the Future Program website.