My First Job: Improving youth employment outcomes in Australia Skilling for Growth Conference Kickstart: There’s never been a more exciting time to increase youth employment 8 April 2016

Employment challenges for young Australians Changing landscape for young people transitioning from education to employment June 2015 in Australia – Youth unemployment rate was 13.5 per cent – Teenage unemployment rate was 19.5 per cent – Highest levels since last economic recession in the 1990’s Current 360,000 Australians 17 to 25 years of age NEET Employers increasingly prefer those with a defined paid work history – how do you obtain employment then, if you have no experience?

Pathways to employment Compulsory schooling to age 17 Post-school: – 25% to university – 15% to VET – 25% to direct sustainable employment – 35% to casual employment or not in the labour market

What is My First Job? My First Job seeks to drive change within government and the private sector towards the provision and support of genuine entry level jobs for workplace entrants SYC and The Smith Family have joined with sector stakeholders including GTA, representatives from the Australian Government and employers to define a framework to support young Australians to successfully transition to employment

My First Job Stage 1 From February to October 2014, the My First Job Working Group established a framework of best practice to work with young people looking to transition into employment The My First Job White Paper released in October 2014.

My First Job Stage 2 Since February 2015, the My First Job Working Group has been developing a network structure – to link good practice for working with young people across Australia – to support employers looking to engage young employees in their business – My First Job Partnership.

2015 Europe Study Tour Statically high youth unemployment rate in Australia Challenge for governments for decades Demographic time bomb Similar issue in Germany, Switzerland and the UK – Yet Germany and Switzerland youth unemployment rates between 4 and 6 per cent – The UK trend downwards What can Australia learn? – Policy – systems design – practice Macquarie Group Foundation’s David Clarke Social Innovation Fellowship

The Delegation & The Brief Paul Edginton Chief Executive Officer, SYC Dr Lisa O’Brien Chief Executive Officer, The Smith Family David Furniss Director of Operations, SYC Michael Clark Director of Corporate Strategy, SYC Delegation considered ways to strengthen practices in Australia by providing appropriate and quality services to young people Particularly focus on the relationships that exist between schools, service providers and employers

The Schedule 3 jurisdictions, 24 meeting, 10 business days Germany – five cities – Meetings with state and federal governments, chambers of commerce, unions, employers – One school visit Switzerland – three cities – Meetings with two federal ministries, one federal agency and a canton (state) ministry – Meeting with chamber of commerce and global authority on VET – Visits to state and privately-owned training colleges UK – London – Government, large employers, service providers

Recommendations Embed career conversations in schools from Year Six Re-invent and invigorate traineeships Create and resource flexible learning pathways

Context of work in Germany German government policy aligned with the desire of employers for the labour market Core skills are essential and training takes an holistic approach The industrial environment in Germany encourages the apprenticeship period – Deciding factor in whether an employee is offered permanent employment at completion The apprenticeship ‘dual track’ system particularly embraced by larger firms – Have the resources to invest more in training and benefits, thus retaining the work force they have skilled

The German School System 16 states (or Länders) in Germany – Responsible for and autonomous over their school system Three streams – Hauptschule for ‘weaker students’ – Realschule for mid-level students – Gymnasium for top performers All streams offer entry into the dual track training system Schools are almost universally publicly funded – Receive upwards of 95 per cent of funding from their Länder. Germany has a target to achieve investment in education and research of 10 per cent – Currently at 9.8 per cent

Germany’s Dual Track training system

GTO’s impact in an Australian setting Group training: successfully linking employers, schools and parents for positive employment outcomes for young people; Whilst being demand-driven and responding to direct needs of industry. Providing not only access to apprenticeships but also pre- apprenticeship opportunities – work exposure and work placements.

GTO’s impact in an Australian setting This is achieved through extensive relationships with employers, understanding where there are current skills gaps and anticipating future skills gaps. The Australian GTO network has relationships with over 100,000 employers in Australia. The positive links created between employers, schools, young people (their parents) and government leads to approximately 35,000 apprenticeships and traineeships. How could this be expanded?

Key Findings Structure and cultural supports for transition to employment Two key themes that evolved during the Tour 1.There’s a strong training culture – best evidenced by the dual track training system – that goes back to the middle ages (Germany) or 150 years (Switzerland); and 2.A deep and universally held responsibility to not leave any child behind – all children and young people are provided with opportunities to establish a career pathway, to live independently in their future. These foundational values form the basis of a systemic platform with institutions and stakeholders that are focused on creating skilled labour for employers and, more crucially, towards creating meaningful pathways for young people to transition into further training and employment.

Key Findings Exposure to career conversations and experiences – early! The early years of school in Germany and Switzerland see all students share a common pathway, before the streaming of students occurs in Class 4 (at age 9 years). In Class 4, students begin discussions about careers and potential career paths of interest to them. By beginning the discussion at this early age, students begin the process of regularly thinking about what jobs are of interest to them, what there strengths are and how they relate to potential careers. New peer-reviewed research out of the UK to be published in coming months, explores the link between career conversations, successful working (employment) pathways and lifetime earnings. Findings of this research is that for every career conversation a young person participates in, there will be a 2 per cent premium added to their potential lifetime earnings, as compared to young people not exposed to career conversations. The findings highlight the value of brining the world or work into a school setting.

Key Findings: Employers, unions and chambers of commerce involved in training – meeting labour needs of industry Expand on the dual track system – and the engagement of multiple stakeholders INCLUDE DIHK diagram (need to scan)

Key Findings: Flexible learning pathways with employment outcomes

Recommendations Embed career conversations in schools from Year Six – Minimum of four conversations up to Year Ten decision point – Evidence of increased lifetime earnings Re-invent and invigorate traineeships – Broaden scope and range of traineeship pathways – Extend beyond traditional trade apprenticeships – Address the VET ‘brand problem’ – Quantify the importance of VET-based employment pathways to fulfill multiple sector employment needs – Recalibrate funding allocation Create and resource flexible learning pathways – Particularly for those young Australians disengaged from education – Offer flexible learning pathways aligned with labour market entry – Student-centred funding

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My First Job: Improving youth employment outcomes in Australia Skilling for Growth Conference Kickstart: There’s never been a more exciting time to increase youth employment 8 April 2016