P ARTICIPATION IN E DUCATION AND T RAINING – A W ORK -L IFE I SSUE

‘I NCREASING VET P ARTICIPATION AMONGST LOW PAID WORKERS ACROSS THE LIFE CYCLE ’ National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) funded project Work-life lens applied to participation in education & training Low paid occupations: clerical and administrative community and personal services sales and service production and transport machinery operators and drivers labouring and related occupations

E&T IS VIEWED POSITIVELY % of workers not currently in education or training

AWALI SAMPLE 75.7% not studying at time of survey Of these, 51.3% “not at all likely” to participate in next 12 months

N OT ENOUGH TIME FOR E&T % of workers not currently in education or training

E&T NOT FIT WITH FAMILY & OTHER LIFE COMMITMENTS % of workers not currently in education or training

WORK - LIFE PENALTY : LOW PAID OCCUPATION

NCVER O CCASIONAL P APER ‘Low-paid workers, changing patterns of work and life, and participation in vocational education and training: A discussion starter ’ Barbara Pocock (2009) Download: CWL & NCVER websites

“ I changed from a job of 21 years of rotating shifts, day and night, 12 hour shifts and you’d get every second weekend off but you worked every second weekend……... Therefore you miss out on a lot of what your kids do …... You’d race home in the morning and go and watch them play footy. Then they say, when are you going to come home tonight? But you can’t just push them aside, you’ve got to try.... ” Max, food processing worker

WORK - LIFE PENALTY : WOMEN

W HAT TO DO ? + 40% wanted help with financial costs 20% want more time % of all workers (in E&T or not)

Question: What are the main things for you about participation (in VET) in the future? “ I’d say financial. I’m trying to pay off a house and cars and things like that. Every cent counts. That and the time factor. I work about 45 hours a week at the moment and that’s pretty ongoing so by the time I get home and cook some tea and collapse in a chair. Even if I had that work to do I’d be too tired to do it, as much as I’d want to.” Sally, retail worker in SA

M ORE INFORMATION : Reports on CWL & NCVER websites in near future