Publications (224)
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Collaboration with Blue Haven Public School – What works best podcast
This podcast is part of an eight-part series. In this podcast, Mark Scott, Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, dives into what teacher collaboration looks like in practice and why it is important at Blue Haven Public School. Mark speaks with Substantive Principal and Principal in Residence Literacy and Numeracy, Paul McDermott, Relieving Principal, Dale Edwards, and staff at Blue Haven Public School.
Download the transcript (PDF, 237kB)
Classroom management with Strathfield Girls High School – What works best podcast
This podcast is part of an eight-part series. In this podcast, Mark Scott, Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, discusses what effective classroom management looks like in practice with Strathfield Girls High School Principal, Angela Lyris, and students.
Download the transcript (PDF, 193kB)
Use of data to inform practice with Berry Public School – What works best podcast
This podcast is part of an eight-part series. In this podcast, Mark Scott, Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, speaks with Principal, Bob Willetts, and staff at Berry Public School to explore how they use data to provide students with effective feedback and inform their classroom practice.
Download the transcript (PDF, 176kB)
Explicit teaching with Northern Beaches Secondary College, Balgowlah Boys Campus – What works best podcast
This podcast is part of an eight-part series. In this podcast, Mark Scott, Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, speaks with Principal, Paul Sheather, Deputy Principal, Ben Seldon, and students of Northern Beaches Secondary College, Balgowlah Boys Campus. Mark hears first-hand how the school’s focus on explicit teaching has helped it become one of the state’s top performing schools in English.
Download the transcript (PDF, 144kB)
Post-school pathways for secondary students who enrol in vocational education and training
Background
Vocational education and training (VET) programs have featured in the Australian secondary school curriculum since the mid-1990s. Around this time, the Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling specifically recognised the provision of VET programs as a national goal. These programs were targeted at upper secondary students and originally aimed at increasing retention of less academically engaged youth in school and preparing students for employment and further training. However, about 20 years since the introduction of VET programs in schools, there is inconclusive evidence about the extent to which their aims and vision have been realised.
The Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation has conducted an investigation into the post-school education, training and employment pathways of NSW students who recently enrolled in at least one VET course as part of their senior secondary education. In this report, we investigate four research questions:
1. What are the characteristics of the secondary students who enrolled in VET and how do they compare to those of students who did not enrol?
2. Which characteristics independently predict secondary student enrolment in VET?
3. What are the post-school destinations of the secondary students who enrolled in VET and how do they compare to those of students who did not enrol?
4. Which features of VET delivery were associated with post-school destinations?
Key findings
• We found that the characteristics of the secondary students who enrolled in VET were somewhat different to those of students who did not enrol. For example, there were substantial differences in Year 9 NAPLAN Numeracy and Reading scaled scores and student and school measures of socio-educational advantage.
• When we used a multivariable model to investigate the second research question, we found that most of the assessed characteristics independently predicted student enrolment in VET. That is, when we accounted for the relationships between the explanatory variables, we still
found independent relationships between most of the assessed characteristics and student enrolment in VET.
• When we compared secondary students who enrolled in VET to a group of students who had similar characteristics but did not enrol, we found that the students who did enrol were equally likely to much less likely to be not working or studying. These results provide evidence that the provision of VET as part of senior secondary education may help some students transition into work or study after they leave school.
• We found that differences in features of VET delivery (external provider versus VET at school, undertaking a work placement, and certificate level II versus III) were associated with different post-school destinations. For example, undertaking a work placement as part of a VET course decreased the likelihood that a student enrolled in VET would not go on to work or study.
Wellbeing with Cecil Hills High School – What works best podcast
This podcast is part of an eight-part series. In this episode, Mark Scott, Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, speaks with Cecil Hills High School Principal, Mark Sutton, about how every student is known, valued and cared for in a large, comprehensive high school. Students give insights into some of the ways their school supports student wellbeing.
Download the transcript (PDF, 133kB)
Language, Learning & Literacy (L3) review
Language, Learning & Literacy (L3) review (PDF, 1.1MB)
Background
Language, Learning & Literacy (L3) is a pedagogical approach to teaching reading and writing (not a collection of curriculum resources or a programmed scope and sequence). L3 Kindergarten was developed first as a Tier 2 intervention to provide personalised instruction for individuals and small groups of students within a whole class setting. L3 Stage One was developed later not as a tiered intervention, but as a professional learning program for Stage One teachers.
Evaluation
The aim of this review was to examine the design, content and implementation of L3. We used three methods to achieve this: document review, quantitative survey analysis and qualitative interview analysis. This review does not include an outcome evaluation.
In this review, we addressed seven research questions:
- What was the original research base for L3?
- How was L3 originally designed and implemented?
- To what extent does L3 reflect current departmental policies and publications?
- How is L3 currently designed and implemented?
- Why did NSW government primary schools choose to use L3?
- What aspects of L3 are perceived to be working well?
- What aspects of L3 could be improved?
Main findings
- While L3 drew on some research, it did not draw on the full range of available research into early literacy teaching, especially research that emphasised the use of code-based approaches to early reading instruction through explicit and systematic pedagogies.
- L3 provides only limited ‘systematic’ teaching and a form of ‘explicit’ teaching that is not consistent with current best practice. L3 does not adequately reflect the phonemic awareness or phonics components in CESE’s ‘Effective reading instruction’ literature review. L3 did not include a scope and sequence to systematically structure the introduction of alphabetic code-breaking skills.
- Over time, L3 shifted away from being a closely monitored and targeted intervention to being perceived as a general literacy pedagogy suitable for any school. This shift was exacerbated by a lack of alternative departmental whole class literacy programs from which schools could choose. As the use of L3 expanded to reach an increasingly large and diverse range of schools, departmental oversight and implementation monitoring were reduced. This impacted on the department’s ability to identify which schools were using L3 and to monitor program fidelity, and therefore hindered the ability to evaluate of the impact of L3 on student learning.
- The demand for teacher professional learning in literacy has driven the use of L3. L3 filled knowledge gaps in both pre-service and in-service training in the fundamentals of teaching reading and writing. Many reported that they were impressed with the training model, especially the in-school coaching.
- Three in every five schools reported using L3 in 2019 and implementation of L3 varied considerably between schools. In addition, 84% of these schools reported adopting other programs alongside L3. Two-thirds of schools reported modifying L3.
- Teachers reported that a key strength of L3 was a substantial change in their knowledge, practice and confidence. L3 promoted the use of quality texts and provided specific procedures for talking with students about texts. The five-weekly goal setting and use of data to inform practice supported teachers’ reflective practice.
- Teachers reported that some of the L3 strategies were time consuming and challenging to implement, with some students needing more support than L3 offers. Implementation of L3 also presented challenges for classroom management, with some schools reporting that students struggled with the requirement to work independently during L3 lessons.
Recommendations
- Consider key elements of the L3 professional learning model for future training.
- Clarify how best to program and implement the K-6 English syllabus.
- Clarify how best to differentiate phonics instruction in different contexts.
- Clarify the purpose of different assessment tools and how to use the data they generate.
- Develop a logic model and an evaluation plan for a comprehensive outcome evaluation of future programs.
Literacy support for schools and related resources
Since 2017, the department has undertaken a range of strategic activities and developed a suite of new resource to support schools with early literacy instruction. These are available via the links below.
Effective reading instruction in the early years literature review
Professional learning
- Selecting decodable texts for teaching
- Effective reading: phonics
- Effective reading: phonological awareness
- Supporting the emergent writer
- Incorporating explicit teaching strategies
Other
- Effective reading online resources
- Literacy & numeracy podcast series
- Kindergarten learning packages (learning from home)
- Phonological awareness diagnostic assessment
- Phonics screening check trial (Term 3, 2020)
Data collection and analysis for evaluation – reference guides for teachers
Data collection and analysis for evaluation – reference guides for teachers (PDF, 316kB)
This guide provides practical tips on data collection in the context of evaluation. It covers good survey design, running effective focus groups, conducting effective interviews and the process of document analysis. There is more information on data collection on the Evaluation resource hub.
Post-school destinations 2019 – all school leavers
All school leavers fact sheet (PDF, 315kB) or read online below.
Go to the main post-school destinations 2019 report.
This page provides a high level overview of findings from the 2019 NSW Secondary Students’ Post-School Destinations and Expectations survey of students who left school in 2018, including early school leavers and Year 12 completers. In 2019, a total of 24,912 school leavers completed the survey.
Post-school destinations of all school leavers in 2019
In 2019, 88.5% of all school leavers were in education, training or employment. The remainder were either looking for work or not in the labour force, education or training.
The proportion of recent school leavers involved in higher education, training or employment has remained stable since 2014.
Bachelor degree
36.5% (down 5.1 percentage points since 2014)
VET Cert IV+
5.3% (down 2.1 percentage pointssince 2014)
VET Cert III
3.4% (up 0.3 percentage points since 2014)
VET Cert I-II
1.6% (down 1.3 percentage points since 2014)
Apprenticeship
11.2% (up 1.9 percentage points since 2014)
Traineeship
4.7% (down 0.1 percentage points since 2014)
Full time work
8.7% (up 1.8 percentage points since 2014)
Part time work
17% (up 4.6 percentage points since 2014)
Looking for work
8.3% (up 0.3 percentage points since 2014)
NILFET
3.2% (down 0.2 percentage points since 2014)
Top three areas of education school leavers enter post-school
1. Business management (6.1%)
2. Building (5.9%)
3. Teacher education (5.0%)
Top three post-school work roles for school leavers
1. Sales assistants and sales workers (19.8%)
2. Hospitality workers (16.8%)
3. Storepersons (8.6%)
What are the subgroup differences in destinations?
• Female students were more likely than male students to undertake a bachelor degree, traineeship, VET certificate IV+, VET certificate III or part-time work.
• Male students were more likely than female students to be in an apprenticeship, full-time work, looking for work or NILFET.
• Students who speak a language other than English at home were more likely than those who do not, to undertake a bachelor degree or VET certificate IV+.
• Students who do not speak a language other than English at home were more likely than those who do, to be in VET certificate III, VET certificate I-II, an apprenticeship, traineeship, full-time work, part-time work or looking for work.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were more likely than non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to be in a VET certificate III, VET certificate I-II, a traineeship, looking for work or NILFET.
• Non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were more likely than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to undertake a bachelor degree or VET certificate IV+.
• Higher parental socioeconomic status (SES) students were more likely than lower parental SES students to undertake a bachelor degree.
• Lower parental SES students were more likely than higher parental SES students to be in a VET certificate III, an apprenticeship, traineeship, full-time work, part-time work, looking for work or NILFET.
• Students living in Greater Sydney were more likely than students living in the rest of NSW to undertake a bachelor degree or VET certificate IV+.
• Students living in the rest of NSW were more likely than students living in Greater Sydney to be in a VET certificate III, VET certificate I-II, an apprenticeship, traineeship, full-time work, part-time work or looking for work.
Post-school destinations 2019 – comparison of Year 12 completers and early school leavers
Comparison of Year 12 completers and early school leavers fact sheet (PDF, 290kB) or read online below.
Go to the main post-school destinations report for 2019
The NSW Post-School Destinations and Experiences Survey collects information about students’ main destination1 in the year after completing Year 12 or leaving school. We spoke to 18,777 Year 12 completers and 6,135 early school leavers.
This fact sheet provides a brief overview of the differences between NSW Secondary School Students who completed Year 12 in 2018 and those who left school in 2018 before finishing Year 12 (known as early school leavers).
Main post-school destination
Year 12 completers were more likely than early school leavers to be in some form of education or training (65.7% compared with 54.2%). Close to half of Year 12 completers were undertaking a bachelor degree, whereas this was the least common destination for early school leavers.
Early school leavers were more likely than Year 12 completers to be in the following destinations:
- Apprenticeships
- Traineeships
- VET Certificate I-II
- VET Certificate III
- Working full-time
- Looking for work
- Not in the labour force, education or training (NILFET)
Bachelor degree
Most common areas of study for Year 12 completers:
- Society and culture 22.6%
- Management and commerce 20.0%
- Health 18.9%
Most common areas of study for early school leavers:
- Society and culture 19.9%
- Health 19.6%
- Creative arts 18.5%
VET certificate IV+
Most common areas of study for Year 12 completers:
- Creative arts 18.3%
- Society and culture 15.4%
- Health 15.1%
Most common areas of study for early school leavers:
- Creative arts 22.4%
- Society and culture 15.8%
- Health 15.7%
VET certificate III
Most common areas of study for Year 12 completers:
- Society and culture 16.9%
- Education 14.4%
- Food, hospitality and personal services 9.2%
Most common areas of study for early school leavers:
- Health 17.1%
- Food, hospitality and personal services 16.6%
- Management and commerce 16.0%
VET Certificate I-II
Most common areas of study for Year 12 completers:
- Mixed field programmes 14.2%
- Management and commerce 10.0%
- Agriculture, environment and related 9.4%
Most common areas of study for early school leavers:
- Mixed field programmes 18.1%
- Health 13.6%
- Engineering and related technologies 13.4%
Apprenticeship
Most common apprenticeships for Year 12 completers:
- Electricians 23.7%
- Bricklayers, carpenters and joiners 17.9%
- Fabrication engineering trades workers 10.2%
Most common apprenticeships for early school leavers:
- Bricklayers, carpenters and joiners 21.7%
- Electricians 13.9%
- Automotive electrician and mechanics 13.4%
Traineeship
Most common traineeships for Year 12 completers:
- Child care workers 26.6%
- General clerks 13.6%
- Sales assistants and salespersons 10.5%
Most common traineeships for early school leavers:
- Child care workers 25.7%
- Sales assistants and salespersons 17.5%
- General clerks 7.7%
Full-time work
Most common occupations for Year 12 completers:
- Community and personal service workers 22.3%
- Labourers 17.6%
- Clerical and administration workers 14.3%
Most common occupations for early school leavers:
- Labourers 33.8%
- Community and personal service workers 15.1%
- Sales workers 13.5%
Part-time work
Most common occupations for Year 12 completers:
- Community and personal service workers 28.3%
- Sales workers 27.4%
- Labourers 11.7%
Most common occupations for early school leavers:
- Sales workers 29.2%
- Labourers 25.3%
- Community and personal service workers 20.1%
Not in the labour force, education or training (NILFET)
Most common reason for Year 12 completers:
- Recreation (gap year) 37.8%
- Informal study or training 23.3%
- Unable to work due to illness 9.1%
Most common reason for early school leavers:
- Recreation (gap year) 26.2%
- Unable to work due to illness 19.5%
- Informal study or training 19.3%
Footnotes
1A total of ten post-school destinations were defined from responses to a number of items relating to participation in further education and current employment. This classification system is a hierarchical classification system, which prioirities education related post-school destinations over particiaption in employment. As such, it represents a young person's main destination since leaving school.
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