What determines mature age entry into education and training and what are its impacts?

Description and objectives of the research

Australia stands out in terms of the participation of mature age Australians in formal education and training. According to the OECD, Australia had the highest education enrolment rate of those aged 40 and over among all OECD countries at 5.8% in 2008, which was nearly 4 times the OECD average of 1.6%. For those aged 30 to 39, Australia’s participation rate ranked second highest overall, at 13.4%, which was over 2 times the OECD average of 5.9% (OECD, 2010). This mature age participation in education (sometimes referred to as “Lifelong Learning” or “Adult Education”) may be very important in alleviating labour market skill shortages, in engaging mature age Australians more fully and productively in the labour market, and in building social inclusion.

This project aims to uncover the characteristics of Australians that choose to participate in formal education and training at more mature ages, to discern the outcomes of such investments, and to explore why Australian participation rates are higher than those in other OECD countries.

 

Contact: The Melbourne Institute contact for this project is Dr Domenico Tabasso.

Progress: This project commenced in March 2011 with a final report submitted to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in early 2012.