Research Reports

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Information contained in any of the EEL research reports below may be reproduced, provided that an acknowledgement of the source is made.

Dalziel, P. Education Employment Linkages: Perspectives from Employer-Led Channels. EEL Research Report No. 5, 1 July 2010.    Download PDF

Abstract: This report presents results from a series of key informant interviews carried out in 2009 about employer-led channels for helping young New Zealanders make effective education-employment linkages during their transition years. Employers have become more connected to education institutions, motivated in part by serious skills shortages that emerged over the last decade. Career Services is recognised as a superb source of reliable career information, advice and guidance, whose services could be more widely used. The interviews revealed a concern that large numbers of young New Zealanders undervalue the positive benefits that can be achieved with good quality career guidance. There was wide support for further development of careers education in secondary and in tertiary education institutions. Another theme concerned finding ways to better manage relationships between educators and employers, including the greater use of specialist brokers. Finally, participants emphasised again and again the importance of supporting effective systems for helping young people to imagine different possibilities for their career development, and for helping them to develop skills for exploring and assessing a full range of opportunities as they construct their own career pathways

Higgins, J. Education Employment Linkages Objective Two: Key Informant Interviews in Regional Communities. EEL Research Report No. 4, 1 July 2010.     Download PDF

This report documents findings from the Key Informant stage of Objective 2 (Regional Communities) of the Education Employment Linkages research project. In the last quarter of 2009, interviews were conducted with service providers involved in helping young people with few or no qualifications with their post-school transition to tertiary education/training or employment. Those interviewed included providers of education/training (particularly in Private Training Establishments) and of connections services (involved in tracking and referral). Interviews focused on how providers assisted young people with few or no school qualifications to develop vocational imagination and labour market literacy, and how they facilitated linkages between education/training and employment. Three key concerns emerged from the provider perspective: (i) the difficulty of addressing the diverse and interconnected needs of young people in transition when funding is fragmented and “siloed”; (ii) the question of whether success is best measured by means of “hard” outcomes or according to progress towards achievement; (iii) the place, in the wider education sector, of these providers and the young people with whom they are working.

Vaughan, K., H. Phillips, P. Dalziel and J. Higgins A Matter of Perspective: Mapping Education Employment Linkages in Aotearoa New Zealand. EEL Research Report No. 3, 1 July 2009. Download PDF

Abstract: This report is the third in the Education Employment Linkages (EEL) Research Report series. Acknowledging that all map-making involves particular perspectives and representations of the world, each of the main chapters documents an important dimension of systems involved in young people’s transition from school.  The School-Communities chapter provides an education perspective focused on the perceptions, activities, and key relationships which characterise career education’s preoccupation with information-based, rather than lifelong development work.  The Regional Communities chapter provides a sociological perspective that focuses on Youth Training and Training Opportunities providers supporting young people who have left school with few or no qualifications and the trend to more systematic form of provision. The Māori and Pasifika Communities chapter provides an indigenous studies perspective focused on Māori and Pacific education and health providers whose links into the transition system may not be formal but rather accountable directly to Māori and Pasifika communities. The Employer-Led Channels chapter provides an economic perspective focused on Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics’ engagement with employers and the relationship with young people’s ability to make good matches between education and employment options.

Higgins, J., K. Vaughan, H. Phillips and P. Dalziel Education Employment Linkages: International Literature Review. EEL Research Report No. 2, 1 July 2008. Download PDF

Abstract: This report is the second in the Education Employment Linkages Research Report series. Its purpose is to document what is already known in the international literature, drawing on the research team's respective backgrounds in education, sociology, indigenous studies and economics to begin a trans-disciplinary account of key issues for young people making education and employment choices in their transition years from school to work. The report focuses on five themes in the literature: choice in education-employment linkages; crafting identities; discovery and development of abilities; opportunities and structure; and systems linking education and employment choices.

Dalziel, P., J. Higgins, K. Vaughan and H. Phillips Education Employment Linkages: An Introduction to the Research Programme. EEL Research Report No. 1, 1 July 2007. Download PDF

Abstract: In March 2007, the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology in New Zealand announced that it was providing $2 million of funding for a 5 year research programme on successful education employment matching for youth. This paper describes the structure of the research programme, introduces the research team and explains the ways in which the programme is incorporating Māori research and innovation. The overall aim of the research programme is to answer the question: How can formal support systems best help young New Zealanders make good education employment linkages to benefit themselves, their communities, and the national economy?