Tag Archives Skills

Teachers are not as smart as they were 20 years ago, an Australian study by economists Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan from the Australian National University concludes, in a finding that will reinforce concerns over declining classroom standards. The study used literacy and numeracy tests as the best proxy available for assessing teachers' academic abilities. Link: Teachers not so clever any…

The knowledge drought intensifies. Australia’s advancement as a society will continue to be hampered by our poor esteem for knowledge. [Source: On Line Opinion]

    Ross Gittins, writing in The Age asserts: OUR miracle economy is running out of spark. The rapid productivity improvement of the 1990s has not continued into the noughties. Between 1998 and 2004, growth in multi-factor productivity dropped to a below-trend 1 per cent a year, compared with 2.1 per cent during the 1993 to 1998 growth cycle.  …

The Australian senior executive of 2020 will need very different skills to today’s business leaders, according to a new study by The Boston Consulting Group for Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA). Strong general management skills, as well as industry and functional training to develop specialist expertise are amongst the needs forecasted in this report. Link: Australian Executives of 2020 Will…

This paper reports on a Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) project that explored policies, programs and other initiatives by Australia’s states and territories to support innovation, and to build VET capability to respond to its effects on skill needs. The project was undertaken in late 2003-early 2004. The project examined the range of initiatives adopted by…

The Australian Government 'Local Answers' program helps strengthen disadvantaged communities by funding local, small-scale, time limited projects that help communities build skills and capacity to identify opportunities and take action for the benefit of their members. Applicants should consult the Local Answers Guidelines, and ensure their application thoroughly addresses all of the relevant selection criteria to be in contention for…

This NCVER report is about employers and how they value and use qualifications in their business decisions. The research indicates clear differences in the value placed on and use made of qualifications by employers for different groups of workers and occupations. Qualifications are considered more important for higher-level occupations and employers use them predominantly to recruit new employees and to…

Close