The September 2007 edition of our journal, 'Youth Studies Australia', is underway. To receive a brief email notice of its table of contents, in advance of the journal's publication, subscribe to YSA TOC ALERT. (Send an email to: join-ysa_toc_alert@edna.edu.au)

The proceedings of the 'Are We There Yet?' National Youth Affairs conference, held in May 2007, are online in PDF format at: http://www.yacvic.org.au/

To have your publications considered for review by this clearinghouse in either this newsletter or in our journal, Youth Studies Australia, please post items to: Book reviews editor, Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, Private Bag 64, Hobart, Tasmania 7001. All publications we review will be cited only briefly in this newsletter, with links to reviews on our website at: http://www.acys.info/resources/research_tools/book_reviewsThis will help keep the length of this newsletter within reason. However, from now on, YFX will select one reviewed publication to highlight in detail in this newsletter.

The feature review for this edition of 'Youth Field Xpress' concerns two new publications from the Dusseldorp Skills Forum:

In this report, the Dusseldorp Skills Forum recommends investments and reforms for "[delivering] on the great opportunities Australia has ahead of it". Failing to capitalise on this opportunity will mean, says the DSF, that "Young Australians without basic educational attainments and levels of engagement will not be adequately equipped to cope with the demands being made of them either in the workplace or in the wider society". The report indicates that as of May 2007, 22 per cent of young adults and 13.8 per cent of teenagers were not engaged in either full-time work or full-time study. It highlights the fact that the completion of Year 12 does make a difference to young people's future chances of being engaged in full-time study or work. 'It's crunch time' asks Australia to "open the doors to greater youth engagement in learning", arguing that "many of the building blocks are already in place, but we need to do things differently, not just create more pathways and more programs".
Ten main reform areas are suggested:

Specific actions are suggested for each area, such as, a stronger focus on literacy and numeracy as foundations for learning, renewed emphasis on the quality of vocational education, and better support arrangements for early school leavers. The paper also highlights the potential role that industry can play, as well as the role of "demand-side intermediaries like group training organisations".
'It's crunch time' is available from both the DSF, http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/198.htmland from the Australian Industry Group, at http://www.aigroup.asn.auThe DSF MySpace page also features information on the report, including video clips of young people, teachers, mentors, support workers and spokespeople from social policy organizations talking about the programs and types of support available to help young people engage in learning and/or work: http://www.myspace.com/dusseldorpskillsforum(Source: Dusseldorp Skills Forum and Australian Industry Group 2007, 'It's crunch time for 306,000 young Australians', media release, 6 August, Dusseldorp Skills Forum, viewed 9 August, downloaded from: http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/198.html)

In both the Dusseldorp Skills Forum's newly released reports, 'How young people are faring 2007', and 'It's crunch time: Raising youth engagement and attainment', it is emphasised that those young Australians who have not completed school, or who have no Certificate III qualification, are "likely to face long-term disadvantages in the labour market", echoing Richard Curtain's words in 1999, in the DSF's very first annual 'How young people are faring' report: a "lack of basic education qualifications is a source of the longer-term vulnerability for many young people in the labour market".
Australian school completion rates have barely shifted in the past 15 years, with Australia being ranked 20th among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for its school completion rates for 25- to 34-year-olds, according to Richard Sweet, a former senior analyst at the OECD, speaking at a 2006 forum on youth transitions, held by the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Those 24-year-old Australians who have not completed school or its equivalent are twice as likely to be unemployed as their peers who have completed that level of education. Only in the Czech Republic is that ratio higher. Citing this in 'How young people are faring 2007' (p.11) the Dusseldorp Skills forum adds that "real improvements have occurred in the level of full-time engagement of teenagers, school leavers and young adults", coupled with Australia's economic achievements in the past decade, which now give Australia a unique opportunity to "cement institutional arrangements to ensure that all young people are engaged, skilled and developed over the long-term ... not only for the well-being of young people and their families, but also because the ongoing need for a skilled workforce" and a looming demographic squeeze facing Australia. Data for 'How young people are faring 2007' was prepared by Mike Long at the Monash University ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) in cooperation with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Contact details: Dusseldorp Skills Forum, 1 Glebe St, Glebe, NSW 2037; ph: (02) 9571 8347; fax: (02) 9571 9703; email: info [AT] dsf.org.au; web: http://www.dsf.org.au
Note: Further information on school to work transitions is contained in a 2007 discussion paper by G. Quintini, J.P. Martin and S. Martin (Institute for the Study of Labor, Germany 2007), titled, 'The changing nature of the school-to-work transition process in OECD countries'. Its authors conclude that "there is agreement that, in order to improve youth job prospects, it is essential to combat school failure. In particular, early and sustained intervention can help prevent a vicious circle of cumulative disadvantages". Many OECD countries have managed to improve school completion rates, but "high youth unemployment remains a serious problem in many OECD countries". See: http://preview.tinyurl.com/29euzd