National Centre for Vocational Education Research

ABSTRACTIntroductionAlthough occupational stressors are acknowledged as contributors to high‐risk alcohol consumption, their impact relative to sociodemographic and health factors is not well understood. This study investigated how occupational stressors compare with sociodemographic and health factors in influencing three high‐risk drinking patterns among Australian workers.MethodsThis analysis included 26,255 employed individuals (48.2% female) drawn from 23 waves (2001–2023) of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. The study conducted multivariate regressions on three types of high‐risk drinking: (i) high‐risk drinking across the week; (ii) single‐occasion high‐risk drinking; and (iii) any high‐risk drinking.ResultsWorking more than full‐time hours was associated with higher odds of high‐risk drinking across the week (OR 1.12, 95% CI [1.05, 1.19]). Shift workers were associated with single‐occasion high‐risk drinking (OR 1.09, 95% CI [1.02, 1.16]). Desiring to work more hours was associated with single‐occasion high‐risk drinking (OR 1.16, 95% CI [1.09, 1.24]). Workers aged 18–29 years had a twofold increased odds of any high‐risk drinking (OR 1.99, 95% CI [1.77, 2.23]), while women had decreased odds (OR 0.11, 95% CI [0.10, 0.13]). Smoking was the modifiable risk factor most strongly associated with any high‐risk drinking (OR 2.80, 95% CI [2.60, 3.02]).Discussion and ConclusionsThis analysis found that occupational factors were associated with high‐risk drinking; however, their impact was less substantial than sociodemographic and health factors. Interventions targeting risk factors among high‐prevalence groups and health promotion campaigns highlighting the health risks associated with high‐risk alcohol consumption are warranted.

The study aims to empirically demonstrate and conceptually interpret the manifestations of an emerging approach to the issues of human capital, its measurement and development on the international academic, expert, and corporate agenda. We document a gradual shift from a focus on individual skills, their measurement and development, to an approach that considers the complexity of human capital and emphasizes holistic individual activity and the proactive role of the individual in his/her human development and in transforming the corporate environment.The authors show that the formation of this novel approach can be associated with new trends in socio-economic development, including the growing share of non-routine jobs, the transformation of work formats and broader processes of de-structuration, which require a proactive role of the individual in the maintenance and development of social structures, including business organizations. The study has shown that the formation of this new approach occurs gradually and simultaneously at the global level on the academic, expert, and corporate agendas, but with varying degrees of intensity and with different focuses. At the same time, it is the corporate agenda that can be regarded as a frontier. This study is based on a content analysis of academic publications, expert reports of international organizations and think tanks, as well as public reports and documents of the world’s leading innovative companies. The research employs the Big Data intelligence system iFORA.

ABSTRACT To combat high failure and student drop-out rates, universities have developed strategies to monitor online student engagement through measurable activities. In this study, we explore if and how these monitoring activities accurately measure online engagement. We interviewed nine highly engaged online third-year students throughout a semester to find out more about what engagement meant for them and how they enacted it in the online space, both visibly and invisibly. According to students in this study, traditional measures of online engagement were not perceived as valuable to their learning. The students complained about the ‘busy work’ – tasks that kept them busy or that monitored their engagement through a metrics-based tool. The students reported a number of other activities that prompted their engagement in learning; many of these would not be picked up by the usual ways of measuring engagement. These findings invite educators to move away from having fixed ideas about where and how and when online students should be engaging. They invite critique of the superficial, descriptive, tick-the-box exercises that are usually designed to monitor engagement by computer rather than through human interaction. They offer educators an opportunity to explore other ways of understanding student engagement in the online space.

The recent significant shift to international importation of methamphetamine may obviate the need for, and value of, an electronic tracking system (ETS) of precursor drugs involved in the production of methamphetamine in Australia. Moreover, local law enforcement initiatives, such as ETS, may contribute inadvertently to an unintended consequence of greater importation of high-quality crystal methamphetamine. Meta-regulation strategies, such as electronic tracking systems (ETS) as described and analysed by Mazerolle et al. 1, have considerable merit and may have a potentially important part to play in the suite of effective strategies employed to address alcohol and other drug problems. In addition, they can offer a useful and constructive role for law enforcement to complement the work of the health and community service sectors. The ETS described in Mazerolle et al.’s paper sets an ambitious goal of interrupting drug production, supply and possession. However, important questions arise regarding the efficacy of systems such as electronic tracking, especially in light of the changing market and manufacturing approaches that have occurred in relation to methamphetamine in recent times. In the space of very few years, the Australian illicit drug market has seen a dramatic and rapid shift away from the powdered form of methamphetamine (speed) to the more potent crystalline form (ice) 2. In addition, a substantial amount of the supply of ice now originates off-shore and is imported into Australia from Asia and China. Significant spikes in Australian border detections of methamphetamine importations have been reported since 2010 in terms of increased weight and purity of seizures 3. The increased number and weight of national methamphetamine seizures in 2014–15 were the highest on record 4. The Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection detections of methamphetamine increased by 47% from 2013–14 to 2014–15, and the weight of methamphetamine detected almost doubled 4. Further, the increase in global methamphetamine demand has resulted in an expansion in the number and size of methamphetamine manufacturing regions and trafficking routes between 2009 and 2013 5. Estimates of the ratio of imported to locally produced ice suggest that by far the greater proportion of the drug now comes from overseas. As a result, previous strategies to interrupt local production and supply, for example by the application of ETS will, by necessity, be less effective. Hence, the Mazerolle paper, while providing a rigorous examination of the efficacy of a potentially important regulatory mechanism, unfortunately targets a strategy that may now have been superseded in terms of its potential viability as a control supply mechanism. That is, the recent upsurge in the use of crystal methamphetamine that is substantially procured offshore from Asia and China may obviate the need for an elaborate and expensive local ETS system. Furthermore, as the authors also note, the cost for the ETS is borne largely by the health-care system (and not by the law enforcement system); yet the health-care system sorely needs all available resources to address the burgeoning health and social problems associated with escalating harms from the use of crystal methamphetamine. The evaluation of Project STOP (an online database in which pharmacists record sales of pseudoephedrine-based medication) demonstrates the feasibility of successfully implementing ETS. However, the relevance of this particular system to track a precursor substance for the production of methamphetamine may now be increasingly obsolete, given the rapid change to offshore production and importation of ice into Australia. Importantly, we also need to consider whether the introduction of a successful strategy designed to curtail if not eliminate domestic availability of an essential precursor drug may have contributed inadvertently to an international supply displacement effect, and thereby enhanced inadvertently the attractiveness of a shift to offshore production and importation—and in so doing bypassing effective, stringent local law enforcement and containment strategies. These purported limitations, and indeed any unintended and untoward consequences, notwithstanding the merits of ETS, should still be highlighted. In more general health contexts, the introduction of similar electronic systems such as real-time monitoring of prescribed opioids 6 is still lauded as a potentially valuable and viable adjunct to our harm reduction armamentarium. None. A.M.R.’s University professorial position is funded partly by the Australian Government Department of Health.

To examine the prevalence and predictors of cannabis use among older Australians and discuss implications for service provision. Secondary analyses were conducted on the 2004 and 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, a large and nationally representative data set. Frequency analyses explored the distribution of demographic characteristics and cannabis use. Logistic regression explored the predictors of cannabis use. Cannabis use among Australians aged 50 years and over increased significantly (P < 0.01) from 1.5% to 3.6% between 2004 and 2013. Cannabis use was significantly (P < 0.01) more likely among those who were male, unmarried, risky drinkers, smokers and poly-drug users, and significantly less likely among those who were older. This increase in cannabis use among older Australians has important implications for policy and practice. Healthcare services and professionals need the skills to be able to effectively support older cannabis users. Targeted, age-appropriate interventions are similarly required.

Brief classroom-based episodes of physical activity (active lesson breaks, ALBs) have improved schoolchildren's classroom behaviors in some studies, and may also increase the likelihood of children meeting the recommended daily minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). However, there is emerging evidence that increases in physical activity at particular times of the day may lead to compensatory declines at other times. This study explored evidence for compensatory declines in response to a 10 min ALB during the school day. Thirty-eight 12-year-old boys from a single elementary school completed intervention and control conditions in a cross-over design, with each phase lasting one week. The intervention consisted of a single 10-min active lesson break delivered on each of three days in the intervention week. Twenty-four hour accelerometry was used to quantify moderate and vigorous physical activity. ALBs increased in-school MVPA by 5.8 min (p < .0001), but overall daily MVPA was similar between intervention and control conditions (77.2 vs 77.4 min/d, p > .05), However, vigorous physical activity increased significantly over the whole day (11.2 vs 8.9 min, p = .0006). A brief episode of classroom-based play led to a modest increase in vigorous physical activity in elementary school students, but did not increase MVPA across the day.

This article examines the occupational aspirations of 15-year olds. We first determine the drivers of occupational aspirations before comparing aspirations with actual employment outcomes a decade later. Whilst actual jobs held at age 25 years do not quite meet young people's initial aspirations, they compare favourably with the overall job distribution of the Australian workforce, particularly for young women. It is suggested that these positive outcomes reflect the higher education levels of young cohorts, compared to older ones. One likely reason why young women exceed young men regarding occupational status is the higher proportion of women completing university studies.

Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 53 Australian police officers with specialist expertise in liquor law enforcement to ascertain their perspectives concerning the liquor licensing legislation in Australia’s eight states and territories. Respondents generally indicated that current arrangements favoured the interests of the alcohol industry and did not sufficiently empower them to reduce alcohol-related harms. Other key themes included: ambiguity surrounding the police role in liquor licensing; difficulties in enforcing drunkenness-related offences; partnerships; strategies to enhance enforcement; data/intelligence gathering; and the separation of Ministerial responsibilities for liquor licensing and policing. Overall, police in Australia are not currently being given the tools they require to effectively reduce alcohol-related harms.

Quantitative research in vocational education and training (VET) is routinely affected by missing or incomplete information. However, the handling of missing data in published VET research is often sub-optimal, leading to a real risk of generating results that can range from being slightly biased to being plain wrong. Given that the growing availability of data from large-scale surveys and administrative collections offers exciting new opportunities for quantitative VET research, it is important that researchers follow best-practice approaches when using such data in their own work. Against this backdrop, we: (1) provide a primer on the use of appropriate missing data methods for quantitative VET research; and (2) illustrate the detrimental effects of inefficient methods on research results via a simulation study using real-world education and training data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY).

Leader perceptions of higher education reforms in Armenia are examined in order to gain an insight into how they view the reforms, their role in the reforms and the roles of others. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six Armenian higher education leaders and analysed in terms of the following five aspects relevant to leadership: policy transfer and diffusion; change knowledge; emotional intelligence; leadership approach; and causal attribution. The leaders spoke positively about the reform efforts but blamed teachers, government, students and society for the failure of the reform efforts in Armenia. The conclusion is that, irrelevant of whether the change is top-down or bottom-up, it is destined to fail if the change knowledge of the actual implementers is not taken into consideration, an active dialogue does not occur with the actual implementers of the changes and the implements of change are thus not involved in the reform process.