Professor Errol Cocks MPsych PhD, CRDS Stian H Thoresen PhD, CRDS

1. School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work Benefits of completing apprenticeships and traineeships for people with disabilities: initial findings from a national longitudinal study and policy implications Professor Errol Cocks MPsychPhD, CRDS Stian H Thoresen PhD, CRDS Brendan Long PhD, National Disability Services Employment Services for the Future Conference, 7th February 2013 Centre for Research into Disability and Society Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute CRICOS Provider Code 00301J

2. Funding for this project was provided by the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education through the National VET Research Program managed by NCVER. The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government, State and Territory Governments or NCVER.

3. Australian disability prevalence rate of 18.5% (4m people)a Labour force participation of people aged 15-64a • 54% of people with disabilities • 83% of non-disabled people • 49% of women with disabilities • 77% of non-disabled women • 60% of men with disabilities School retention rates to Year 12a • 25% of students with disabilities • 55% of non-disabled students Significant under-representation in traineeships and apprenticeships in people aged 15-24 yearsb • 6.7% of Australian population have disabilities • 1.2% commenced training in 2010 • Between 1999-2009 commencements ranged from 1.4%-2.3% INCREASING PARTICIPATION IN VET IS A KEY STRATEGY aAustralian Bureau of Statistics 2010. Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers bNCVER (2011): Australian vocational education and training statistics: Students with a disability 2010. Overview of situation in Australia

4. Individual outcomes: • Higher share of part-time work • Higher levels of unemployment • Lower disposable income • Higher poverty risk • High public spending • Increasing beneficiary numbers • Permanence of disability benefits “…despite reforms & good economic conditions until recently, employment, unemployment, income & poverty outcomes have not improved for people with disability. Disability benefits have become the main working-age benefit in most countries…” (Chapter 2, p. 49)a 818,850 individuals received the Disability Support Pension in 2011b aOECD(2010). Sickness disability & work. Breaking the barriers. A synthesis of findings across (13) OECD countries. bFaHCSIA (2012). Characteristics of Disability Support Pension recipients. June 2011. International Concerns at the Costs of Disability Support and Consequences of Low Participation Rates in Labour Markets

5. Placing and supporting apprentices and trainees with disabilitiesa Synthesis of three research projects • WA Apprenticeship Project • Recruit & place apprentices and trainees usual job-placing strategies • Successful completion by 11 apprentices & 5 trainees (comparable to general population) • National GTO Disability Best Practice Project • Surveyed 180 Australian GTOs to identify best practice. • 23 GTOs involved, purposive sample of 6. Best Practice Guide resulted. • National GTO/DES Project • 216 registrants with 16 partnerships (38 apprentices & 84 trainees placed) • Completion rates 10.7 percentage points better than peers. aLewis, Thoresen, & Cocks 2011. Successful approaches to placing & supporting apprentices & trainees with disability in Australia. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 34(3):181-189 Background studies

6. Post-course outcomes for apprentices and trainees with disabilitiesb Retrospective analysis of 253 apprentices and trainees supported by EDGE 2000-2010. • Comparison group of EDGE registrants who did not commence. • Matched on gender, disability group, age within 5 years. • Completion rates: 39% & 57% with differences across courses. Apprentices wages 143% higher than people with a disability & 25% greater than population. bLewis, Thoresen, & Cocks 2011. Post-course outcomes of apprenticeships and traineeships for people with disability in Western Australia. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 35(2):107-116

7. Social and Economic Outcomes for Apprentices and Trainees with Disability Partnership between CRDS, EDGE, GTA, & NDS. Examine social & economic outcomes over 3 annual Waves – Wave 1 & 2 data collection completed. National survey of apprenticeship and traineeship 2009-2011 graduates • Recruited 404 graduates with disabilities in wave one • Recruited 85 graduates without disability in wave one Face-to-face interviews with 30 purposively selected PWD in WA, NSW, & SA completed in wave one. Current study

8. Disability Group/(Comparison Group – no disability) Gender: Males58% (57%), Females42% (43%) High School: 10% (6%) completed Year 9 or less 49% (49%) completed Year 12 Age: 15-24 yrs 43% (43%) 25-44 yrs 39% (38%) 45-64 yrs 17% (17%) 65 yrs + 1% (1%) Primary Disability: ID/LD 40% +4% secondary disability Physical/medical/epilepsy 31% Sensory 19% MI 6% ABI 4% Courses: 29% app. (31%) 71% trainees (69%) 3% cert I (1%) 21% cert II (15%) 61% cert III (65%) 16% cert IV (19%) Research Participants

9. Main activity since graduation: 78% Mostly working (80%) 14% Mostly looking for work (7%) 3% Further study or training (6%) 5% Mostly something else (7%) Currently working: 81% Paid work (88%) 2% Volunteer work 13% Looking for work (7%) 4% Not in workforce (5%) Work hours and wages All in paid employment n = 327 (76) : Weekly hours: Mean 33.21 (36.56)* Hourly rate: Mean $20.31 ($23.18)* Weekly wage: Mean $696 ($872)* Annual wage: Mean $36,216 ($45,331)* Excluding workers on Disability Support Pension n = 255 (76): Weekly hours: Mean 36.63 (36.56) Hourly rate: Mean $21.66 ($23.18) Weekly wage: Mean $807 ($872) Annual wage: Mean $41,982 ($45,331) *p<0.05 Economic Outcomes

10. 56% (49%) were members of at least one community group/club (mean 1.4 (1.1) groups/clubs) In the past month, participants attended on average 5.3 (4.0) meetings 97% (97%) agreed or strongly agreed with having good a relationship with co-workers 96% (96%) agreed or strongly agreed with being accepted, part of the team at work 93% (93%) reported at least one benefit from course completion - mean 3.4 (3.3) 13% (12%) stated they had made new friends, the 4th (5th) most common benefit Social Inclusion Outcomes

11. Quality of Life Questionnairea (QOL.Q) administered to the 30 interview participants QOL.Qscores higher than the population norm for people without disabilities: 20% in 90+ percentage rank, 50% in 70+ percentage rank No relationship between gender, type of main disability, or having an additional disability Participants with higher QOL.Q scores were likely • In further education • Currently employed • Still employed by apprenticeship/traineeship employer • In full-time employment • Have received more employee benefits • Higher agreement of self-rated work and social satisfaction aSchalock & Keith (1993 and 2004. Quality of Life Questionnaire Manual. 1993 Manual and 2004 Revision. Worthington, Ohio: IDS Publishing Corporation. Quality of Life Outcomes

12. Well-supported career development and transition to employment • Wraparound support by a range of stakeholders, School, DES, GTO, TAFE/RTO, employer, family Key support of family • Significant support by family to ‘set-up’ their son or daughter in a trade/business, i.e. family business Impact of complex disabilities • Complexity of multiple or degenerative disabilities squeezed some participants out of the workforce. Specialised advice and support are required for employers and workers Workplace bullying • Workplace bullying occurred both in-training and post-training. Family support and individual resilience guided participants through the unpleasant experiences Older completers • Reskilling and up-skilling. The challenges and support needs for older completers reflect different transitions, particularly if the disability is acquired later in life Some typical pathways: disability sub-group interviews (n=30)

13. Increase participation in VET, apprenticeships and traineeships (despite good graduate outcomes, participation rates are low) Increase in-training support (completion rates are lower) Address environmental and attitudinal barriers Provide more support for young people with disabilities to transition into open employment, i.e. VET in Schools Policy are required to:

14. Apprenticeship and traineeship are strong employment and vocational pathways for people with disabilities First year findings suggest • Strong Economic Outcomes no statistical difference when excluding workers on the Supported Wage • Strong Social Outcomes similar for both the disability and comparison group • Strong Quality of Life Outcomes superior to the general population without disability on QOL.Q norm scores Further waves will investigate the sustainability of outcomes and how these change over time Conclusions

15. Consortium Members Professor Errol Cocks & Dr Stian H Thoresen, Curtin University Adjunct A/Prof Greg Lewis, EDGE Employment Solutions Jeff Priday, Group Training Australia Dr Ken Baker, National Disability Services For more information, please contact Stian on s.thoresen@curtin.edu.au THANK YOU