AVETRA Conference Papers 2000 1 Teenagers' full-time work and learning: A case study in what research findings say about policy, practice, theory and further research possibilities Erica Smith, University of South Australia ABSTRACT This paper uses the example of the author's recently-completed PhD thesis to illustrate how research findings can have implications for policy, practice and theory. Although the creation of new knowledge is itself of value, it is becoming increasingly important for research findings to have practical utility. The PhD thesis, on a topic of great political and educational interest which, curiously, has been under-researched, provided an opportunity to explore the possible outcomes of a piece of research. THE STUDY Rationale and research method The study (Smith, 2000) examined the learning experiences of Australian young people starting full- time work in their teenage years. Despite the expansion of higher education in the past twenty-five years, most Australians still start work immediately after leaving school. Although the labour market for young people has become increasingly difficult, with a growing casualisation of the workforce and high youth unemployment (Sweet, 1988, 1998), the majority of school-leavers, even early leavers, still manage to find full-time work (Marks & Fleming, 1999). Yet, over the last 25 years, there have only been a few studies of young people in their first jobs. There has been some previous qualitative research in young people's learning in the early months of work but this research is now outdated and is mostly from overseas (eg Ashton & Field, 1976; West & Newton, 1983; Griffin, 1985; Reeders, 1989; Borman, 1991). Moreover, these studies have not focussed specifically on the young people's learning; this topic is generally only addressed in studies of apprenticeship (eg Harris, Willis, Simons & Underwood, 1998). Virtually no scholarly literature exists on traineeships (C. Robinson, 1999). Thus, although much attention is given to entry-level training policy by Australian governments, there is little qualitative research into the actual experiences of the young people for whom such policies are created. The study comprised eleven case studies, following eleven young people (aged 16 to 18) in New South Wales through their first twelve months of full-time work. There were four apprentices, four trainees, and three 'juniors' who did not have a contract of training. The young people worked in a range of private-sector industries. Interviews with the young people were supplemented by interviews with the important adults in their working and learning lives: their managers, their parents and their TAFE teachers where applicable. Those young people who changed jobs were followed into their new jobs and their new managers interviewed. The findings Two research questions were posed: 'What do young people learn about work in their first year of full- time work?' and 'How do they learn it?'. In answer to the first question, ten 'domains' or possible types of learning were proposed: technical skills, generic competencies, knowledge, learning about the occupation, learning about the organisation, learning about the industry, job-keeping and 'political' skills, industrial relations, learning about oneself and learning about learning. The actual number of domains in which young people learn and the depth of learning within the domains is determined by eight facilitating factors: industry training tradition, firm's training culture, work organisation, people at work, family and friends, off-the-job training, government policies and institutions, and young person's attributes. These factors form a 'filter' through which possible learning may or may not reach the young people. If the factors are favourable, they enable the learning potential of the first year at work to be realised (Smith, 1999). Figure 1 shows these findings diagrammatically.