NAME OF THE VARIABLE
3. The name of the variable is 'Year non-school qualification completed'.
DEFINITION OF THE VARIABLE
Nominal definition
4. The variable 'Year non-school qualification completed' is defined as the year in which a person completed a non-school qualification.
5. 'Year non-school qualification completed' is an attribute of the counting unit Person.
Operational definition
6. Operationally, 'Year non-school qualification completed' is obtained by direct question. The question refers to the year in which a person 'completed' a 'qualification'; this is defined as the year the study leading to the qualification was completed, not to the year when formal awards were made.
Scope of the variable
7. The variable 'Year non-school qualification completed' applies to all persons who have completed a non-school qualification. Where data are collected for multiple non-school qualifications, a separate year of completion can be collected for each qualification.
SUPPORTING VARIABLES
8. 'Year non-school qualification completed' has no supporting variables.
DISCUSSION OF CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
9. Apart from its intrinsic value, 'Year non-school qualification completed' is essential for coding of Level of Education responses of 'Diploma'. With the introduction of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) in 1995, the qualification of 'Associate Diploma' was renamed 'Diploma', and the qualification of 'Diploma' was renamed 'Advanced Diploma'. Therefore in order to ascertain which ASCED Level of Education code should be assigned to a response of 'Diploma', it is essential to determine the year in which the qualification was attained. As diploma qualifications generally take three years to complete, the ABS regards all responses of Diploma obtained prior to 1998 as indicating the 'higher' of the two Diplomas, that is the current AQF Advanced Diploma, and responses of Diploma from 1998 onwards as meaning the AQF Diploma level. For further information see the ABS standard variable 'Level of highest non-school qualification'.
10. Similarly, the introduction of the AQF has changed the nomenclature associated with Certificates. An edit procedure is used by the ABS to determine whether responses of 'certificate' (not further defined) are coded to either 510 Certificate III & IV or 520 Certificate I & II.
11. It is emphasised that although 'Year non-school qualification completed' is an essential requirement for obtaining 'Level of highest non-school qualification' and subsequently 'Level of highest educational attainment', it should not be crossclassified with 'Level of highest educational attainment'. This is because the 'Year non-school qualification completed' question is asked only in relation to a non-school qualification, which may not be the highest educational attainment.
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