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INTRODUCTION
7 Patients in hospitals, residents of homes (e.g. retirement homes, homes for persons with handicaps), and inmates of prisons are excluded from all supplementary surveys. 8 Students at boarding schools are in scope for SEW. The 2002 survey yielded an estimate of 10,800 boarding school pupils aged 15 years or more. The only other information collected on these persons was sex and age. 9 This supplementary survey was conducted in both urban and rural areas in all states and territories, but excluded approximately 80,000 persons living in remote and sparsely settled parts of Australia who would otherwise have been within the scope of the survey. The exclusion of these persons will have only a minor impact on any aggregate estimates that are produced for individual states and territories, except the Northern Territory where such persons account for over 20% of the population. COVERAGE 10 The estimates in this publication relate to persons covered by the survey in May 2002. In the LFS, coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling and hence has only one chance of selection in the survey. See Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0) for more details. RELIABILITY OF THE ESTIMATES 11 Estimates in this publication are subject to sampling and non-sampling errors:
SEASONAL FACTORS 12 The estimates are based on information collected in the survey month, and due to seasonal factors they may not be representative of other months of the year. CLASSIFICATIONS USED 13 Industry data are classified according to the ANZSIC -- Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification, 1993 (cat.no. 1292.0). 14 Occupation data are classified according to the ASCO - Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second Edition, 1997 (cat. no. 1220.0). 15 Country of birth data are classified according to the SACC -Standard Australian Classification of Countries, 1998 (cat.no. 1269.0). CLASSIFICATION OF EDUCATION 16 In 2001, the ABS Standard Classification of Qualifications (ABSCQ) (cat no. 1262.0) was replaced by the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) (cat. no. 1272.0). The ASCED is a national standard classification which can be applied to all sectors of the Australian education system including schools, vocational education and training and higher education. ASCED replaces a number of classifications previously used in administrative and statistical systems, including the ABSCQ. The ASCED comprises two classifications: Level of Education and Field of Education. 17 Level of Education is defined as a function of the quality and quantity of learning involved in an educational activity. There are nine broad levels, 15 narrow levels and 64 detailed levels. For definitions of these levels see the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0). 18 The relationship between categories in the Level of Education classification should be essentially ordinal. In other words, educational activities at Broad Level 1 Postgraduate Degree should be at a higher level than those at the Broad Level 2 Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate and so on. However, when this idea is applied to the reality of educational provision in Australia, it is not always possible to assert that an ordinal relationship exists among the various levels of education. 19 This is particularly evident in the case of the relationship between Certificates I--IV in Broad Level 5 Certificate Level, and School Education included in Broad Level 6 Secondary Education. In this instance, the level of education associated with secondary education may range from satisfying the entry requirements for admission to a university degree course, to the completion of units in basic literacy, numeracy and life skills. Educational activity in these categories may therefore be of an equal, higher or lower level than Certificates found in Broad Level 5, Certificate Level. 20 Field of Education is defined as the subject matter of an educational activity. Fields of education are related to each other through the similarity of subject matter, through the broad purpose for which the education is undertaken, and through the theoretical content which underpins the subject matter. 21 There are 12 broad fields, 71 narrow fields and 356 detailed fields. For definitions of these fields see the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0). LEVEL OF HIGHEST EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 22 Level of Highest Educational Attainment can be derived from information on Highest Year of School Completed and Level of Highest Non-school Qualification. The derivation process determines which of the 'non-school' or 'school' attainments will be regarded as the highest. Usually the higher ranking attainment will be self-evident, but in some cases some Secondary Education is regarded, for the purposes of obtaining a single measure, as higher than some Certificate level attainments. 23 The following decision table is used to determine which of the responses to questions on Highest Year of School Completed (coded to ASCED Broad Level 6) and Level of Highest Non-school Qualification (coded to ASCED Broad Level 5) will be regarded as the highest. It is emphasised that this table was designed for the purpose of obtaining a single value for the output variable Level of Highest Educational Attainment and is not intended to convey any other ordinality. AUSTRALIAN STANDARD LEVEL OF EDUCATION (ASCED) CODES
24 The decision table is used to rank the information provided in a survey about the qualifications and attainments of a single individual. It does not represent any basis for comparison between differing qualifications. For example, a person whose Highest Year of School Completed was Year 12, and whose Level of Highest Non-school Qualification was a Certificate III, would have those responses crosschecked on the decision table and would as a result have their Level of Highest Educational Attainment output as Certificate III. However, if the same person answered "Certificate" to the highest non-school qualification question, without offering any further detail, it would be crosschecked against Year 12 on the decision table as "Certificate not further defined". The output would then be "Year 12". The decision table, therefore, does not necessarily imply that one qualification is 'higher' than the other. COMPARABILITY OF TIME SERIES 25 Revisions are made to population benchmarks for the LFS after each five-yearly Census of Population and Housing. The last such revision was made in February 1999 to take account of the results of the 1996 Census of Population and Housing. Estimates from supplementary surveys conducted from and including February 1999 are therefore based on revised population benchmarks. 26 Supplementary surveys are not always conducted on the full LFS sample. Since August 1994 the sample for supplementary surveys has been restricted to no more than seven-eighths of the LFS sample. Since it was introduced, this survey has been conducted on various proportional samples and therefore sampling errors associated with previous supplementary surveys may vary from the sampling error for this survey. COMPARABILITY WITH MONTHLY LFS STATISTICS 27 Due to differences in the scope and sample size of this supplementary survey and that of the LFS, the estimation procedure may lead to some small variations between labour force estimates from this survey and those from the LFS. The differences between the estimates appearing in this publication and Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6203.0) are chiefly the result of excluding persons aged 65 years and over from the sample of this supplementary survey. 28 Core LFS series from April 1986 to March 2001 have been revised on the basis of the redesigned LFS questionnaire. Supplementary survey data have not been revised. PREVIOUS SURVEYS 29 Results of similar surveys have been given in previous issues of this publication. These surveys were conducted annually from February 1964 to February 1974, in May 1975 and 1976, in August 1977 and 1978, and annually since May 1979 . Results of previous surveys were published in:
NEXT SURVEY 30 The ABS intends to conduct this survey again in May 2003. ACKNOWLEDGMENT 31 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated: without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905. DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST 32 As well as the statistics included in this publication, the ABS may have other relevant data available. For example, data are available on request at the broad, narrow and detailed Level of Education and Field of Education categories. Occupation data are available at the Major, Sub-Major, Minor and Unit Group Level. Industry data are available at the Division, Subdivision and Group level. Inquiries should be made to James Ashburner by email at james.ashburner@abs.gov.au or on Canberra 02 6252 7934 or facsimile 02 6252 8013. RELATED PUBLICATIONS 33 Other publications which may be of interest include:
34 Current publications and other products released by the ABS are listed in the Catalogue of Publications and Products (cat. no. 1101.0). The Catalogue is available from any ABS office or this site. The ABS also issues a daily Release Advice on the web site which details products to be released in the week ahead. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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