Appendix W: The Wallis Social Research Podcast · Wallis Social Research

Longitudinally Yours: 30 Years of LSAY

·36 min·2 clips

For young men, apprenticeships after Year 12 can match or exceed university outcomes.

Anthony Frosch opens by marking the final chapter of ELSEI, the longitudinal surveys of Australian youth. The question underneath is simple and durable: what does thirty years of following the same cohort reveal about education, work, and adulthood? Ronnie Simo and Tasman Swanton join the conversation from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, which has run ELSEI for decades. Julie Higgs brings a long view from her years as Wallace's data analyst on the project. The episode traces the survey through school, university, apprenticeships, first jobs, and the years when young people begin to stand on their own. It pauses on a major shift. Young people are staying home longer, studying longer, and relying more on family support because life is getting more expensive and they need more qualifications to get good work. That is treated as a structural change, not a moral failure. The guests point out that year 12 completion now functions as a minimum standard. That expectation changes the length of the transition into work. It also changes how long many people remain dependent on the home they grew up in. The episode keeps coming back to practical consequences. Better qualifications, apprenticeships, and degrees still matter, but they also take time, money, and patience to complete. The policy thread is clear. The survey has informed the Gonski review, the Bradley review, and a House of Representatives inquiry on the impact of working while at school. Those examples show how a longitudinal study can move from research to funding debates and access questions. The closing remarks note that fieldwork may be ending, but the analysis of the data will continue for some time. That makes the episode feel like both a retrospective and a handoff.

As heard by us

A three-decade youth survey turns everyday transitions into policy evidence.

The episode gets its force from three decades of longitudinal youth data. It traces ordinary steps into adulthood with useful clarity: staying in education longer, leaning on family support, moving through degrees or apprenticeships, and taking more time to become fully…

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You want the long view on how Australian young people move from school into work and adulthood.

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