The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY)

The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project is a survey program which undertakes annual interviews of cohorts of young Australians with the aim of studying the transition from school to further education or work. The LSAY project contract has been managed by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research since 2007.

There are currently four cohorts in the LSAY project: students commencing in 1995, 1998, 2003 and 2006, with data for students from the 2009 cohort forthcoming in 2011.

About LSAY

The first cohort of participants in the LSAY program were the 1995 cohort - students who were in year 9 in 1995 and who were re-interviewed annually (1996 to 2006), followed by a second cohort of young people who commenced interviewing in 1998. Since then, three new age-based cohorts have been added: the Y03 cohort (15 years old in 2003, ADA study 01111), the Y06 cohort (15 years old in 2006, ADA study 01137) and the Y09 cohort (15 years old in 2009, forthcoming). The initial survey waves for these age-based cohorts were integrated with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which was conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The LSAY program brings together two existing, long-established projects, ACER's Youth in Transition (ADA studies 01011, 01012, 01013 and 01014) and DEETYA's Australian Youth Survey (ADA studies 00561, 00609, 00642, 00780, 0081 and 00981).

Data available from the LSAY program