The Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies provides information products and services for those working in the youth field and for anyone with an interest in youth. This includes practitioners in areas such as health and education, researchers, policymakers, youth workers and youth service providers, as well as students and parents.
We aim to present information in reader-friendly, user-friendly ways for the benefit of all stakeholders in this very broad field. The information provided is interdisciplinary, acknowledging the overlapping nature, or inter-connectedness, of youth issues.
In addition to Youth Facts and Stats, ACYS products and services include the following:ACYS is the publisher of the following:
Youth Studies AustraliaYouth Field Xpress
Books on contemporary youth issues:
Massive WINTER BOOK SALE (limited time only!)
ACYS is based at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, under the auspices of the Faculty of Education; our Director, Professor Rob White, is the Head of Sociology.
We are physically located in the same building as the University’s printing services.
Contact ACYS via email now.
Contact Youth Studies Australia: We welcome questions from authors who're considering submitting a paper to the journal.
Submit news to Youth Field Xpress: We welcome contributions for the newsletter.
How are we funded?
The Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies is a non-profit project, funded partly by the Australian Government through grants from the Department of Families, Communities and Indigenous Affairs, and partly through ACYS publishing activities.
The Australian Youth Facts and Stats website was initially established through funding from the Telstra Foundation and partly through ACYS publishing activities.
Due to funding constraints, the Facts and Stats section of the ACYS site is temporarily offline.
* Please address statistical information inquiries to
your nearest library or contact the ABS.
* Please address youth information inquiries to
the ACYS help desk.
What are the aims of this site?
When initially established in 2002, there were no similar services in Australia. While there is a great deal of information 'out there', it is very time consuming for the average person to find it.
Youth issues span a very wide range of subject matter. Consequently, finding data relating primarily to youth means having to go to a variety of different specialist sources.
This site is seeking to provide a one-stop information service where youth service providers, practitioners such as youth workers and health workers, policy-makers and educators, and young people themselves, can 'go first' to quickly find reliable data, sorted by subject matter and continuously updated.
The specific outcomes we seek:
- More efficient use of resources i.e. a reduction of the time and financial resources that new and existing projects and services will be required to invest in researching their individual areas of concern.
- Support for special-focus projects
People setting up and maintaining special projects and programs will have a source to go to where they can find research-based information and statistics relevant to their subject area. - Contextualisation of youth issues
Service providers and policy-makers will be better able to synthesise information (because it is presented at one site) and see the inter-connectedness between complex issues, for example, education/ employment/ homelessness/ health. Raising awareness of 'interconnectness' is a primary aim of all ACYS projects. - An increase in young people's understanding of statistical data
Through the use of our site, we hope school students and young people accessing the site will develop an understanding of the uses of statistical data in subject areas that have real relevance to them. - A countering of the stereotyping of 'youth as a problem'
The wider community will have easy access to data that does not represent youth as a 'problem' but as a diverse group affected by the same social and economic influences as adult populations. - A raising of the profile of youth research
Access to (and knowledge of) the wider world of youth-relevant research will be opened up through 'Youth Facts and Stats' links to original sources of information located throughout Australia and overseas.
The quality of our information
Material for the Australian Youth Facts and Stats website is located in one of two ways:- ACYS receives press clippings of all youth research-related news stories published in Australian national and capital city daily newspapers. We read each of these stories to see if the content seems relevant to the youth studies field and is based on a reputable source. If so, we then do an internet search for authoritative source material that supports the facts contained in the news story, such as online copies of the source documents (reports, studies, briefing papers) and/or their accompanying media release.
ACYS publishes items on the Australian Youth Facts and Stats website only if suitable supporting material is available online.
- ACYS regularly checks the websites of relevant government departments and research organisations (see our links section) for any newly published youth-related data suitable for inclusion on the Australian Youth Facts and Stats website.
In both cases, links to online source documents are contained at the end of each Australian Youth Facts and Stats item for reader reference and further information. Citations for newspaper articles are also included in items sourced from our press clippings.
While ACYS takes great care to ensure that the information published on Australian Youth Facts and Stats is accurate and up to date, site visitors should exercise their own skill and judgement prior to using the information. Any inaccuracies on the Australian Youth Facts and Stats site brought to the attention of ACYS will be corrected as soon as possible.
Why a facts and stats site?
When this site was initiated (in 2002) there was no similar service in Australia.While there is a great deal of information 'out there', it is very time consuming for the average person to find it. Our audience includes a wide variety of people (students and professors, youth workers and researchers, parents and policy-makers).
Youth issues span a very wide range of subject matter. Consequently, finding data relating primarily to youth means having to go to a variety of different specialist sources. We deal with research all the time, and much of it contains research data and statistics. This site is seeking to provide a one-stop information service where youth service providers, practitioners such as youth workers and health workers, policy-makers and educators, and young people themselves, can 'go first' to quickly find reliable data, sorted by subject matter and continuously updated.
ACYS defines the period of youth as spanning the ages from 10 to 24. This definition is also used by the Australian Medical Association and the World Health Organisation.
How to cite information from this site
Cite the Australian Youth Facts and Stats as your information source.
Also cite the original sources of the information. Original sources are shown at the end of each item, and should be included in your citation.
Note:
Confirming the details with the original source, by either checking the online source document or making direct contact with the source organisation, is recommended in any critical reuse of the information.
Normal copyright and disclaimer conventions apply as stated on this site.