Apprenticeships and traineeships offer pathways from school to adult working life for a significant proportion of young people by formally combining study and work to link learning in the workplace with learning in an educational institution. They contribute in important ways to the formation of skills for individuals and for the community as a whole. Two reports from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program, "Participation in and progress through New Apprenticeships" by John Ainley and Matthew Corrigan, and "The VET Pathways Taken by School Leavers" by David Curtis, focus on three broad research questions about these pathways: (1) What are the characteristics of young people who become apprentices and trainees?; (2) What are the points of entry to, and patterns of progress through, apprenticeships and traineeships?; and (3) How many apprentices and trainees complete their training? The reports use data from a nationally representative sample of young people who were in Year 9 at school in 1995 and whose educational and occupational activities were traced each year thereafter. This briefing draws together findings from these two LSAY research reports. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)