Lifelong Learning Project - School Inclusion - Preventing Early School Leaving

Pointers for policy and practice

Janet Taylor

Brotherhood of St Laurence 67 Brunswick Street

St. Luarence (AU) 2009

book

english

English

Early school leaving – leaving school before completing Year 12 – is often seen as a problem both by policy makers and by parents, although it was the norm a couple of generations ago. For early school leavers, the pathways to further training and employment can be diverse, and for some difficult, with few full-time jobs available for young workers. School completion is viewed as a major policy objective in Australia, with considerable emphasis at both federal and state government level on increasing school retention rates. The stories of eight young people who left school early illustrate some of the policy issues for te school to work transition. These issues include measures to improve school retention, youth income support and associated mutual obligation, provision of training and employment, and assistance in access to these.
Eight young people who left school between the ages of 14 and 16 were interviewed about their experiences when they were aged 17.The eight included three girls and five boys, seven living in Melbourne and one interstate. They came from a variety of family backgrounds, some, but not all, quite disadvantaged. Some, but not all, had longstanding learning difficulties.

The study is articulated into two parts: the first one deals with what can be learned from the different stories, the second one analyses in depth the single individual stories of the eight early school leavers, with a detailed, accurate report of the different steps in each personal story

www.bsl.org.au

Mauro di Grazia

CIPAT

director and coordinator