Legislation Introduced to Increase Victorian Minimum School Leaving Age

Media Release, The Hon. Bronwyn Pike, MLA, 1 September 2009; The Age, 20 August 2009

The Victorian Government has introduced legislation to increase the minimum school leaving age from 16 to 17 years, as part of Victoria’s commitment to implement nationally-agreed reforms.

The Education and Training Reform Amendment (School Age) Bill 2009, which would come into effect in 2010, would require all Victorians to complete Year 10 or its equivalent and for youths up to the age of 17 years who were not in school to be in training, employed or a combination of both for at least 25 hours per week.

Schools would be required to track early leavers to ensure that they met these conditions and, as under the current legislation, parents of children who failed to meet these requirements could be fined.

The Victorian Minister for Education, Ms Bronwyn Pike, stated that the Bill was ‘not a punitive approach’, but was designed to ‘set a high bar for the community’. The Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals (VASSP) was critical of the additional responsibility for schools. VASSP indicated that schools were currently required to monitor early school leavers for six months but argued that they lacked the resources to track and to assist teenagers after that time. The Victorian Shadow Minister for Education, Mr Martin Dixon, claimed that ‘we shouldn't be keeping these kids at school artificially, when it is not the right place for them’.

The Bill received its First and Second Readings in the Legislative Assembly and debate was adjourned until Wednesday 16 September 2009.

 

 

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