State and Territory Governments to Consider Changes to Student Pathway Programs

The Age, 4 March 2009

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) will consider a proposal to establish a state-federal partnership to improve student pathways between school, work and tertiary study.

The proposal follows the release of the How Young People are Faring report, which argued that the number of school-leavers who were not fully engaged in a job or in tertiary education was expected to increase by 10 per cent by July next year as a result of the economic downturn.

COAG and MCEETYA are expected to consider options including a restructure of the options available to students, improvements to careers services in schools and improved targeted of students to jobs with long-term opportunities.

The Australian Government Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Ms Julia Gillard, argued that improving pathways for young people would be challenging unless Year 12 retention rates were improved.

Ms Gillard stated that ‘lifting achievement in this area will take major national reform. [We need] a fundamental restructuring of what is offered to young people, creating high-quality pathways for every individual so that they are supported to focus on where the real long-term opportunities in Australia's economy will lie.’

A final report on the pathways partnership will be presented to MCEETYA in June 2009.

 

 

Back to News Page