Speaker 1: The report says that over twenty percent of students don't
Speaker 1: finish a year at twelve. Does that matter?
Speaker 2: Yes and no.
Speaker 3: It's a short answer is no, it doesn't matter as
Speaker 3: long as people young people leave school with options, and
Speaker 3: not all people do, so I think it's a good
Speaker 3: one to keep on top of just to understand what
Speaker 3: our education system is doing in regards to preparing young
Speaker 3: people for the world.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, as long as
Speaker 2: they have options, it's okay. But that's not always the case.
Speaker 1: Because for me, it seemed that when I was at
Speaker 1: school up to year ten was essentially just to keep
Speaker 1: you in school. It was only the kids who actually
Speaker 1: wanted to learn anything that went on to eleven and twelve.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's the case.
Speaker 2: Let's break it down a little bit.
Speaker 3: Over the last fifteen years, broadly, the number of people
Speaker 3: leaving school before year twelve has increased, So that's it's
Speaker 3: studied a little bit over the last couple of years, but.
Speaker 2: It has increased as well.
Speaker 3: And I think what's happened since you're at school and
Speaker 3: even in some respects since I was at school, they
Speaker 3: were like, look, I think there's twelve years worth of
Speaker 3: learning that everyone should have no matter what. But then
Speaker 3: we know there's exceptions and things like that. So I
Speaker 3: think the interesting parts is that's been declining. We want
Speaker 3: to make sure that people are leaving school with options.
Speaker 3: There's probably a baseline level we want people to leave with,
Speaker 3: whether they're going onto university or a trade or anything else.
Speaker 3: We're just trying to strike the right balance there and
Speaker 3: keep on top of that.
Speaker 1: I feel that once you got into high school there
Speaker 1: should have been some direction as to what to do
Speaker 1: after you leave school, whereas you were still learning things,
Speaker 1: but there was no real life experience. Do you think
Speaker 1: that that's changed.
Speaker 3: A bit a bit to a degree. I know many
Speaker 3: schools now and there's up to twenty thirty percent of
Speaker 3: students in year eleven and twelve that actually do and
Speaker 3: finish school with a vocational certificate. So they're working in workplaces,
Speaker 3: they're working in conjunction with a school and a registered
Speaker 3: training organization to really get that practical experience, and often
Speaker 3: they're starting that from year ten, year eleven, and sometimes
Speaker 3: they're leaving through that process when the apprenticeship or the
Speaker 3: training takes over and a job comes out of that.
Speaker 2: So I think that's increased.
Speaker 3: That's increased in my experience, that kind of practical connection
Speaker 3: to industry. Is it where we need it to be
Speaker 3: to enable people to finish school with a decent amount
Speaker 3: of experience in what they need. I'm not quite so sure.
Speaker 1: Because that seemed to be Again, that seemed to be
Speaker 1: the issue. Do you find that a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't remember the things that they learned at high school?
Speaker 3: Short answer is yes, for sure. There's many things so,
Speaker 3: and I hug back in mind. I've got both in
Speaker 3: a professional capacity but also in a personal capacity with
Speaker 3: children there in the end of their schooling. Myself, some
Speaker 3: of that I look at and going, when do we
Speaker 3: ever need to know that? But what I think schools
Speaker 3: have done different. And then this is another observation as
Speaker 3: a parent, if anything else, is the breadth and diversity
Speaker 3: of subjects offered to young people these days is way
Speaker 3: more than when I was younger. So they're learning about economics, psychology, law,
Speaker 3: practical things as well in school. So I think that
Speaker 3: stuff's going to be more relevant when it was a
Speaker 3: cookie cutter, one size fits all. Absolutely. I think we're
Speaker 3: learning things that we never put to use down the
Speaker 3: track as well. So young people have the up chance
Speaker 3: to stream and follow their interests a little bit more
Speaker 3: and hopefully that reduces things that they're learning that they
Speaker 3: never use again.
Speaker 1: And is that leading up to year ten not necessarily
Speaker 1: year eleven or twelve.
Speaker 3: Well, each school does it a little bit differently. I
Speaker 3: think there is. I think it's a little bit more
Speaker 3: homogenized and is similar to probably what we experienced at
Speaker 3: the moment at that age. Yes, I think in year
Speaker 3: eleven and twelve it's a little bit more diverse. But
Speaker 3: some schools want young people to go through every subject
Speaker 3: because it opens them up to things that they may
Speaker 3: not have even chosen, but it gives them an interest
Speaker 3: as well, So schools approach that differently. But yeah, I
Speaker 3: think they are a little bit more standard to what
Speaker 3: we probably saw when we're at school.
Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, I think that schools are
Speaker 1: very important and it's very important for you to learn
Speaker 1: all kinds of things, if nothing else, just to get
Speaker 1: you into that mindset. But it seemed to me that
Speaker 1: it wasn't until the end or the middle of year ten,
Speaker 1: when back in those days it was the cees which
Speaker 1: we to provide you with ideas of where you could
Speaker 1: go next via a handbook. So basically they gave you
Speaker 1: a handbook and said these are careers you could follow
Speaker 1: if you want to, But there was no real direction
Speaker 1: from any of the teachers or from the education department
Speaker 1: apart from that.
Speaker 3: Has that changed, probably not as quickly as we'd hope
Speaker 3: it to do. There's definitely been some changes in that area.
Speaker 3: But I think up until year ten, and look, there's
Speaker 3: different schools of thoughts there, like do you need a
Speaker 3: young person in year seven, year eight, year nine thinking
Speaker 3: at career at that stage or is it a little
Speaker 3: bit of a step back for them to kind of
Speaker 3: just enjoy that process to learn As what you've said there,
Speaker 3: what year do you start to introduce the concept of
Speaker 3: a career. In my experience, in the middle of year
Speaker 3: ten it comes out of rush.
Speaker 2: You kind of.
Speaker 3: Feel like, can your whole career and life decision in
Speaker 3: the middle of the year ten using your year eleven
Speaker 3: and twelve subjects or an apprenticeship If that's the past
Speaker 3: way you go down, I think they could stage it
Speaker 3: in secretce it in a little bit more, you know,
Speaker 3: a little bit more slow burned throughout that because it
Speaker 3: does seem to I'm at a rush, but I think
Speaker 3: it's improved slightly.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think there's ways to go there.
Speaker 1: So by year nine, from my memory, you would have
Speaker 1: been fourteen years of age, and then by year ten
Speaker 1: you would have been fifteen years of age.
Speaker 2: But I got that right, Yep, that sounds right.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I think that by year nine you should
Speaker 1: be trying to get the idea in kids' heads what
Speaker 1: they'd like to do next. Do you think that's too soon?
Speaker 3: No, I don't think it is like a fourteen year
Speaker 3: old is starting to think about that naturally anyway, So
Speaker 3: schools could meet that person there, that young person there.
Speaker 3: I don't know many four en year olds that haven't
Speaker 3: started to think about that. That their parents or their
Speaker 3: uncles and arniees or whatever the case may be, but
Speaker 3: haven't started asking a fourteen year old in a more
Speaker 3: material sense what that career pathway should be for them.
Speaker 3: So I think that's an entirely appropriate age to do it.
Speaker 3: I think the busyness of school years mean that we
Speaker 3: kind of stick with some of the things that we've
Speaker 3: already done in that space. I'm not sure we're fully
Speaker 3: meeting a fourteen year old's needs in that area. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but I think it is improving slightly, but maybe not
Speaker 3: at the pace we need.
Speaker 1: And the other thing that I think that you know,
Speaker 1: they could bring in if they haven't brought in now.
Speaker 1: As I said, it was fifty years ago since I
Speaker 1: was at school, but there was no practical life advice.
Speaker 1: How to apply for a credit card, how to dress
Speaker 1: for an interview, how to get a home loan, how
Speaker 1: to buy a car, things like that that you suddenly
Speaker 1: find yourself in the real world having no knowledge about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're very important things.
Speaker 3: You don't want a seventeen to eight in year old
Speaker 3: finishing year twelve and as an adult essentially, and you know,
Speaker 3: signing a mobile phone contract, well that's it. Yeah, taking
Speaker 3: on other kinds of things as well. So I completely
Speaker 3: agreed to you, And to be honest, I don't see
Speaker 3: too much of that. I think that there's a few
Speaker 3: better programs, and I think non school organizations have incursions
Speaker 3: and things like that where they do try and teach
Speaker 3: and train some of those things, but that depends on
Speaker 3: the school itself. I haven't seen that come through a
Speaker 3: curriculum in any material sense. I think it depends on
Speaker 3: the school and what kind of organizations they work in
Speaker 3: partner with, depending on you know, it depends on how
Speaker 3: they do that as to what level they get of
Speaker 3: that education while still at school,