The ever increasing learning curve !

The bottom rung of the education ladder has just been abolished.  This is the last year that the " School Certificate " will be issued to those completing year ten.  Some used it as an " exit point " to leave school with a piece of paper in hand, and in 2008 this amounted to 18% of students.   As a consequence, last year the school leaving age was raised to 17.

The education authorities are now concentrating on retaining students to achieve their Higher School Certificate ( HSC ) and the world of paid employment is rapidly making that the entry point to most careers.

Two of the most popular professions for girls - teaching and nursing - are now closed to those who do not enter via a university course.   The days of a short course of introductory lectures, followed by years of " on the job " training are now a thing of the past.

Fronting a job interview without that all important HSC is  a lost cause for the unqualified.  That old standby for the less academically gifted - an apprenticeship - also tends to favour those with a HSC.   The educators do have a point when they urge kids to stick it out and make the effort to gain an award that will open career doors that would otherwise stay firmly shut.

But - those same educators have a duty to provide some sort of alternative training for those not academically gifted - who will never have a hope of successfully achieving their HSC - but who are capable of performing a valuable place in the workforce.

At present, education seems to turn it's back on those who leave after year 10.   They are written off to become dole bludgers, criminals or to drift from infrequent  labouring jobs to welfare.

There are jobs that do not need higher education and some of them are in desperate short supply of  applicants in this mining boom.   The problem is that the people who could fill them can not get the training to qualify.

Both the government service and private bus companies are crying out for drivers.   The trucking industry is ever expanding, and there is a need for people to drive all sorts of machinery from fork life trucks to underground mining transport.

A kid leaving school at year ten has no money to pay for driver training - and the education system is not equipped to use these skills to create an employable person.   By all means encourage students to stay and achieve their HSC, but it is also time to have a rethink about better training for those who fall through the cracks - and tailoring training to the job market that is crying out for people !