what do you all think

[dinger]

about the raising of school leaving age to 18. good thing or bad

[keepersdaughter]

Haven't heard about this - raising to what age?
(Just sent you a message Dinger)

[keepersdaughter]

Sorry - should put my glasses on!

[dinger]

Yes just announced on the news They have raised school leaving age. Have sent you reply Keepersdaughter thank you for your message x

[eleanor2]

are they just proposing it at the moment.i think maybe it could be good.if it is dealt with properly.if they just let kids mess about and not take the extra years seriously.then they may as well let just those who choose like now.those 2 extra years could include a lot of social and home-care education as well as higher education.especially for the lower inteligence pupils

[keepersdaughter]

I think it's a good idea. At 16 may have the physical attributes of an adult, but are lacking in emotional maturity. As long as the extra 2 years is used constructively, not just aimed at keeping kids off the street. A lot of prepartion for the outside world would be useful if handled correctly.

[JerseyLily]

Is there a member here who lives in any of the Nordic countries? I read somewhere that in Sweden, Norway and Finland, that children only attend school in the morning (winter I think) and yet their standard of education puts the UK and many other countries to shame. Nordic pupils not only better educated but better prepared for college / uni / workplace.

Might it be better if kindergartens took children to age 7 and then at 8 the children moved on to junior level schools to prepare them for senior level. The older age limit for leaving school would seem less like school and more like college during the last two years.

[franbee]

I think it's a good idea if they offer the kids vocational courses, to enable them to train for a job. Not all kids are academically good, and shouldn't be forced into advanced studies, but a more practical course might be tempting. Fran.

[jazzactivist]

I think that it's a good idea, so long as there is quite a wide range of courses on offer so that young people can have a more independent choice of subjects to match their growing maturity. I agree with Eleanor that this could be a good opportunity to introduce work, family and community skills so that young people are better prepared for adulthood when they leave school. A friend of mine who lives in Germany told me that many young people in their final year of school there move out of the family home and share a flat with friends while still attending school. This bridge prepares them well for leaving home to attend university or work away from their home town. Many other countries have a school leaving age of 18, but I agree with JerseyLily that the school starting age is too early here and 7 would be better. I am not hugely confident that attending institutionalised schools actually assists children to learn, but if we must have them then the education on offer should be well rounded and interesting to young people of all ages.

[Healing Hands]

Good thing to keep the children at school longer, wish it had been like that in my days at school!.

[SheepyJames]

I have a grandson who seldom manages to stay in school for the whole day. He's not interested and never has been. He's 15 and has been chucked out of school and is supposed to be going to agricultural college for the rest of the school year. Now they are chucking him out, too. He's intelligent but completely unacademic. The school system has totally failed him like it has so many others. What is the earthly point of keeping kids like him at school till 18 unless they can sort the system out. All these promises of special schemes etc never seem to actually materialise.

[Redstart]

I think the dearth came when the norm of an apprenticeship stopped.

Children here start proper school at 7 (Kindergarten at 6 or 5 depending on where they live) and leave at 16, or 19 if going to university. At 16 the vast majority enter an apprenticeship and these range from 2 years to 5 years, depending on the skill being learned. They include day release and the apprentices usually live at home. All learn about society - the general law, the political system, the social system) as part of their apprenticeship. So most of the non-graduates are very clued-in and hardly any move into their own flat until about 20). Only about 20% go to university - although this percentage is going up. I think it's an excellent system as there is no pressure on the non-acedmic to go to college.

[sunflower]

Well, as far as I know, in other countries Children stay on at school until 18,BUT they do'nt start school until they are 6 or 7 years old.