14 August 2008
Restructuring secondary education
The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, has raised concerns about secondary
school retention rates, saying they are 'startling and worrying statistics'.
She was speaking before the annual ACER conference in Brisbane today.
Early school leavers are less likely to find secure, full-time jobs and have higher unemployment rates.
A keynote speaker at the conference, Melbourne academic Richard Sweet, says we have to change the institution, not just the curriculum, to encourage these early school leavers to stay on.
He advocates separate year 11 and 12 colleges, similar to the system in Tasmania and the ACT but with more trade and technical options.
Guests
Professor Richard Sweet
University of Melbourne
Further Information
Presenter
Richard Aedy
Producer
Amanda Armstrong
Story Researcher and Producer
Lindy Raine
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