Raising the school leaving age is not the answer in Wales says Welsh Liberal Democrat

11.23.50am GMT Sat 13th Jan 2007

Forcing teenagers to stay on in school until they are 18 will lead to greater disaffection amongst pupils, more disruption in classrooms and fail to address the real problems of literacy, numeracy and unqualified school-leavers, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, Peter Black, has said.

Mr. Black was responding to an initiative by the Westminster Education Secretary, Alan Johnston, to raise the school leaving age to 18 unless youngsters have a job with a minimum level of training.

"This sort of compulsion will just cause resentment and disaffection amongst youngsters who are ready to leave school," said Mr. Black. "As a result it will make teaching them that more difficult and cause disruption for those of pupils who have stayed on to get advanced qualifications. It looks very much like a quick fix by the Labour Government to cut youth unemployment."

"However, we should not ignore the fact that there are too many people leaving school with no qualifications or training opportunities at all. The real challenge is to provide training and education for that group of students from the age of 14, which they will find interesting and relevant and that will help to get them a job."

"Better vocational training in schools is expensive but it is the sort of investment that is needed, as is coaching and parity of esteem for non academic subjects. We cannot allow the Government to take the easy way out. They need to provide funding for relevant courses which will engage those who are less academically inclined. Forcing young adults to stay on at school will only put them off training and education for life."