Prime Minister Helen Clark today announced further details of the government’s investment in the Schools Plus package aimed at ensuring all young people are in education or training or some form of structured learning until they reach the age of 18.

Helen Clark also announced new investments of $39.7 million to advance implementation of Schools Plus.

“Senior secondary schooling will be transformed so that staying at school, gaining relevant qualifications, and building on qualifications beyond school, will become the accepted norm over time,” Helen Clark said.

The current school leaving age of 16 will not change, but early leaving exemptions for students under the age of 16 years will be removed.

“Student participation and achievement is improving, but there are still far too many students leaving school early with little or no achievement. We cannot afford to have 34 per cent of students still leaving school without achieving NCEA level 2.

“The significant changes we have planned will be phased in. Providing greater support for students will mean more young people will willingly stay at school and achieve. But some are still likely to choose to leave before they achieve a qualification. A compulsory education and training of age of 17 will be introduced in 2011 to ensure that young people continue to participate up to that age, and the age will be increased to 18 in 2014.

“The package I am announcing today is only the initial investment - the government is committed to resourcing Schools Plus. This will mean supporting more young people in schools, tertiary education and workplace learning; developing the education and training infrastructure required, and providing additional support for teachers, schools, and other providers of education and training.

“The new curriculum and the NCEA provide the ideal platform for offering students more choice and the opportunity to gain credits through workplace learning and tertiary institutions.

“By 2011, all students will have an education plan which will provide them with careers guidance and advice, and a planned approach to achieving their education and career goals. The way schools are funded will also change to provide greater incentives for them to retain students.

The Schools Plus package includes several initiatives to support schools to become more responsive to the needs of young people, and to ensure that learning is relevant to more students’ aspirations and goals. Offering students greater flexibility and more choice about how and where they learn, and providing them with the support they need to make good decisions about their futures, are seen as critical.

These initiatives include initial investments of $39.7 million over four years in:

• Developing an extensive careers guidance package to be available in all secondary schools over the next two years - $11.74 million;
• Enabling more students to experience tertiary learning while still at school, and offering them a greater range of courses, by investing in the Student Tertiary Alignment Resource (STAR) - $21 million;
• Investing in innovative approaches already underway in some schools to find out what is working well and how best to extend this to provide similar programmes in other schools - $6 million;
• Providing more pre-employment education and training for those under 18 years with no or few qualifications while they are still at school.
• Providing seeding money over two years for the establishment of a pilot secondary-tertiary programme at the Manukau Institute Technology - $1 million. This secondary-tertiary partnership initiative is aimed at engaging students, in particular, those who show potential but are underperforming at school; come from a low income or low decile school background; and/or who are the first from their family to experience tertiary education.

“Schools Plus will help ensure that young New Zealanders reach their full potential and can contribute to building a strong society and economy in the 21st Century,” Helen Clark said.

•  Please click here to read the Prime Minister's announcement speech