"A new educational opportunity bill will mean that for the first time not just some but all young people will stay in education or training until 18" GORDON BROWN

So here we have it, Labour's faliure to create work for the young has made them panic into raising the leaving age. This new ROSLA won't work. Another attemt to change the way our society is structured. How many young girls might be tempted to become pregant to escape ROSLA? Another bad idea from the party of faliure and interference.

There are plenty of jobs out there for school leavers, its just that some of them are too lazy to consider working. Raising the school leaving age to 18 is not such a bad idea if it leads to more school leavers actually leaving with not only a decent education, but also some constructive and helpfull work/job training. And lets be honest here, in regards to young pregnant girls getting pregnant to avoid these changes, well thats going to happen anyway as long as the welfare system is designed to encourage and not discourage youngsters from claiming benefits.

Dean, The fact is we have 1.7 million unemployed, there are very few jobs for young people. The Labour government promised at the 1999 Labour conference that we were going to get full employment. Yet another lie. I hope the future conservative government will reverse this decision and instead pool resources to create work for our young people.

A further two years where 17 & 18 year olds will be imprisoned in the local school institutions so that they can obtain qualifications to go to University and obtain more worthless qualifications that no one wants.

When your gas boiler doesn't work, they'll be and army of media studies degree holders to help you and not a plumber in sight.

They wiill be imprisoned so that they can not sign on and mess up Brown's Statistics!

If they refuse to continue attending School they will be arrested or reported for truancy!

When is the Conservative Party that is the opposition, going to stop this insidious government turning this country in to a police state?

Education for all til 18 (whether vocational or academic) is the only way forward! The best idea yet. Allowing children to leave school at 16 with no plans and no training is Dickensian.

We are letting our children down by allowing them to leave school at 16 with no hope of a decent future.

Canvas,

Trouble is that we have lost so much of the structure of Vocational education while we have had a government that doesn't understand the difference between "equal" and "the same". We badly need a proper system of education that doesn't try to get everyone a degree.

18 is far too old. Any child that wants to stay in school until eighteen already has that opportunity. All legislation will do is force the ones who do not like school or who have learning disabilities like dislexia, to stay on becoming more and more frustrated and angry. Already we have prefects partly running the schools, making key decisions about issues like school uniforms etc. all a sign that they are becoming adult and wanting to make their own decisions. Needing to get out into the world and do their own thing.
Far better if we made sure that whilst in school until 16 they recieved more vocational training for the less academic and also give them more social knowledge like how their local council works, how to fill in everyday forms, how to undertand how their local authorities are run and who to contact for help in any given department when help is needed, so that they go out into the world as capable and responsible people with more than just basic knowledge of how to organise their own lives.

We need more special needs schools for dyslexic children.
Children do not have the emotional maturity at 16 to know how to direct their lives - 18 is the right age to leave education - or then go on to higher education.

Well Im looking at this from another angle. I think ALL Youngsters want to leave School before they are 18. They want and need to earn their own money! I couldnt agree more with that!

But due to the Pension Crisis, caused by Mr Brown, People will have to work over 65! And that is taking away jobs from the youngsters IMHO?

Does this mean that family allowances will now be paid until the youngsters are 18+? More social engineering taxation but does anybody have the gvt's expected payoff, short or long-term? Does this allow the would-be pensioners the extra 2 years in employment?

Tizzy - family allowance is already paid up to the age of 20 if the child is in full time education that leads to a qualifacation.

yes Canvas, another topic I suspect, but I totally agree with you we do need a lot more help for children with dislexia.
I have a grandaughter with dislexia, she has been given some extra tuition in her "above average" school but suddenly, she was told sorry, we have spent all we are allowed to spend of our budget per child on you now, we can give you no more help.
Depsite efforts to meet with authorities, and various bodies to gain help they have been told it will cost them up to £600 a week for adequate tuition for her privately, on the basis of her needing six hours a week at £100 per hour. How many families can ever afford that????
Perhaps we should start a new topic on this.

What a nonsense our state school system is. The public school (private or independent) system works for children of a wide range of ability. Why? The class size is about 15.

What is the budget for children in the state system? I don't know but I'd like to.

My daughter has experienced a class of 15 and a class of 30. Guess which one was the most effective.

Teachers should not be employed simply for crowd control.

Equally my daughter used to have a filthy PE kit from daily games. Now her kit comes home once every half-term ( not once a week) and doesn't look as if it's been worn!

Any political party that adopts the benefits of small classes and the public school structure will get my vote.
You know what I'm talking about Mr Cameron, you went to a real school, not a container for people until they can be released.

Interesting, Catherine, and a hell of a lot to agree with. Do you agree with the prefect system and prefect courts?

I wanted to leave school when I was five!

So now they want to make it so that at 16 someone can get married and join the army, but not be allowed to leave school. Ridiculous!