Workshy teens to be forced to stay at school until 18 or face fines

 

Last updated at 15:47pm on 5th November 2007 Comments (9)

Teenagers are to be forced to stay at school until 18 under new plans to get more teenage "drop outs" to stay on in education.

 

Ahead of a Bill tomorrow to raise the school leaving age to 18, Children's, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls also unveiled moves to cut benefits to those who refuse to get training or education.

He called for a "culture change" to tackle the problem of "Neets", teenagers not in education, employment or training.

Workshy teenagers who refuse to find jobs, get training or go to school will also be hit with fines under the radical plans to reduce their burden on the state.

 

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Brown wants to encourage youngsters to take up vocational training if they do not want to stay on at school

 

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• Gordon Brown to get tough on idle teens and migrants

A tenth of 16 to 18-year-olds are now officially classified as Neets - so-called because they are "not in education, employment or training".

Laws being introduced in this week's Queen's Speech will require all teenagers to stay in education or training to the age of 17 by 2013 and 18 by 2015.

He said: "We want all young people to play an active role in society and gain the skills they need to enter the labour market."

Under the plans teenagers will not all be forced to stay in secondary school until the age of 18.

However, those that do not want to stay past 16 will have to take part in some form of education, apprenticeship or work-place training.

Mr Balls admitted that Britain performs poorly in terms of the numbers of teenagers who drop out of the system at 16.

He confirmed that teenagers will face sanctions - such as fines - if they fail to co-operate.

But he also announced a range of measures to help youngsters back into education and training, such as creating an extra 90,000 apprenticeships by 2013 for 16 to 18-year-olds to add to the current 150,000.

There will also be 44,000 new places at further education colleges. If teenagers drop out of education or training, their local authority will try to find them a place.

But if they refuse to attend, they will be given a formal warning in which the local authority "will clearly explain their duty to participate and the consequences of not doing so".

The next step will be to issue a formal notice, followed by a fixed-penalty ticket.

The Neet could then be taken to a youth court and fined, but the sanction will not go as far as imposing a custodial sentence.

Mr Balls joined Gordon Brown and skills minister John Denham today to meet apprentice chefs at Westminster Kingsway College.

The trio laughed as tutor Martin O'Brien demonstrated how to chop up a chicken before the students, all aged 15 and from local schools, had a try.

The tough new measures have met with scepticism from some MPs.

Frank Field, the Labour MP and former minister, last week revealed that a group of teenagers in his Birkenhead constituency "rolled around laughing at the idea that any government could try to lock them up in school until they became 18".

 

Mr Balls's proposals, which will come in a Bill to be announced in the Queen's Speech, include:

• Another 90,000 places on apprenticeships by 2013, on top of the 150,000 available now.

• A more flexible academic year so teenagers can start new courses in January if they fail to sign up by September, or if they drop out a few weeks into an inappropriate course.

• Extending the education maintenance allowance so more teenagers receive grants to help them make ends meet while they study or train.

So because a tenth of 16-18 years olds are not in education, employment or training it means the other nine tenths have to be at school until 18.

 

What if you want to just live in the wild? :) Nope....you must stay in school until 18.....at least in 2015.

What about opening special schools for "hoodies"??:rolleyes:

I don't think Hoodies have the capacity the absorb information.

 

That's the thing about clothes, you know......at the end of the day, they just are life-less fabric.

I don't think Hoodies have the capacity the absorb information.

 

That's the thing about clothes, you know......at the end of the day, they just are life-less fabric.

 

And unimportant in the big scheme of things, as are mobile phones and material things in general.;)

Yep.

What you do is what matters.;)

errm.... dose that mean compulsory year 12 education cos here in aus we turn 17 in year 12 cos we start school in feb ^^ yet another reason why we're cooler than the states :smug:

Over here school is compulsory to the age of 15. A lot of people drop out and do apprenticeships. Nothing wrong with that!

here is compulsory until you are 16... but people drop it earlier, i mean is suppoused that you finish you high school (4th eso) when you are 16 but as some people fail like in 2nd eso, when they turn 16 they quit studying without having finished their basic studies. :(

 

one party wanted to change it and give those people an option of doing courses to can work in 2 years with practices and stuff, but government don't like the idea.. well long story.

 

btw i think that some years ago it was compulsory only till you are 14.. :thinking: just till you finished school (8º egb).

Over here school is compulsory to the age of 15. A lot of people drop out and do apprenticeships. Nothing wrong with that!

 

While in Britain they drop out and do drugs!!:laugh3:

Kids at 16 should be allowed to do whatever they want to do within the laws of the land. It's when they commit crime they should be hung up by their balls (or tits) and have their fingers chopped off :)

Kids at 16 should be allowed to do whatever they want to do within the laws of the land. It's when they commit crime they should be hung up by their balls (or tits) and have their fingers chopped off :)

 

What about if they have no intention of working and just sponge off the state??:rolleyes:

Making kids stay at school until they are 18 will only increase the "illegal" workers.