The truth is that some 16-year-olds just need to discover the real world ? and find out the hard way how much education matters
It is a rough time to be 16, and not only because no one realises that you are grown up. All the political parties ? despite Michael Gove's ill-judged rescinding of the education maintenance allowance ? acknowledge that, in the jobless present, staying in education until 18 is necessary as well as desirable. For many, there was never a question about it: university beckons, even at �27,000 a shot. A lucky minority will have apprenticeships or training lined up that involve enough academic education to qualify under the coalition proposals. But there will be thousands of others who have already had it with education and will resist by every means possible. Not surprisingly, teachers feel pretty ambivalent too. When Spain raised the school leaving age, the experience turned into a collective nightmare. Part of the answer, as Professor Alison Wolf's review suggested, is to strengthen 14-16 teaching so that post-16s at least start with a legacy of enthusiasm. University technical colleges offer another interesting alternative. But the truth is that some 16-year-olds just need to get out and discover the real world ? and find out the hard way how much education matters. The 16-plus classroom is for those who want to be there. The minority who don't should be allowed to leave. And where this year's late starters face an impenetrable jungle of hazards, in future there should be a permanently and beguilingly open door for all those who eventually find out that they want as well as need a second chance.
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