Being a NEET isn’t neat – but we don’t seem to care.

Often when I process/publish data about education outcomes for schools in NZ well intentioned people with come at me with … “but not everyone needs to follow an academic pathway” or “trades are valuable too and many people leave school early to take be apprentices”.

Firstly – it is incontrovertible that the longer you stay in school the better your qualifications.

Secondly – on average the higher the school leaving qualification you have the more you earn.

Thirdly – of course trades are important. Entry into the trades is also highly contested as an employer wants the best possible people coming in with good school qualifications, attendance and at least Level 2 NCEA. To think anything else is to imply that tradees are dummies and I am not saying that to my brilliant – and 6’7″ – builder.

Fourthly – many young people are leaving school for minimum wage jobs because the money looks good in the moment. In ten years time these pro-active young people – who could have been – let’s say … engineers … will still be working the checkout.

Fifthly – it is the boys who are predominantly leaving early and that is, accentuated, in low decile (high Equity Index) schools. e.g.

And finally – although Grant Robertson and, ex Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins like to bang on about low surveyed unemployment we have 10.3% of our able-bodied 15 – 24 year olds Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).

18.8% in the Naki … what is up with that?

Auckland NEET rates were highest for Māori (19.4%) and Pacific (16.1%) ethnicities, Southern Initiative area (18.4%), and those aged 20 to 24 years (13.6%).

From Education Counts:

What are the characteristics of young people most at risk of long-term limited employment?

Young people with the poorest long-term employment outcomes have additional risk factors, including:

• experiencing intergenerational benefit dependency
• contact with Child Youth and Family (CYF)/Oranga Tamariki during childhood or adolescence, and/or with the Justice system
• being a young parent (particularly before age 19)
• leaving school with no or low qualifications.

I have not yet heard too many solutions to this on the campaign trail.

Alwyn Poole
Innovative Education Consultants
Cambridge Festival of Sport
www.innovativeeducation.co.nz
www.cambridgefestivalofsport.co.nz
www.alwynpoole.substack.com
www.linkedin.com/in/alwyn-poole-16b02151/