More teenagers see tertiary education as out of their reach

AUSTRALIAN teenagers are more hopeful of completing Year 12 than previously, but fewer 15-year-olds expect to obtain a tertiary education.

An Australian Council for Education Research report shows 15-year-olds’ expectations of gaining a TAFE diploma or university degree fell between 2003 and 2015 but their expectation of finishing high school or gaining a certificate IV rose 12 per cent.

ACER deputy chief executive of research Sue Thomson said a student’s expectation of tertiary studies was linked to socio-economic status.

“While there has been an overall decrease in the proportion of students expecting to go to university over the time studied, expectations of a university degree have remained quite high among students from a more advantaged background,” Dr Thomson said.

In 2003, 63 per cent of Aus- tralian students expected to undertake a university degree, and by 2015 this had fallen to 54 per cent.

In 2003, 8 per cent of students thought they would complete a TAFE diploma and by 2015 this proportion had dropped by more than half, to 3 per cent.

A number of Geelong education providers are seeking to encourage young people to pick up or study or a trade.

Geelong’s school-based apprenticeship taskforce will hold a forum next week introducing students to 300 traineeship opportunities available in 2019.

The SBAT program gives students the opportunity to start an apprenticeship while still at school and this usually leads into a full-time apprenticeship with their employer.

The forum will be held at Geelong High School in the C.A. Love Hall on Tuesday from 5pm.