Ardern dusts off teens’ toolkit plank

Labour has relaunched its plan to prepare teenagers for the real world by teaching them how to drive and budget.

When Jacinda Ardern took over as Labour leader earlier this month she promised new policy in the areas of housing, health, education, infrastructure and Maori Affairs, but at Kelston Girls’ College in Auckland yesterday it was back-to-the-future with a 2015 pledge.

A toolkit that helps students learn to drive, understand practical budgeting and civics was first announced two years ago by Labour’s education spokesman Chris Hipkins after finance spokesman Grant Robertson launched the party’s Future of Work programme.

‘‘Our teachers and schools do a great job of teaching our children core knowledge and learning skills. Our education system is one of the best in the world,’’ Ardern said yesterday.

‘‘However, the Future of Work Commission identified the need to do better in giving young people the practical skills that they need, in the workplace, in their day-today lives, and as members of the community.

‘‘Businesses say they need young workers with these skills,’’ Ardern said.

‘‘Having a driving licence so you can get to work, knowing how to fit into a workplace, knowing how to manage your money, and knowing how to take your place in the community – these are all important skills in adult life, and we need to do more to ensure our young people are equipped with them.’’

Ardern rejected the suggestion the toolkit policy wasn’t a ‘‘fresh idea’’.

She said the Future of Work Commission produced a ‘‘range of recommendations’’ and at the time the toolkit was only a ‘‘loose idea’’, which has now been fleshed out with detail and costings.

Labour has costed the toolkit at $50 million a year and it would be available for all students as the current teaching in this area was ‘‘ad hoc’’, Ardern said.

Students would have access to five free driving lessons and the costs of a learner and restricted driver’s licence would also be covered.

The cost would only be picked up by a Labour-led government the first time a student sat the test, she said.

‘‘I would hope it would provide lots of incentive to do lots of swatting to make sure they get that first test right,’’ Ardern told media following the announcement.

At the event in Auckland, Ardern told students she learned to drive in a tractor on her family’s farm.

When the toolkit was first launched two years ago, theneducation Minister Hekia Parata said schools were already teaching those skills.

‘‘It’s a blanket approach in the sense all schools can offer it now,’’ she said at the time.

A number of schools were teaching driver licence testing but it came down to whether individual schools wanted to offer it, Parata said.