set 1992: no. 1

New subjects and courses to interest and benefit senior secondary students who do not plan to go on to higher education have been introduced. This research studied two different courses which provide diversity, involvement and success.

Transition from school to work is pretty haphazard in Australia and New Zealand; in Japan it is highly organised. We have young people unemployed, exams of doubtful educational worth, and a system of entry into tertiary study that is hardly fair to minorities. So it is worthwhile examining a very different system.

Careful analysis of where school leavers go reveals that many who have the ability to benefit from a university education do not get one. They are mainly children from lower-class backgrounds. Recent government policies are likely to make the situation worse.

Children from homes with little money do not always fail, but it is usual! This careful study of three groups of high school pupils and their families compares and contrasts incomes, circumstances, lives, aspirations, and successes; and the ways poverty and performance are linked become much clearer.