Preparation for the Transition from School to Work

Abstract

The transition from secondary schooling to employment offers to many students a marked change in life-style and outlook. It is the passport to greater sexual freedom, to more subtle social competition and to a more complex concept of leisure. This paper suggests that students need both formal and informal preparation for such changes through the provision of a comprehensive guidance program that both encourages a closer informal relationship between staff and students and offers a link between school, external guidance agencies and employers as well as curriculum preparation for social change. The paper looks at the work that has been done in this area in Australia and suggests that employers as well as schools have a role to play in the facilitation of the transfer to employment. It is suggested that improvements in both school and employer provisions may require some prior reappraisal of the aims of education.