We do not profess to know all the answers, but our life skills have taught us a few worthwhile ones, particularly in the youth space.

Early intervention is a significant priority, but perhaps more important, and effective, is the development of pathways that are productive for young people as they start to mature, rather than having their lives controlled by Government bureaucratic edicts.

The pathways, if managed correctly, should encourage young people to start making constructive choices for themselves. When we say ‘managed,’ we mean the Government generally stepping back and allowing young people space to resolve their own issues.

Although parents have a vital role and a responsibility in encouraging their children to adopt a worthwhile path, they cannot and should not live their lives through their children. It is the child’s life, not the parents.

An article in the Herald Sun on the 23^rd of November 25, titled ‘Half of students miss a month of school amid fears it is irrelevant,’ goes a long way to explain what is really happening to our youth.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/half-of-students-miss-a-month-of-school

We have been critical of the schools sending children home for misbehaviour, which, in our view, is a major contributor to the development of anti-social and criminal behaviour in our young.

This process is triggered predominantly by minor behavioural infractions and, on occasion, by incidents not the student’s fault.

This send-them-home option is a relatively new concept, as schools in the past have dealt with these minor infractions in-house without abdicating responsibility and leaving students to their own devices. In this context, it is not a contradiction to provide pathways.

There appears to be no effective management of this discipline process, and our information is that when children are sent home, it is problematic whether the parent/s are aware, unless the child informs them.

So much for families with parents who must work to support them and rely on schools to care for their children while they are being educated.

Schools that adopt this approach are abdicating their responsibility and may need a civil case to wake the system up to its failings.

Until the research in this HS article was made public, we have been at a loss to identify just where the problems lay. We know that children are not born with antisocial and criminal tendencies, which are learned behaviours, and it appears now that the research in that article points clearly to the culprit that teaches them – their misdirected education.

It generally boils down to the education we are foisting on our young being irrelevant to the skill sets they see as necessary to run their lives, and they have an excellent argument.

We continually hear from educators that their curriculum is overfull, so they can’t add to it, but that assumes that the curriculum is relevant. Relevance to those for whom the education is being delivered is essential – but, clearly, much of it is not in the eyes of many students.

Removing ideological material that has found its way into the curriculum must be the first action, and then the rest of the curriculum benchmarked against the needs of our youth. That purge must be brutal.

“It just feels like we’re not being taught how to handle our finances properly,” Sarah said. “We’re not being taught how to save, invest, manage our bank accounts or file our taxes. That’s something you’ve really gotta figure out on your own.”

–Sarah, 17 years reflecting on her views when she was 14 years old.

To this point, you may wonder the relevance of this material to our core direction, law and order.

Suppose you are going to teach children irrelevant material, send them home for minor infractions and fail to engage the pupils. In that case, it very quickly becomes a life of boredom and failure for the pupil, and the more bored they become, the more disruptive they are, and more often they are sent home.

Taking time off from school is the go-to solution that the school teaches them.

All this time at home can accumulate very rapidly and lead to increased boredom. Life becomes less relevant, so they seek solutions in very unhelpful ways – crime, self-harm, addictions and inappropriate social interactions become the only way to achieve a sense of fulfilment for them.

UNICEF Australia’s Chief Advocate for Children, Nicole Breeze, said the report paints a stark picture.

“In a country like Australia, we have all the conditions and infrastructure to be the best place in the world for children to grow up,” Ms Breeze said. “It is unacceptable that suicide remains the leading cause of death for young Australians and that we are seeing persistent negative trends.”

What this all adds up to is the need for a ‘root and branch’ overhaul of our education system, and by that we are strongly opposed to a series of talk fests, more research, and academic papers arguing the rights and wrongs of the assertions we make, as the proof positive already exists.

The Report author, Megan O’Connell, from the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, said the landmark report — published in the Herald Sun, developed with UNICEF Australia and supported by the Minderoo Foundation — found an increasing number of kids feel school is not providing them with the skills that they need for their future.

The problem needs to be addressed urgently, as there is no time to waste on procrastination and blame-shifting.

The government must issue an edict for action to Tony Bates, the Secretary of the Department of Education in Victoria, who was appointed in August 2025.

The edict must, without equivocation, direct that this issue must be addressed urgently for two reasons: we can’t afford to have one more child exposed to this failed system, and the responsibility lies at the feet of the Director and any inaction at the feet of the Education Minister.

If the Director can’t or won’t fix it, then he should be replaced, as should any other executive within the Education Department who does not fall into line.

What must be achieved is curriculum variation to remove ideological material and replace it with the skills required by young people. These skills can be life-based or designed to equip them for further education.

In relation to behaviour, the practice of sending young people home must be discontinued without exception, and to achieve a reasonable standard of behaviour, the Police in Schools Program must be urgently reintroduced to help schools address misbehaviour and provide students with a safe school environment and life skills to live harmoniously within the community.

All schools must also be required have and enforce a Code of Conduct.

There can be no excuses for inaction, as these changes will have no impact on the State’s fiscal demise.

Additionally, young people’s ability to join the workforce or further their academic studies must not be hindered by ‘the system’.

Currently, young people cannot enter an apprenticeship until they are aged 16, and if they work before then, they can only do 20 hours a week. From an academic perspective, the schools make students feel that if they can’t excel in academia, then they are a failure.

It is past time for the Government to repeal these rules and move out of the way.

This one-size-fits-all approach is badly flawed, and it should be left to employers to judge the suitability of an applicant, the applicant’s parents, and the child.

Opportunities for young people to re-enter the education system without penalty must be well promoted.

This is particularly true of age-relevant life skills. Young people are better equipped to enter the workforce physically and mentally at a far younger age than when these rules were designed and applied.

Better to be at work learning rather than at school marking time, causing havoc.

Unblocking Pathways is the key.