Early Leaving Exemptions (ELX) - Issues and Solution (?)

Under Section 22 of the current Education Act 1989, and under Section 38 of the proposed Education and Training Bill currently before parliment, which will replace the 1989 Act, parents may apply for a student aged 15 to be exempt from the requirements to attend school. The wording of the Bill is:

38 Exemption from enrolment of student who has turned 15
(1) The Secretary may, on application by a parent of a student who has turned 15, grant the parent a certificate that exempts the student from the requirements of section 34 if the Secretary is satisfied that it is sensible to do so, having regard to--
(a) any educational problem the student may have; and
(b) the student’s conduct; and
(c)the benefit (if any) the student is likely to get from attending another available school.
(2) However, the Secretary may not exempt any student who--
(a) has made insufficient progress in terms of any curriculum statement for year 8 published under section 86; or
(b) has not enrolled for a year level above year 8.
(3)The Secretary must tell the chief executive of the department for the time being responsible for the administration of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 the name and address and any other available contact details of every student exempted under subsection (1).
(4) If satisfied that it is in the best interests of any student to do so, the Secretary may revoke the student’s certificate granted under subsection (1).

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A Section 38 (or currently Section 22) exemption allows 15 year old students to do any of the following:

• Quit school
• Enter employment during school hours
• Enter an apprenticeship or other training or tertiary study for which they are eligible
• Take part in Youth Guarantees courses, which are funded for 16-19 yos, or 15yos with an ELX

However, a 15yo student with a home education exemption cannot do any of these things in the fullest sense. If a student wishes to do so, they are usually told they need an Early Leaving Exemption, but if a family approach the Ministry to apply for one, they are most often told they cannot get an ELX for a home educated student. This is because the criteria as laid out by the law will usually not be met by a home educated student - ie having educational problems, conduct issues, and being unlikely to gain benefit from available schools. Not that these are "AND" scenarios, not "OR" - ie all three must be in place.

Now, this has been an issue of discussion on and off over the years with the Ministry. There is quite some history to the issue, which I won't expound on here for the sake of brevity. The main thing to know is that currently the Ministry are sticking to this position:
"It is highly unlikely that an ELX can be granted to home educated students because they would not meet the statutory criteria set out in the relevant legislation. Although it is unlikely for a home educated student to be granted an ELX, there have been cases in the past where they have been granted, however these decisions are made at the Ministry’s Regional offices and at their own discretion."

Why should home educated students be able to get ELX or equivalent?

I frequently am contacted by families with 15 yo students, some who are home educated, and some who are not yet exempt, but who have one thing in common: they are simply ready to move on from "school work" and pursue the next steps in their chosen pathway - usually training courses or an apprenticeship or full time work. Some of these students are highly motivated and frustrated at being held back doing "busy work" and others have faced significant struggles, and in those cases often NEED to be given the opportunity to move on to the thing that interests them, before they lose all motivation and simply fall by the wayside.

Bear in mind that until 1993, the school leaving age was 15. Some young people of that age who were not university-bound often did leave school and enter into various jobs and professions, generally with ultimate success. The change to a school leaving age of 16 was driven by a governmental and Ministry belief that kids who remain in school longer achieve better outcomes (a belief that persists today, despite a lack of evidence to support it). This thinking came about somewhere between 1989's Tomorrow's Schools under Labour which recommended the school leaving age remain at 15, and the 1991 Education Amendment Bill under National which changed it to 16 from 1993.

Now, imagine you are the parent of a 15 yo male student who, for example, wants to become a builder. He has completed all the academic work he could possibly need to prepare him for that trade. He has a high standard of literacy and numeracy. Any further schoolwork he does will simply be filling in time. An opportunity arises for him to do some work experience with a local builder. He does so successfully. The builder would now like to employ him full time, and enrol him in an apprenticeship scheme as soon as possible. But the inability to get an ELX is a barrier to this, as he doesn't fit the criteria. If the parents choose to allow him to engage in this work anyway, then both they and the boss will be in breach of the law, and potentially subject to prosecution and penalties. How ridiculous!

Or, a 15 yo girl who has been through a lot recently, and has been struggling with depression. She's now heard from a friend about a training program that strongly interests her and is restoring her enthusiasm and motivation for the first time in a while. She is permitted to visit that program as a "guest student" for a time, and both she and the tutors are enthusastic about how well it fits her, and about her continuing on. But she can't get an ELX, so she isn't allowed to do the program, both for lack of funding, and because it would constitute no longer being home educated, which is not allowed to cease until 16 unless enrolled in a "registered school"- and only primary and secondary schools are "registered schools." 

Or, a 15 yo student who wants to do a distance learning program through a tertiary provider in order to gain the high school qualifications he or she needs to open the future doors they need. But the rules of the tertiary provider are that students must be over 16, or 15 with an ELX. 

I could go on. But hopefully you see the point. If we want our capable, motivated young people to capitilize on their drive and opportunities that are potentially available to them, we should be removing barriers, not erecting them!

How do we fix this?

There is an Education and Training Bill before parliment currently, which will re-write the entire education law of our country. The section about ELXs is essentially unchanged, with one noteable exception which also deserves submission comment (see below*). However, for the purposes of students who already have a Section 21/Section 37 home education exemption, it remains as inaccessible as ever. At the end of the day, though, the wording of this section which applies to all 15 yos is never going to be a good fit for home educators, for a number of reasons. 

That is why, rather than change this section, I propose an addition the Section 37, which applies only to home educators, as follows: 
(?) An exempt student who has attained the age of 15, may engage in full or part time employment or be enrolled in any alternative or tertiary education programme for which they are eligible on the same basis as a student who has been exempt under Section 38, if--
(a) the parent is satisfied that the student has completed their home education to an appropriate level; and
(b) the student has a satisfactory offer of employment or access to training or alternative education

The effect of this, if incorporated into the Act, would be to appropriately permit parents and young people to make decisions about the best options for them as 15 yos, and engage in suitable training or work, without needing to jump through the ELX hoops. This would also reduce workload on Ministry staff.

Making this change would remove barriers and allow such students to move forward.
I urge you to consider including this recommendation in your own submission - (click on the link to find out why your submission as a home educator is so important, and how to make a submission)
Submissions close on 14th February 2020.

* The other issue I mentioned about the wording of the new Section 38 - the wording that says "(c)the benefit (if any) the student is likely to get from attending another available school." 
Under the current Act, this simply reads "available schools". The change implies that the student is already enrolled in a school, and other available schools must be considered. This is a different focus from the simple idea that school in general is unlikely to benefit the student further. This would make it even more difficult for home educated students to fit the criteria, even those who would under the current wording. 
One might consider including this in any submission.