A teachers' leader has warned that there could be "mass truancy" if the Government goes ahead with plans to raise the education leaving age to 18.
Geraldine Everett, chairwoman of the Professional Association of Teachers, told her union's annual conference in Harrogate yesterday that the plans were doomed to failure.
The 35,000-strong union is to become the first teachers' organisation to officially oppose the move when it votes on a motion calling on ministers to rethink the proposals.
In her address, Ms Everett warned: "Enforcement could lead to mass truancy, further disruption to other learners and staff, maybe even needless criminalisation if 'enforcement measures' are imposed." Ministers plan to introduce a new compulsory education and training leaving age of 18 - to be backed up with fines of £50 for those who refuse to take part in training or full-time education.
Ms Everett said: "Here is a government that has toyed with the idea of lowering the voting age to 16 in order to promote a greater sense of citizenship among our young people. Yet it proposes to extend compulsory education or training to 18 to compel the already disaffected to, in their perception, prolong the agony."
Her comments follow a similar warning by Richard Williams, chief executive of the education charity Rathbone, delivered at the launch of an independent inquiry into why 200,000 poorly qualified 16- to 18-year-olds had turned their backs on full-time education or training. He said the plans would lead to thousands more teenagers ending up with criminal records.
However, Jim Knight, the Schools minister, warned that the motion opposed "giving young people the opportunities, choice and support they deserve".
"It is only right that we are looking at all options to keep young people engaged in education or training up until 18 - whether at school, training or in a job," he added. "So you can still leave school at 16 to go to work as long as you continue with part-time appropriate training."
Thousands of children end up on a special needs register because they have not been adequately taught the "three Rs" at primary school, a Conservative Party policy commission report claimed yesterday.
The report said that 43 per cent of pupils left primary school unable to read, write or add up properly.
First published by the independent online|