There’s a concern the Government’s school shakeup could drive more students to drop out early.  

New data shows that over 1,300 students were granted an early leaving exemption last year – the highest since 2007. 

The Government is proposing to remove subjects from senior school general subject list, reclassifying them as a limited vocational option – one being Outdoor Education. 

Whenua Iti Outdoors CEO Mark Bruce-Miller told Ryan Bridge that outdoor education allows all students flourish in areas that are difficult to work on within a classroom environment, such as teamwork, leadership, communication, resilience, and initiative.  

He says students need to be as well-rounded as possible when leaving school, and removing outdoor education from the list means some students won’t get those benefits. 

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