In a move that will affect around a quarter of all 16 to 18 year olds, education secretary has announced that the Department for Education and Skill intends to be frog marching all of them into compulsory education by 2013.

Each year the government churns out statistics on how the number of pupils staying in full time education continues to increase and they all pat each other on the back about how it’s a testament to their wonderful education system. So what better way to bump the numbers up further than just making it compulsory?

It’s not going to hurt their unemployment figures either and next thing you know they’ll be creating loads of pointless public sector jobs just so that they can make them look even better… Oh, hang on…

If you happen to be the managing director of a fast food establishment or supermarket and are having visions of your profits swirling down the plug hole as the Government steals away your source of cheap labour, then please take a deep breath and relax, this could actually work out quite well for you.

You see, the plan doesn’t necessarily involve keeping teenagers in the classroom until the ripe old age of 18, they just have to remain in some form of training, be it school or workplace.

This will be sure to raise some interesting questions. How will qualifications be awarded uniformly across all industries? Will future employers have any idea what these awards mean when interviewing a potential employee? And how many McDonald’s gold stars will be equivalent to an A-Level?

It’s only a matter of time before ASDA gets a government grant for graciously “allowing” 16 to 18 year old to “be trained” on their premises. If you already scoff at qualifications in “Leisure & Tourism” (looking through holiday brochures) or “Media Studies” (watching telly) then just wait until they award the first NVQ in “Point of Sale Product Distribution And Presentation”.

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Keywords: A-Level, Alan Johnson, ASDA, Education, Employment, McDonald's, NVQ, Qualifications, School, Training