Compulsory education requires children to attend school or formal education. There is a minimum age for enrollment and a school leaving age, but students can continue attending to earn a diploma. The school leaving age is often set with eligibility for work in mind, and raising it can help address unemployment.
The school leaving age is the age at which a person can legally leave school. This term is often used in jurisdictions that have compulsory education. In such jurisdictions, minors are generally required to attend school starting at one particular age and ending at another. However, an individual may continue to attend school after reaching school-leaving age. For example, in many jurisdictions, compulsory education ends at age 16, but students who want to earn a high school diploma can remain enrolled until they reach age 17, 18, or 19.
Many countries have compulsory education, which means that children must attend school or participate in some other type of formal education. Many also have an age by which minors should be enrolled in school. For example, some jurisdictions may require children to be enrolled in school at age six, while others may set the enrollment age at age eight. In many jurisdictions, a parent can be prosecuted if his or her child is not enrolled in an approved form of education by the maximum enrollment age.
In jurisdictions that have compulsory education, there is usually also a school leaving age. This is the minimum age a student must be to legally leave school and be free of compulsory education requirements. However, this does not mean that a student should drop out of school once they reach school-leaving age. In many cases, a student will need to attend for at least a couple of years after reaching this threshold if she is to earn a high school diploma.
Many jurisdictions set the school leaving age with eligibility for work in mind. In those jurisdictions, the school leaving age is set to minimize the gap between the age at which a student can leave school and the age at which they are employable. This is not true in all places, however, and in some jurisdictions there may be a significant gap between the school leaving age and the legal working age. There are also many jurisdictions where a minor can secure employment long before they can legally drop out of school.
In jurisdictions where unemployment is an issue, there is often talk of raising the school leaving age. This is because more dropouts typically result in more work being needed. Delaying children’s entry into the workforce by raising the age at which students can leave school can help jurisdictions temporarily address this problem.
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