Around this time of year, many young people start making decisions that can feel bigger than they are ready for.
Subject choices. Career conversations. University choices. Apprenticeship options. The first very serious questions about what they might do after school.
It’s fair to say these decisions can feel overwhelming for students and families alike. But it’s worth asking a more uncomfortable question: are young people getting the full picture?
Because while schools and universities both play a role, they don’t have the same incentives as the young person sitting in front of them.
And sometimes, without meaning to, we make the pathway too narrow too early.
There is no doubt we all like a simple metric. It helps families feel they are making an informed decision. That is one reason ATARs have become so powerful. They are easy to evaluate, compare and put in a brochure, media story or school website.
But easy measures are not complete measures.
High ATARs can feel like evidence of opportunity, and in some cases they are. But they only tell a specific, narrow story about opportunity: one that assumes university is the natural next step.
Schools operate under constant scrutiny. From media, policymakers, parents and the broader community, they are expected to show outcomes in ways that are clear, comparable and defensible. ATAR results do that. They give schools a simple signal to point to in a complex environment where the thing that matters most (whether a young person is building skills, confidence, direction and a meaningful pathway into work and life) is much harder to measure.
The problem is that when the most visible measure of school success is built around university entry, it can reinforce the idea that university is the obvious pathway and that other pathways are somehow lesser.
There is no doubt university has a place. For some professions, it is essential. For many young people, it is the right path.
But it is not the only path.
We must remember that universities are also operating in a highly competitive environment. They are institutions, but they are also businesses designed to attract students into courses. That does not make university bad. However, it does mean young people need balanced advice, not just the most prominent message in the market.
The real question is not “university or not university?” It is whether each young person can see the full range of pathways available to them, and make a decision based on skills, interests, opportunity and the kind of future they want to build.
The future of work is changing quickly
This matters even more now because the world of work is changing fast.
Artificial intelligence, automation, new tools and new business models are reshaping jobs across almost every industry. Many people are anxious about what that means, and it is not just school leavers feeling uncertain. Employees already in the workforce are also wondering how their roles may change, what skills they will need next, and whether their current job will still look the same in five years.
In that environment, career decisions cannot simply default to university because it is often presented as the pathway most closely associated with aspiration and ambition.
Career decisions need to be about skills, adaptability and pathways that connect to real work.
It is also changing some of the old assumptions about income and job security. A university degree can be valuable, but it is no longer an automatic guarantee of stronger earnings or a more secure future.
At the same time, many trades, technical roles, care roles, infrastructure roles and hands-on occupations offer strong, practical pathways, particularly where the work is difficult to automate, needed locally and linked to industries with ongoing demand.
That does not mean one pathway is inherently better than another. It means we need to broaden the conversation.
Vocational Education and Training deserves a greater role
Vocational Education and Training (VET) deserves a serious place in that conversation.
For too long, it has often been treated as an alternative rather than an equal pathway.
That has never made much sense to me.
VET offers practical skills, workplace exposure, competency-based training and pathways into industries that need people. Apprenticeships and traineeships allow people to learn and earn, build confidence, and develop the habits that employers are actually looking for.
And in many cases, those habits matter just as much as the qualification itself.
I talk to employers regularly, and the message is consistent.
Employers need people who can show up, communicate, learn, work in a team, take feedback and apply themselves. They need practical skills and job readiness, not just a polished resume or a qualification that doesn’t translate into the workplace.
This is where VET comes into its own.
Shorter learning has a place too
It is also worth considering the growing role of shorter, more targeted learning.
Microcredentials and short courses are becoming more common because the pace of change is too fast for education to only happen in large blocks, years apart.
In a world where AI tools, digital systems and industry requirements are changing quickly, people need bite-sized learning that can be applied quickly. That might be a short course, a workplace credential, a safety ticket, a digital skills module, or a practical training program linked to a specific role, task or workplace challenge.
These options do not replace apprenticeships, traineeships, VET qualifications or university degrees. But they can help people build confidence, test an interest, add a practical skill, or respond to change without feeling they have to stop everything and start again.
For employers, this matters too. If the work is changing, the training has to keep up.
Apprenticeships and traineeships build more than technical skills
One of the great strengths of apprenticeships and student traineeships is that they don’t separate learning from doing. Young people learn the technical side of a role, but they also learn how workplaces operate. They learn expectations. They learn communication. They learn how to solve problems in real time. They learn what it means to be part of a team.
That sort of learning is difficult to replicate in a classroom alone.
And for employers, traineeships are not just a way to fill today’s vacancy. They are a way to build the workforce they will need tomorrow.
Employers need to invest in training
Many employers are operating under genuine pressure. Costs are rising. Skills shortages persist. Technology is changing what work looks like. And in regional areas, the labour market can be especially thin.
That pressure is exactly why investment in training matters. Waiting for the perfect candidate is not a workforce strategy. Sometimes, that candidate simply isn’t there. The better response is to build capability in the people already there.
Employers have a major role to play in helping young people understand what different jobs actually involve before they are expected to make decisions about them. They can offer work experience, tasters, apprenticeships, traineeships, short-course pathways and on-the-job development.
They can partner with training providers and help new and current employees adapt, especially at a time when many people are anxious about AI, automation and job security.
Done well, training is part of good workforce planning. It helps employers retain people, lift productivity and build confidence through change.
Mid-year is a good time to reset
This time of year matters. For many students, it's a time of subject selection, university decisions and career conversations. That can create real pressure for students and families, because it can feel like one wrong choice will close doors.
In my view, we need to be careful with that message.
Subject choices matter, but they are not the whole story. A young person’s future is not decided by one form, one information night, or one conversation about higher education.
What matters is whether they are given a broad enough view of the options available to them: university, VET, apprenticeships, traineeships, school-based pathways, short courses, work experience and on-the-job training.
Sometimes the most useful first step is not a grand career plan. It is a practical exposure point.
A White Card is a good example. For a young person interested in construction, infrastructure, traffic control or worksite roles, completing White Card course can be a simple, practical step that opens the door to understanding the industry more seriously. It does not mean they have to know their whole career path. It simply gives them a starting point.
That is often what young people need most: not pressure to have the answer, but practical ways to test an interest, build confidence and see where a pathway might lead.
Finding the solution
There is no single solution, but there are practical places to start.
- Parents need better information, because most are trying to do the right thing with what they know. When ATARs are the most obvious measure, it is easy to understand why they carry so much weight.
- Universities need to be understood as one option, not the default answer.
- Schools need to present VET, apprenticeships and traineeships as serious pathways, not backup plans.
- Employers need to invest in training, because workforce shortages will not be solved by waiting for perfect candidates.
- Young people need access to career advice that is practical, balanced and connected to the labour market they are actually entering.
And workers already in the labour market need the same kind of thinking applied to them. As technology changes, we need to make it easier for people to reskill, upskill and move into new areas of work without feeling that one career decision made years ago has locked them in for life.
In the end, this is about more than subject choices or school pathways. It is about how we help people build capability across their working lives.
If we can give young people, workers and employers better information, stronger pathways and more chances to learn through real work, then we give people more than a career option.
We give them confidence, capability and a better chance of building a future that lasts.
Ron Maxwell, CEO of VERTO
