I know what you're saying Limeslice and I agree with you. I didn't mean to imply that vocational stuff/apprenticeships are easy. Not at all. But they may suit her better in that she can immediately see the link between what she's learning and a job rather than more academic subjects.

I'm hoping that we can encourage her to get a part-time job in Year 10 and if she loves it, great ... and if she doesn't she'll see what sort of job she'll be in if she doesn't finish VCE.

We're not trying to force her down a certain career path now and have told her that if she's not sure what she wants to do, that's fine but the best thing to do is do well at school and leave as many options as possible open. That message just isn't working unfortunately!

We're going to get her to have a chat with her cousins (closer to her age group) - some of whom did fairly well in their VCE and some who didn't do so well and are now in their 20s, still living at home and drifting. Hopefully that will give her a few things to think about but at the end of the day, there's only so much you can do isn't there?

I'm quite prepared to give her any assistance possible. I'm not going to do her homework for her (that's just cheating in my book) but I'm happy to guide her where I can. But nor am I going to force her to do homework; she has to have the motivation and self-discipline to do that herself.

It's difficult for me because I was a very high achiever at school despite coming from a household that had no books and parents who encouraged me to watch TV rather than, "having your head stuck in those books." So while I'm willing to encourage and assist, I think of all those other thousands of kids out there who do not have people around them to encourage and assist them. It seems mightily unfair to me that some kids have all the advantages and supportive parents and others don't have any of that but still manage to have the get up and go to do it on their own. I would hate to think that if I spent hours and hours on homework with her she is actually taking away the uni place of some poor kid in a housing commission flat who's just come to Australia and is managing to do their homework unprompted despite sharing a bedroom with three other siblings and missed out on a uni place by a few measly points. Yeah, I know I'm just a bleeding heart. Anyhow, I'm off my own topic and will get off that little soapbox I made for myself now!