Ballarat Grammar students Oscar Booth, Archie Williamson, Claire Mahony, Penelope Beyer and Amber Jones have worked together to investigate how they can bring in new learning topics at school.

Oscar said he wanted to provide students with the opportunity to obtain microcredentials and gain skills that will help them later in life.

"We thought as a group the current school system really doesn't prepare you enough for life outside of school," he said.

Suggested focus areas for learning include driving, how to pay taxes, cooking, cleaning and basic life skills that some young people don't learn with their families.

Other focus areas include safe handling of food and barista skills.

Archie said the project team had done a survey with all Year 9 students in late 2021 and asked for their top five preferences for microcredentials.

Top student requests were for programming, business management and architecture courses.

"The world is changing very quickly and the skills you need to get into a job, there are a lot of skills that are fairly difficult to learn," Oscar said.

"We thought it best to start young. We care a lot because we are the people who will be impacted by it, we are helping our own age group."

"We would like to pave the way for the next generations to get a job more easily and be trained in the skills that are needed in high demand," Archie said.

Ballarat Grammar co-deputy head and head of middle school said he was proud students were empowered and enthusiastic to gain extra credentials while at school.

"As a school we are already undertaking work to support our students to achieve micro credentials, or gain additional skills, knowledge and certification that will support them in the future," he said.

"This will allow students to leave Ballarat Grammar with more than VCE, VCAL or VET certificates.

"We look forward to investigating more of these opportunities for our students as we continue to broaden Ballarat Grammar's educational offering."

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Claire said she hoped their project would have an impact on the education system and helping young people thrive in their transition to adulthood.

The student project was formed as part of the Crazy Ideas College program run at their school in 2021.

The program encourages students to identify a real life issue they are passionate about, come up with solutions and bring them to life.

Amber said she enjoyed working as a group and Archie said they could use their newfound skills in research to help in their own education journeys.

The team said they would like to stay involved in the project by mentoring younger students who may be involved in the microcredential and life skills program and working with the Year 9 coordinator at school.

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