The Labour Party says secondary schools need to provide school leavers with more practical skills to succeed.
The party has released its Future of Work discussion document on work and training, in which it calls for more focus on skills and knowledge rather than subjects and exams.
One of the paper's suggestions is to make driver licensing part of secondary education or even part of NCEA.
Labour's Grant Robertson said too much emphasis was put on preparing students for university rather than encouraging them to be resilient and adaptable.
"At the moment, only three out of 10 school leavers go on to university. For the other seven out of 10 school leavers, we've got to be preparing them better," he said.
Many jobs required a driving licence, but driver training was not widely provided in schools, he said.
He also said there needed to be a much closer relationship between schools, training providers and businesses to make sure young people were prepared for the world of work.
