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This report documents the qualitative first stage of a two-stage study designed to analyse what young people are thinking in Australia today. It draws on eight focus group discussions conducted among young people in July 2006. Young people were defined in two cohorts, i.e. those aged 16 to 19 years of age and those aged 20 to 24. The second stage of the study will be quantitative and aims to test and quantify the hypotheses developed in this initial stage. In commissioning the research, the Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF) sought a ‘comprehensive piece of research and investigation into the attitudes and experiences in learning and work of young Australians in mid 2006’, covering issues such as: satisfaction with schooling, and areas of engagement and disengagement; satisfaction with post-school life and the transition from school; the extent to which career plans have been formulated and followed; exposure to the workforce; satisfaction with work, and among part time workers, the extent to which part time work is the right option as opposed to the only option; experiences and feelings among school leavers, teenagers and young adults who are neither in full time employment or full time study; perceptions about the impact of relevant government policies, including industrial relations reforms, education costs and priorities, migration, and career pathways. DSF also requested that the study represent a broad range of young people including teenage and young adult women and men, young people living in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in most mainland states and territories, teenagers at school and out of school, young adults in the main post-school pathways, i.e. further education (TAFE and university), the labour market (apprenticeships/traineeships, work and unemployment), and those not in either. The groups were segmented by age (teenagers and young adults), and by participation in work (part-time and full-time; white-collar and blue-collar), study (full-time and part-time), a combination of these, and by unemployment and those not in the labour force. In terms of their views towards education, the young people surveyed believed it was there to provide you with the skills and knowledge necessary to get a job, at whatever level suited you. On life in the workforce, participants were experienced in finding work and in using the job network system, but they were politically innocent except for an awareness of the recent industrial relations changes.