This paper attempts to distil lessons from international developments in the transition from education to work for the current debate on VET in schools in Australia. It draws mainly on the OECD's current review of the education-to-work transition process in Member countries. The first part of the paper provides some background on the OECD review. In the second section, key findings from the OECD project are presented and their implications for Australia discussed. The overall conclusion from the OECD review is that improving young people's transition from education to work requires policy coherence across a wide range of policy fronts - education and training, the labour market, and social welfare. In terms of education policy, the key requirement is to prevent failure at school and to develop the knowledge, skills and motivation for lifelong learning. However, improving participation and success in education are not, on their own, sufficient for overcoming youth unemployment and other problems in the transition to work and adult life. The reality is that supply-side changes to the youth labour market, such as are being attempted through VET in schools, can only go so far.