Targeted educational support needed for children falling behind

The Widening gaps: What NAPLAN tells us about student progress report released today by the Grattan Institute, proposes a new method of interpreting NAPLAN data and reveals that students from disadvantaged backgrounds fall very far behind students from advantaged backgrounds as they progress through school. 

The report shows that in Year 3, students from disadvantaged backgrounds perform on NAPLAN an average 10 months below students from advantaged backgrounds. This increases to two and a half years by Year 9, meaning the gap has tripled over this time. Even when disadvantaged children are high achievers in Year 3, by the time they reach Year 9 they will be around one year and nine months behind high achievers from advantaged backgrounds. 

The Smith Family’s CEO, Dr Lisa O’Brien, said: “This report reinforces the enormous challenge facing Australia to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged young people as they progress through school. 

“The size of the gap between students from low and high socio-economic backgrounds is large and very concerning.  It is a clear prompt for more effective action by those committed to helping children achieve. 

“Targeted, needs-based school funding is vital if Australia is to improve its educational performance and close the gap between these groups of students, but this is only part of the solution,” Dr O’Brien said. “Of equal importance is making sure funding is spent on initiatives that are proven to work. 

“Australia has a long history of funding educational programs for disadvantaged students, with insufficient attention paid to assessing the impact of these programs on improving students’ outcomes.” 

Using the available evidence about what helps improve student learning outcomes, The Smith Family works with disadvantaged children, their families and schools across Australia to implement effective strategies. This includes working with parents so they can be actively engaged in their child’s learning, and providing long-term support across a young person’s school years. 

“The Smith Family’s Learning for Life program, which currently supports the education of 34,000 disadvantaged children across Australia, is a long-term, effective and highly targeted approach to improving the educational outcomes of disadvantaged young Australians. As the Grattan report recommends, it starts early and provides ongoing support,” Dr O’Brien said. “Our data shows that Learning for Life is helping improve school attendance and school completion rates of highly disadvantaged children and young people.” 

As part of Learning for Life, skill-building programs are delivered at key points in children’s lives to build knowledge and capabilities, such as in literacy, as well as influencing their attitudes to learning which is key to helping young people stay motivated and engaged throughout their school years. 

“Our student2student program, for example, helps primary school children improve their reading with the help of trained peer buddies and our after-school Learning Clubs are a safe, supportive environment where children get help from trained volunteer tutors so they can keep up in the classroom.” 

Dr O’Brien welcomed the release of the Widening gaps: What NAPLAN tells us about student progress report as an important resource for all who are interested in seeing young Australians in need break the cycle of disadvantage. 

“Australia must do better to help all children across the education spectrum to reach their potential. Implementing high-quality targeted programs that are researched, evaluated, and refined over time will make the difference these children need to succeed at school.”

 > Read the full report: The Widening gaps: What NAPLAN tells us about student progress