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Major report paints bleak picture of education outcomes for disadvantaged young Australians

30 October 2013

The country’s largest provider of educational support to disadvantaged young people, The Smith Family, has labelled Australia’s latest report card on educational achievement “depressing reading” and shows the nation has a long way to go to close the gap in performance between children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and their more advantaged peers.

The national charity said the results – contained in the COAG Reform Council’s latest education report – were further evidence of the need for urgent reform and Australia to apply resources more effectively to boost educational outcomes among vulnerable young people.

National results include:

  • Large gaps in achievement between young people from low and high socio-economic backgrounds remain across all levels of testing.
  • Among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, literacy and numeracy did not improve and Years 7 and 9 reading declined (between 2008 and 2012).
  • The gap in Year 12 attainment between young people from low and high socio-economic backgrounds remains close to 20 per cent – similar to 2006’s results.
  • After leaving school, 41.7 per cent of young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds were not fully engaged in work or study, compared to 17.4 per cent among the most advantaged young people – larger than the gap in 2006.
  • Over five years there has been no improvement in school attendance among Aboriginal young people. Among the same group, while Year 3 reading improved, Years 3 and 7 numeracy declined.
  • While Year 12 attainment among Aboriginal young people improved, Aboriginal children are more than twice as likely to be developmentally vulnerable in the skills and attributes needed to begin school than their non-Aboriginal peers.

The Smith Family’s CEO, Dr Lisa O’Brien, said the results painted a bleak picture for anyone interested in Australia’s future.

“Australia’s future prosperity and social cohesion relies on all young people receiving the very best education. From these figures it’s clear that a significant minority of young Australians are missing out,” said Dr O’Brien.

“Stagnant literacy and numeracy achievement among disadvantaged young Australians, very limited improvement in the large gaps in educational performance between this group and their more advantaged peers – it’s a very grim picture.

“If we keep down the path we’re on, more and more young people with poor educational outcomes are likely to experience unemployment and poorer health outcomes in adulthood – and rely more heavily on income support payments – something which will create an additional burden on them, their families and Australia as a whole.

“And many thousands of disadvantaged young people will be unable to find work in Australia’s 21st century economy.

“These are not the sort of results that will deliver opportunities to young Australians – frankly, it makes for depressing reading.

“Looking to turning these results around, we are happy that governments have displayed a bi-partisan commitment to needs-based school funding.

“This is a key starting point for turning around these very concerning results.

“But getting vulnerable young Australians off to the right start isn’t just about arriving at a fairer education funding model – as important as that is.

“It’s about how we spend our educational resources that will ultimately make the difference.

“Recent studies have shown that education funding has increased over the past two decades with limited return in terms of improved literacy and numeracy.

“We recommend governments look to expand on successful school-community partnership models that direct resources to support the retention and achievement of children in education.

“In the communities where we work there are a scarcity of services and opportunities available to children and their families – or they’re not coordinated in a way to get the best results – and this places an undue burden on schools.

“Organisations like The Smith Family have a great deal of experience playing the role of ‘honest broker’ – acting as an independent facilitator between a school community and other local stakeholders – to address issues within disadvantaged schools.

“It’s not only a more efficient use of resources but it’s more effective.

“We run four such school-community partnerships around the country but it’s not nearly enough. There needs to be more of them to have a deeper impact.

“Mentoring and technology should also be used more widely and effectively to reach out to disadvantaged schools and students to improve literacy and numeracy and school retention.

“And finally, with so many school leavers not in any training, further education or work there is clear need to lift our game in preparing disadvantaged young Australians for their future careers.

“At the same time we need to encourage more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to become the first in their family – not only to complete Year 12 – but to go on to higher education.

“We know what works, it’s time to start looking at ways of expanding on the knowledge, expertise and resources available to us to get better educational outcomes for young vulnerable Australians.

“Turning these numbers around is a long-term process, we’re not going to see quick results. But we need to urgently start down the path of addressing the shortcomings of our system and giving vulnerable young Australians the chances they deserve. How long are we going to wait?” said Dr O’Brien.

Media contact: Paul Andrews 0409 665 495