Looking for your tax receipt? Annual tax receipts are now available via My Smith Family.

Our Programs
- Literacy programs
  Providing resources and support to help children living with disadvantage achieve the required reading standard.
- Technology programs
  Providing children and young people living with disadvantage with the critical skills, access, and equipment they need.
- Numeracy programs
  We support early years educators and community professionals in building foundational math skills in children under their care.
- Learning for Life
  Learning for Life is an innovative, evidence-based program that supports students throughout their education to achieve positive long-term outcomes for young people experiencing disadvantage.
- Mentoring programs
  Mentoring programs for students living with disadvantage that provide the encouragement they need to build aspirations for their future.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs
  Our work engages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in learning through education, life skills and role models, promoting culturally responsive practice.
Our learning support and mentoring programs in 90 Australian communities directly help children in need achieve their goals through education.
View all programs
Get Involved
- Ways to fundraise
  Learn about fundraising and give back to the community with The Smith Family.
- Volunteer with us
  Share your skills to help Australian children in need transform their lives through education.
- Corporate partnerships
  Corporate partnerships give young Australians in need the chance to change their futures through educational support. Discover how you can join forces with The Smith Family to create a mutually-beneficial, impactful partnership.
- Careers
  We aim to provide a working environment where staff and volunteers have the opportunity to grow both personally and professionally.
- Events
  Participate in events and activities that support young Australians experiencing disadvantage.
- VIEW Clubs of Australia
  Learn about VIEW, a leading women’s volunteer organisation and support network with over 13,000 members, across Australia.
Ways to Give
- Sponsor a child
  Through child sponsorship, you will be matched to an Australian child in need, helping to support the cost of their school essentials.
- A gift in your will
  Ensure that future generations of Australian children have the support they need to make the most of their education.
- Monthly donation
  Become a monthly donor and provide continual support throughout all stages of a child’s education.
- Philanthropic giving
  Through your philanthropy, you can ensure that young Australians impacted by poverty get the education that all children deserve.
- Single donation
  Your donation will help young Australians in need by providing access to our Learning for Life education support programs.
- Workplace giving
  Making small, regular donations to The Smith Family through Workplace Giving is an easy way to help change the lives of young Australians living in poverty.
Login
Child Sponsorship
Donate now

Leslie Loble: AI and the future of education

As AI becomes a universal technology – and it will, it will become as universal as electricity – the real question that surrounds it is, are we shaping it? Is it a technology that will be useful? Is it serving the purposes we want? ... It's got to be education first and technology second.

Professor Leslie Loble AM, education leader, reformer, strategist and expert

Artificial intelligence and technology are transforming education faster than ever.

In this episode, Professor Leslie Loble AM, chair of the Australian Network for Quality Digital Education, and The Smith Family’s CEO, Doug Taylor, explore its promises and pitfalls. They discuss how AI and edtech could boost learning, personalise support and help scale tutoring – changing how education reaches students.

But there’s a flip side. While AI holds great potential to close learning gaps, it also risks deepening inequality if access and design aren’t carefully managed through policy and practice.

Drawing on real-world examples and sharp, practical insights, Leslie offers a grounded yet optimistic roadmap to ensure this tech revolution benefits all students – not just a lucky few.

"We are at risk of leaving disadvantaged schools and students behind," says Leslie, who spent two decades as Deputy Secretary of the NSW Department of Education and is now Industry Professor at UTS’s Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. "Already we see better-off households and schools able to take the best tools and use them very effectively."

Conversation highlights

Leslie talks to Doug about:

[1:36] Her most memorable education moment
[3:40] The real questions we should be asking about AI, tech and education
[7:25] The potential benefits for students experiencing disadvantage
[10:57] The biggest risks – including widening digital inequity
[15:03] The most important thing we can do to prepare young people for a changing future
[17:10] What a Digital Equity Learning Guarantee is – and why Australia needs one

Watch the full conversation below or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Popular Searches

Leslie Loble: AI and the future of education

Conversation highlights

Read more stories

Meet some Saints helping at Learning Club

student2student

The incredible power of a sponsor's kind words

Leslie Loble: AI and the future of education

Conversation highlights​

Read more stories

Meet some Saints helping at Learning Club

student2student

The incredible power of a sponsor's kind words

Conversation highlights