Our learning support and mentoring programs in 90 Australian communities directly help children in need achieve their goals through education.
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A new Smith Family podcast
The Coronavirus pandemic has brought one of the biggest disruptions to education we’ve ever seen.
Now is the time to support all children to get the best education possible to meet the challenges of the future.
We’re proud to present the stories of the families and young people we partner with, as they join us in this two-part podcast looking at the challenges of poverty and how education offers a lasting solution to the problem.
They are determined to succeed in their education and go on to create better futures for themselves.
As we get our nation back on its feet, we need all young people to have the skills in their education to fully participate in our society as we rebuild.
"In Breaking Poverty I was privileged to meet young people who see higher education as a means of transforming the lives and their communities."Adam Shand, Host of Breaking Poverty
Read more Listen to Breaking Poverty here
Breaking Poverty - Trailer
Episode 1. Left Behind
Australia's youth is increasingly disadvantaged, despite a promise to end child poverty by 1990. The reality of increased poverty in Australia has placed learning for thousands of children more at risk.
Breaking Poverty episode one
Breaking Poverty
Episode 1. Left Behind
A PodcastOne production.
Adam Shand: Welcome to Breaking Poverty, I'm Adam Shand. Australians have been talking about breaking the cycle of child poverty for a long time. Remember Bob Hawke's infamous promise of June 1987.
Bob Hawke: By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty.
Adam Shand: Three years later, the promise was unfulfilled, up to half a million children were living in poverty. Roll forward to 2020, and the situation is much worse. There are now one in six young Australians living below the poverty line. The data shows we're doing worse than most other wealthy countries. And this, after the greatest period of wealth creation in our history. As we became richer, more families were left behind. Now, following the coronavirus pandemic Australia is in recession. Years of low growth and rising poverty are ahead as we adjust to a changing world economy. To compete in the global marketplace, Australia must invest in new skills that require higher levels of education than ever before. The challenge is to create equity in our society while offering strong financial incentives for staying in school.
Adam Shand: The goal is tertiary education or an equivalent VET trade qualification for all that want it. During the last global downturn in 2008, income for tertiary graduates in the OECD continued to grow, contributing more than half a percentage point to GDP as economies contracted by 4% on average. So where does this national goal of educational attainment begin, especially in a post-pandemic world?
Anne Hampshire: Adam, before COVID-19, there were 1.2 million Australian children and young people living in poverty.
Adam Shand: Anne Hampshire is Head of Research and Advocacy at The Smith Family.
Anne Hampshire: I think when we talk with the broader community about that number, they're pretty shocked and horrified because they don't, many times, understand the size of poverty. And I think what we're likely to see because of COVID-19 is two things, more families, more children, more young people in poverty. But I hope one of the, in a sense, positive upsides of COVID, if there can be one, is that there'll be a deeper understanding across the community about poverty, about why it happens, about how we're all potentially just one step away from being in poverty. And so that there'll be a more collective community response to saying, particularly around child poverty. It's not right. It's not good. It does matter to us as a nation. And more importantly I think that it is solvable if we work together.
Adam Shand: It's early morning and in homes across Australia, the daily ritual begins. Getting kids ready for the day, making lunches, checking homework, and ensuring that all the needs and commitments of the day are met.
Vanessa: I tell you Adam, it's absolute bedlam, because they all want my attention all at once.
Adam Shand: At a time when she should be in retirement, Vanessa is raising her four grandchildren single-handedly on Queensland's Gold Coast. It's called a grand family and a growing number of children are being raised in this manner.
Vanessa: So we've got the first one who is Chevrolet. She is a little girl and she's seven. Then I have Shelby, and he's a little gentleman and he will be nine. Then I have Mercedes and she is 12, female. And then I have Lexus who is Year nine and female.
Adam Shand: Yes. All of Vanessa's grandchildren are named after luxury automobiles. Her own transport is much more modest.
Vanessa: It's nowhere near any other cars I just mentioned to you Adam, it's a Hyundai, 1998 Hyundai.
Adam Shand: It's a daily struggle to meet the kids' needs. But one commodity this household is not short of is love.
Vanessa: I'm quite a big nanny. So I'm sure I can spread my love around to all of them, but they all want me at once, and it's when they're waking up. Because as soon as they're up, it's time to get dressed for school. I give them all the love that I can show towards them. So it's a cuddle time in the morning. They want to have all their cuddles. And they also want to know that, yes, they are going to have a good day at school today. And yes, I am going to make them a good lunch. And I'm also going to make their breakfast before they go. So that's not that they never ever go hungry, but it's always one of the first things that they are asking, you've got to feed the body to feed the brain so they can learn well at school. So, that's the beginning of my day.
Adam Shand: The COVID pandemic hasn't changed much in Vanessa's family, for which she's grateful. She and the kids have long known how to make do with less.
Vanessa: Yeah, it was having a roof over my head, having electric and having food in the cupboard. COVID doesn't impact on us that way, where a lot of people are doing it rough. I'm on a pension. And I get not quite a 1,000 dollars a fortnight and 800 dollars of that is rent, not counting any power or food. But I've shopped at the cheapest places that I can get. Hence my grandchildren always have the best that they can to take to school for their lunches and their meals.
Adam Shand: On Vanessa's budget. Educating the kids is beyond her means. The Smith Family has been supporting this family for the past three years under the Learning for Life program. Vanessa hovers just above the poverty line, and so raising four kids has been a struggle. She couldn't even buy the kids new clothes. Since then, The Smith Family has been supporting Vanessa's family with uniforms, school books, fees, tutoring, and extracurricular activities.
Vanessa: But you know, I'm just so proud. I'm just so happy that I have Smith Family in my life and in the lives of my grandchildren. I'm just so proud because you know, as a grandmother trying to struggle bringing up the four grandkids, it has been a trial and many times I'm just pray, scream out to the Lord that I need help in, along comes Smith Family.
Adam Shand: It's been tough for Vanessa, but her aspiration for the kids is the same as any parent.
Vanessa: Mercedes always wanted to be a doctor. And she has been striving to make those steps towards becoming a doctor. Lexus always wanted to be in the modelling industry. And then Shelby wants to be a firey or a policeman. And then little Chevrolet is wanting to be a nurse. And it hasn't changed. Over the last few years they've been with Smith Family it still hasn't changed and they still really want to see their dreams realized and becoming what they have been hoping for all their lives that they'll be able to achieve.
Adam Shand: The digital divide has been a daunting challenge for Vanessa's family, as it is for every disadvantaged family, especially since COVID has meant home learning this year. The Smith Family has helped the family get online, connecting them with schemes like Optus' Donate your Data, which has provided them with SIM cards and internet. Crucially Suncorp has provided a laptop computer.
Vanessa: So back when we had the total lockdown for COVID-19 and the children were doing their homework from home, ah, I'll tell you, Adam. I was just about going around the bend and that's honestly straight up because there was no way that I could even attempt to look at one of the children because I only had a little mobile cell phone. That's the only device that I had to try and access these programs for the children. Sometimes I was in tears because the kids are wanting to go on to ah different programs but because it starts from high school right down to the earlier years and primary school it was really hard to try to see how are we going to do this on this phone? But luckily I was stopped dead and donated a laptop where it made my life and especially the children's life so much happier in their whole home schooling. It was just absolutely phenomenal about all the help and support that I had during that lockdown. And we are still continuing using that laptop to this day.
Adam Shand: Where once they struggled to keep pace with their peers at school, the four children are making steady progress towards their goals.
Vanessa: I'm waiting for the end of term three reports coming back, the reports have been really good.
Adam Shand: This is a classic example of education's role in breaking poverty. From dire poverty and disadvantage, Vanessa's family can see a future. And this from a donation of $52 a month for each child from their sponsors. Like so many parents, Vanessa needs a hand up, not a handout. To me it seems like an excellent investment towards self-sufficiency and self-confidence.
Vanessa: Oh, it's like the smile would never ... The big smile that's on there because the children, they go off skipping off to school, they got a good lunch, backpack. They got the shoes, the socks, the proper uniform, even so much right down to the hair ties because the girls all got long hair. So then when they get off to school, they're even now taking somebody experiencing hardship at school, I'll make a little bit more lunch so they can give it to the other child that hasn't got any.
Adam Shand: The Chief Executive of The Smith Family, Dr Lisa O'Brien, says that assisting individual families makes a significant impact on our economy overall. Give our kids equal access, make them feel included, and the students will do the rest.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: So we know that kids, it's really important to them to feel that they fit in, that they have the things that they need when they go off to school. So not having the books or the uniform or the money for the excursion. It has a really tangible impact on these kids. You know, ultimately it affects their self-esteem and that in turn, affects their motivation and their engagement with their learning. So the way in which we support these families through our Learning for Life program, one of the key elements is that we provide some financial support directly to the family. And that money has to be spent on educational essential items, including books, uniforms, sometimes also equipment like a laptop and money for excursions. And so, we want these kids to feel like they fit in and they belong at school because we know that that improves their engagement with their education.
Adam Shand: Every parent, rich or poor, city or country, wants the same things for their children, the same aspirations.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: That's exactly right, Adam. Look the families we work with, they want the best for their children. But in many cases they struggle to provide that. So we partner with them around their child's education and trying to help them ensure that their child has the things that they need in order to really succeed at school.
Adam Shand: We also see an archetype in the media, the single mother who might be on welfare. And she is so quickly demonized as being different. How often do you see that in the people that you work with, that all they're looking for is someone to give them a fair go and to treat them like everybody else?
Dr Lisa O'Brien: Look, I think that would be the majority of families that we work with. And they're either single parents and can be a mother or a father who are single parenting. Sometimes it's also a grandparent or other family member caring for the child on their own. And these individuals who are really struggling, they absolutely want the best for that child. And I often think how fragile life is. When I meet these families, and I hear their stories, you know, it just can be one or two random events that can push people into poverty, where they actually need to turn to others for support.
Adam Shand: Australia as a nation has worked hard to soften the impact of COVID-19 on our economy, but life for all of us is changing.
Dr Keith Suter: Well, I'm glad I'm living in Australia. So if you cast your mind back to the 2008 financial crisis, the Reserve Bank in Australia said to the then Australian government, "Go hard, go early, go household." In other words, start getting money out into the pockets of people at the household level and do it quickly. And that was what saved Australia. You know Australia did not have a recession in 2008. All other western countries had financial problems. We were the wonder down under. We've had the longest consecutive period of economic growth in the history of the western world. The records begin in 1750.
Adam Shand: Dr Keith Suter is one of Australia's leading economic historians and academics. He says Australia must invest in the so-called knowledge sector to secure our future. If we don't invest, living standards for all Australians will fall as we miss out on participating in new industries post COVID.
Dr Keith Suter: We simply do not pay enough attention to boosting research and development in this country. We're already putting far more money into science research. You know, the cochlear implant is a brilliant scheme, but it's pretty rare. And so what we ought to be doing is putting more money into that area. The same with education, I'd get rid of all these student loans. I'd go onto the patent that you see in Germany and Scandinavia where education is free and just focus far more on that type of education. There will be other tragedies coming down the turnpike as the Americans would say.
Adam Shand: Now let's talk about resilience.
Fahad Khan: So my name is Fahad Khan. I'm currently a first year medical student at Western Sydney University, and yes, I'm spending a lot of time studying and I'm also spending a lot of time on doing some social media stuff. So just keep myself busy during COVID-19 lockdown.
Adam Shand: Fahad Khan is a good example of Dr Keith Suter's point about the return on investing in education. He grew up in Mount Druitt, one of the most disadvantaged areas of Western Sydney in a single parent family. He's been supported by The Smith Family since 2010, when he was in primary school, up until the end of his first degree. His mother raised Fahad and his siblings by herself and pushed them to get a good education. Fahad has a degree in Neuroscience from the University of New South Wales, and now is in the first year of med school. Fahad and his siblings have been inspired by their humble background and shared struggles.
Fahad Khan: I've got two older brothers and one younger sister. So there's four of us. So my oldest brother he's working at Water NSW and he does things like site visits. My second older brother, he graduated a medical science degree and he's doing an online business. And my younger sister, she's in Year 11. She wants to do a few things. She's not a 100 per cent sure, but I guess psychology was interesting. And dentistry is interesting to her as well.
Adam Shand: The achievements of Fahad and his siblings have helped the family make a definitive break with poverty. According to the World Bank workers with tertiary education earn up to 84 per cent higher wages than those with no post-secondary education. Australia is one of the best places in the world for graduate earnings. Fahad's family is no different to many others of the same background. The difference being a mindset, not to accept the notion of being poor.
Fahad Khan: I don't think it did because we never knew what anything else is like. So for us, we lived in a housing commission unit for basically most of our life, but for the first 10 years, we were in a housing unit in Auburn and everyone we knew in the unit obviously was in the same boat. Our school was pretty much in the same boat because we had a lot of refugees. I think we had, our primary school speaking 49 languages. So we had a lot of people from overseas coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. People who are much worse off than me. And I do specifically remember one time where someone said, "Oh, I was one of the more fortunate ones in my primary school." So I think from that perspective I never thought that I was missing out on anything. I didn't feel like I was living in poverty. I felt like I was one of the lucky ones.
Fahad Khan: And I remember things like McDonald's, I didn't actually eat McDonald's until I was much older because we could never afford it. And I remember the first time we ever did, I felt like I was the luckiest person in my whole school because no one could really have that. So I guess from that perspective, if you take that into consideration, because I never knew anyone out of that context, I felt like I wasn't living in any real hardship. I thought I had it easy.
Adam Shand: We all need role models to boost our confidence in the future. And for Fahad it was his Mum.
Fahad Khan: Yeah, 100 per cent. That's my Mum. So in our family, we didn't really have any people who went past say Year 10 education. It was always doing very manual labour work, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it was just that that seems like the only thing we could do, but my Mum was the one to go to university with four kids. She did it slowly and she graduated and that made us believe that we could also achieve. And we were more than just what our family was, we would go on to university and do great things too. So it definitely was my Mum.
Adam Shand: Getting tertiary qualifications is an insurance policy against hard times for Fahad. In the last global downturn, tertiary graduates maintained their income and spending better than non-graduates, adding up to half a percentage point in GDP. Recessions hit young people disproportionately hard, and the COVID recession will be the same. Dr Lisa O'Brien.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: Look, I think you're absolutely right, Adam. I mean, I've been passionate about all young people having the opportunity to succeed in life and create a great future for themselves, but you're absolutely right. But the challenge that we're going to face over the next 10 years at least as we get our nation back on its feet, we need all young people to have the skills and the education to fully participate in our society as we rebuild.
Adam Shand: Because that couple of extra years at school we know from great studies around the world has a tremendous effect on individuals, but also the progress of nations towards building literate, appropriate workforces in a changing environment. Because right now we've never seen such a period of change. So that really places a lot of emphasis or demand on the education system and how we process people out of it, not just leave them behind.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: That is correct. And one of the studies was done by the Mitchell Institute that conservatively estimated that every student who doesn't complete Year 12 in Australia, costs us a million dollars. And there are far too many kids who aren't going on to complete Year 12 or equivalent. And part of the reason it's so important as you said, is we know that young people who've completed to Year 12, they have more of the skills required to respond to changes in the labour market that they can adapt and they can develop new skills because they have a strong foundation to build on.
Adam Shand: In part two of Breaking Poverty we'll examine how critical education, especially tertiary is for the future of nations. However, we face a possible poverty crisis just ahead as our economy comes off life support, post COVID. Investing in education will be a pressing community priority.
Episode 2. Breaking Poverty
With some assistance, young Australians of all backgrounds are overcoming disadvantage to achieve their educational goals which can give them, their families and the nation a positive future.
Breaking Poverty episode two
Breaking Poverty
Episode 2. Breaking Poverty
A Podcast One production.
Adam Shand: Welcome to part two of Breaking Poverty. I'm Adam Shand. If you think Australia as a nation has been spared the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, you're right. So far government spending on stimulus and social welfare has actually outweighed the economic cost to this country. However, a crunch is coming. Eventually the COVID-19 income support programs will come to an end, punching a $31 billion hole in the national economy. That's 1 per cent of Australia's GDP. We could lose the equivalent of 145,000 full-time jobs by 2022. Ironically, as we lose these jobs, there'll be demand for new skills in traditional and sunrise industries.
Adam Shand: Australia already has a skills shortage, but we face the prospect of importing workers with critical skills through targeted immigration. These are jobs that should be filled by Australian workers, but we must invest in those skills now, if we are to remain globally competitive while breaking a self-defeating cycle of poverty. Government can only do so much, charities like The Smith Family and the sponsors of children will have to close this poverty gap. Dr Lisa O'Brien is chief executive of The Smith Family.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: Adam, The Smith Family has been working with disadvantaged kids for nearly 100 years. And so, it's work that has been at the core of our mission for a long time. But sadly, over these last few months, firstly, with the bush fires and now with the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for our work is just even greater.
Adam Shand: We're seeing a middle class that's exposed, they're living on their next pay cheque. They don't have savings. And in the coming months, there's going to be a lot more people who are going to turn around and say, "I can't afford the mortgage. I can't afford the rent, and what happens to my children in that scenario?" Are you expecting a greater influx, a greater need for your services?
Dr Lisa O'Brien: Yes, I think that's very likely that we're going to see that in the future. Certainly, already we're seeing rising unemployment and I think there's probably significant underemployment as well. So, it's hard to really assess what the extent of the economic downturn and recession is going to be, but I imagine it will result in greater demand for the kinds of support that we provide, yes. Families access our services through the schools that their child attends, so we work in 91 communities’ right across the country and in those communities we form partnerships with schools. So, we've got 700 partner schools.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: And so, when we have additional funds available for our Learning for Life scholarship, we'll go to those schools and they'll help us to identify families who might benefit from the kind of support that we provide. So, we're already anecdotally hearing from those communities and schools that there is greater need.
Adam Shand: What is the criteria that you apply to these scholarships?
Dr Lisa O'Brien: So, these are all disadvantaged families, they're all low income families. We generally assess that level of disadvantage because the family is in receipt of a Health Benefit Card or Pensioner Concession Card. And the sorts of families that we support, as I said, they're low income, many single parent families, often there's a health or disability in the family. So, we know that 40% of the students we support and 50% of the parents identify as having a health or a disability issue. We also support a very large number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. So, we have about 20% of the 56,000 kids we're currently supporting on that program are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
Adam Shand: Because, I guess, in earlier generations, government did a lot of this. Government was much more present in our lives. And what we've seen in recent years is that safety net in welfare be whittled away.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: Look, I think the issues of poverty in our society are incredibly complex, and as I've said, there's only one or two random events might sit between you and I and finding ourselves in those circumstances. But the solution to these issues is complex and yes, absolutely government has a role to play, but I believe the broader community does as well. Whether that's people who are volunteering, people who want to sponsor a child, a corporate partner who wants to provide some career opportunity and work experience for a young person who's struggling. I think we all have a role to play in helping our young people, our young Australians, to get the opportunity they need to succeed because ultimately, I mean, we all benefit if they do. So yes, government has a role to play, but I think there's a broader responsibility.
Adam Shand: One of the key elements of intergenerational poverty is an absence of positive role models from which young people can build hope and a plan for their future.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: In many communities where we work, there are very high levels of long-term unemployment. So, these kids grow up, many of them not having had a role model in regular employment. So, the parent in the household, for whatever reason, as I said, often it's something like a health or disability issue, as much as it being a single parent caring for the family. So, they're not seeing that role modelling of going to work each day and what long-term employment looks like. And so, that affects that child's sense of what's possible for them, but also narrows down their world around, "Well, what do I want to be when I grow up?"
Adam Shand: Visualizing success is critical to lifting individuals out of poverty.
Kaia Lui: So, I am currently finishing off my Bachelor of Commerce at Griffith University and then I'm most likely going to do a graduate program in accounting, and then either do a post-graduate in law or engineering.
Adam Shand: Kaia Lui grew up in Cairns, but she was born on Darnley Island in the Torres Strait and that's where her heart is. She's the oldest of four children. She went to school and lived on the mainland, but the family would head back to their island home whenever they could. This was an idyllic childhood. She grew up fishing, diving and swimming, learning her culture. Kaia's great-grandmother taught her to weave in the traditional way with coconut leaves, a skill that she's passing down to the next generation. She came from a hardworking family, but we're all a few steps away from poverty. Kaia's mother was diagnosed with a heart valve condition when Kaia was in primary school, which limited her mother's ability to work. Her father wanted to stay at home and help, but had to work himself. The family have struggled financially during this time and that's when The Smith Family came into their lives.
Kaia Lui: We would have been in primary school, my Mum signed us up for it. We just needed a little bit of help with buying some stuff for school. And I knew she was struggling, so it was just a big help then.
Adam Shand: Kaia is the first in her family to have a tertiary education. She studied commerce and has a six year plan to get a Master's of Business and another post-grad degree in engineering or law. Engineering, because her dad works in construction, and law because she did an internship through The Smith Family's School of Opportunity, at a law firm. She's also done internships with CareerTrackers and Skills360. She would have been on an internship in Barcelona, Spain this year, but COVID-19 put paid to that. Her sponsors have been with Kaia on every step.
Kaia Lui: Yes it is. Without them doing what they have, I don't think many of us would push to what we want to do. We'd most likely just stick to normal jobs, staying in our comfort zones, instead of travelling and moving away from the city.
Adam Shand: Disadvantage among Indigenous Australians is a national disgrace. There's a 25 per cent gap in year 12 completion between Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people. Last year, the Coalition government boasted that under its watch, the number of Indigenous people in tertiary study had risen by 32 per cent. It sounds impressive until you note, the total number of students is less than 20,000, representing just 4 per cent of Indigenous Australia. The improvement is welcome, but we still seem to be grossly underachieving. Kaia has cleared many hurdles on her tertiary journey.
Kaia Lui: It was really hard for me to move away from Cairns because my family struggled a lot financially, especially because I was working before I moved down to Brisbane to study. But how I look at it in the long-term is that if I do this studying now, I can do the job I want and make the money I want, just to help my family out a lot.
Adam Shand: She's walking her own path, but there's no doubt Kaia is a trailblazer and pioneer for others.
Kaia Lui: Yes. That's what many people say, but I don't really see it like that. I don't really know how I see it. I just do what I do. I'm the oldest of four, so I've got another three after me. They don't really say much, but I hope they look up to me. My little sister graduates this year, so she is supposed to come down for uni as well and study aerospace or something like that. I've always been like a second mother to everyone. So, I've sort of just grown up looking after them and making sure they're all right. If they ever need anything, I'm always there for them.
Adam Shand: Kaia says she would never have gotten through high school without the support of her loved ones and her Family Partnership Coordinator. It's been a tough year for Kaia and her family. She and her partner, who's also from the Torres Strait, move to his family's island. She's been trying to study there and although there is 4G, there's only one tower, so downloading lectures is hard. Kaia worries about her Mum's health and her sister had to give up work shifts in retail, over fear of getting the virus.
Kaia Lui: Oh, the support's amazing. The person who looks after me, my coordinator Josh, he's been really helpful. He calls up probably every month, every couple of months, just to check on me, make sure everything's all right, if I need a hand.
Adam Shand: Dr Lisa O'Brien says early intervention and continued support enables Indigenous students like Kaia to succeed.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: We have over 10,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who are on our Learning for Life program and like the other students, we'll start supporting those kids from an early age in primary school, usually in the first or second year in primary school. And we really focus in, first and foremost, on school attendance, making sure that they're attending school regularly. We track our outcomes and we know that the Aboriginal kids that we support are attending school at a higher rate than their peers who are not on the program. We also know that with the long-term support, they're more likely to finish year 12 and they're also more likely to go on into further study or employment. We know that four out of five of our students are in long-term employment or study after exiting from the program.
Adam Shand: It's easy to be despondent about disadvantage, but when Australians of all backgrounds apply themselves to education, the results are apparent.
Dr Lisa O'Brien: It's almost like all boats rise, in a community where there's higher levels of educational engagement, more kids are completing school and going on to further study, they create role models for the cohort who are coming behind. And so, that community building aspect of education is really vital to what we do.
Christine Cawsey: So, my name's Christine Cawsey, I'm the principal of Rooty Hill High School, a large comprehensive school in Western Sydney. And I've been here for just over 20 years and I've had the privilege of being a member of The Smith Family board since 2013. We sometimes underestimate how well our education system actually works. There's a bit of a myth that we're somehow failing in Australia, but in fact, the majority of our children go on to have quite successful lives. I can't speak yet post-COVID, but up until now, the majority of children who were able to stay at school, the majority of students who were able to attend school regularly, the majority of students who were able to participate in learning, were successful at school.
Christine Cawsey: Perhaps not as successful on some of the measures that you see in the front pages of the papers like ATAR or NAPLAN, but in where they went in their post-school destinations. And Australia has a very, very good record of where young people are at age 25 when intervention has happened early and when it has continued through to support them in the transition from school at the end of Year 10, 11, or 12, depending on what career pathway they're headed to.
Adam Shand: Breaking poverty means ensuring that education is fit for purpose and can provide a vocational pathway for meaningful participation in our economy.
Christine Cawsey: We haven't really thought about education as an investment, we've often thought about it as a cost, and increasingly where you live and where you go to school makes a difference. There was a period in this country, quite a long period, nearly 20 years between the '90s and the mid-2000s, where the difference between student growth and performance was greater within a school than between schools. In more recent years that's shifted. But schools can't do it alone and sometimes having someone else there to walk with them, there are a number of not-for-profits who do excellent work in supporting young people with the interface between school and the home.
Emily Fioramonte: Honestly, when I got receipt of The Smith Family scholarship, I genuinely believe that that was a moment I felt like I'd broken the cycle of poverty because I thought, "No matter what happens from here, I know that I'm going to have financial security in my life." And that was the first time in my life I've ever felt like that.
Adam Shand: Emily Fioramonte grew up in a single-parent home below the poverty line in Melbourne. There was no shortage of love or even opportunity, but Emily had to overcome her own self-doubt.
Emily Fioramonte: I grew up with supportive parents who would say, "You can achieve whatever you set out to, you just have to work hard," but it wasn't until I got a little bit older in high school that I started to have deep self-doubt. And I wasn't surrounded by people who were working in necessarily industries where you need expertise or higher education. So, that's when I started having more affected thoughts about what I could do with my future. I don't remember thinking, "We're poor and I won't make it," but it was more a subconscious knowledge that people in your position do not end up with the big jobs and do not end up with a better off life. It was definitely a subconscious knowledge.
Adam Shand: Emily had been receiving support from grade four, but this self-doubt followed her through high school, and in Year 11, she almost sabotaged her own chance at success.
Emily Fioramonte: I didn't care about education. I didn't see myself going to uni. I was like, that's not for me. But I feel that the turning point was, I had to hit that rock bottom of personal things that were going on, both in my home and in my personal life that I realized that some kind of change needed to happen. I was in one of those positions where it's literally path A and you can get back on track or path B and you're going to screw your life up. So, I was facing expulsion from the school, they asked me to leave. I was on behavioural contracts. And then, when I was in Year 11, I sat an English exam, one of those mid-term tests that you sit in VCE. And I did really surprisingly well and I hadn't prepared for it because I was pretty naughty at that stage. And I realized that was how far I could go without putting in the hard runs.
Adam Shand: Colleen Martin is a Family Partnership Coordinator with The Smith Family. Her role is to provide support to sponsored children, to keep them on track.
Colleen Martin: What I see over and over again is that young people actually kind of catch that moment when they realise that financial disadvantage or hardship that challenges families, and even difficult years at school, when you have someone believing in you, like The Smith Family and their sponsor, it changes the way a young person feels about themselves and what's possible for them. And I see that over and over again. And that's one of the reasons why I'm here actually, just to support young people's educational journey, to support them, to see that they can dream and to see them achieving those dreams.
Adam Shand: Once she cast off her negative mindset, Emily hasn't looked back. This journey culminated in a Commonwealth supported place at Melbourne University, where she's now studying for a post-grad law degree.
Emily Fioramonte: And then I opened the email and I was home alone, yeah, it said, "Congratulations, you've got a place." And I just dropped to my knees. I was crying. I didn't think that I would especially get the Commonwealth supported place, which basically means they cover a large portion of the fees and you don't have to pay anything upfront. That was a true miracle. I was really stressed. So yeah, that was a very joyful moment for me. Yeah.
Adam Shand: Emily has plans to become a human rights lawyer when she graduates.
Emily Fioramonte: Well, wherever I end up, I know that I want a significant portion of what I do to contribute to removing barriers of access to justice, and helping to achieve structural equality for people who just are currently marginalized or their voices just aren't being heard by the government. So, that's something I'd love to work on in five years’ time, and even right now.
Adam Shand: Giving something back to community is a priority for all the students I spoke to. As we've seen, individuals who stay the course in education and achieve financial security will help break the poverty cycle in this country.
Vanessa: So, for all these people that have, or looking at being a sponsor, please, please, because you're hearing from a grateful grandmother, that without the help of these people, that my grandchildren wouldn't have had the opportunities to go forward to excel at higher education. And if that's something that somebody out there really wants to help with in getting these young Australians, these children, to be everything that they dreamed of, dreams are not unattainable, nothing is insurmountable.
Fahad: If I could go back in a time machine and go back to when I was born, I would never choose coming from any background rather than disadvantaged, because I think that disadvantage gave me resilience. It gave me resourcefulness. So, I feel that if you're from a disadvantaged background, you should wear that as a badge of, I don't know, honour, because that shows that you can go through hardships and still end up coming out the other end with a smile on your face. So, it's something that instead of feeling negative about, that you should be very proud of yourself for being from a disadvantaged background.
Adam Shand: This has been just a taste of the positive effect of education on breaking poverty. Unfortunately, government handouts will not be enough. It falls to us in the community to help support organizations like The Smith Family, who have a proven track record of success in using the power of education to help break poverty once and for all.
Podcast interviewees
In our family, we didn't really have any people who went past say Year 10 education. It was always doing very manual labour work, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it was just that that seems like the only thing we could do.
The children, they go skipping off to school, they’ve got a good lunch, backpack. They’ve got the shoes, the socks, the proper uniform.
I opened the email and I was home alone, yeah, it said, "Congratulations, you've got a place." And I just dropped to my knees. I was crying.
It was really hard for me to move away. But how I look at it in the long-term is that if I do this studying now, I can do the job I want and make the money I want, just to help my family out a lot.
