Dr Michele Bruniges will highlight the urgency of ensuring strong socioeconomic diversity in schools in a speech at the SMH Schools Summit today.
Dr Bruniges, an Industry Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, will draw on new research, conducted with the support of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, examining factors that are contributing to clusters of educational disadvantage for Australia’s school children, and she will propose policy reforms to reverse the trend that has accelerated since 2017.
“We know that when children, regardless of where they live, have access to high-quality learning environments, they do better in school and develop knowledge and skills that they use throughout life,” said Dr Bruniges.
“Our whole society benefits, and is stronger when all students have what they need to develop their skills and talents.”
Dr Bruniges’ research reveals an increasing trend in students from disadvantaged backgrounds being clustered in the same schools.
“The reality is our education system does not deliver the same educational opportunities and support for every child.
“In 2017, 17 per cent of Australian schools had more than half of their students in the lowest quartile of socio-educational advantage. By 2023, this had risen to 20 per cent – an additional 284 schools,” said Dr Bruniges.
Nationally there is a disproportionate load of 94 per cent of high concentration schools supported by the Government sector.
“We know that parents want their children’s schools to be representative of the world they want for them; diverse, thriving, and with access to opportunity. To do this, we must rethink how we resource and structure our education system into the future.”
Working with colleagues from all states and territories, and sectors, a number of case studies have identified actions that schools and communities are taking at the local level to make a difference, including:
- Addressing basic needs, such as ensuring all children have access to healthy meals at school.
- Strengthening family engagement in schools to support student learning.
- Providing evidence-based resources to support teaching and learning.
“We need a broader national discussion that explicitly addresses growing educational disadvantage in this country. This is something that all sectors – public, Catholic, and independent – are calling for,” said Dr Bruniges.
This national conversation should include policy reform discussions that focus at the local, state and territory, and national levels. Consideration could include measures such as:
- Adjusting school zoning to challenge the way postcode concentrates both wealth and disadvantage.
- Asking more of schools that receive government funds to open their doors to children from less advantaged backgrounds.
- A default setting for new schools to be comprehensive rather than specialist or selective.
- A clear set of mutual obligations on schools for the receipt of taxpayers’ dollars demonstrating clear public benefit and national interest.
“These are tough conversations to have,” said Dr Bruniges, “but they are necessary. Ensuring that each and every child, regardless of where they live, has access to high-quality learning environments is part of what it takes to prepare young people to participate in their communities and ensure society can benefit from the talents and skills they develop.”
