Mind the Gap: Understanding the Indigenous education gap and how to close it
Mind the Gap: Understanding the Indigenous education gap and how to close it
Research Report
- Author(s): Fahey, Glenn
- Tertiary Author(s): Centre for Independent Studies
- Published: 2021
Abstract: Indigenous educational disadvantage — compounded by complex and interrelated social, health, and employment outcomes — remains among the most pressing and persistent public policy challenges in Australia. By school-leaving age, the average Indigenous Australian student is around two and a half years behind the average non-Indigenous one — with achievement levels more comparable to developing nation school systems than those of the wider Australian population.1 This severely limits the future educational and employment opportunities of these young learners, condemning many to prolonged economic and social disadvantage. Truly ‘closing this gap’ is a moral, educational, and economic imperative. Dispiritingly poor education outcomes persist despite the best of intentions, considerable investment of resources, and countless programmes and policymaker initiatives.The bipartisan and intergovernmental commitment to ‘Closing the Gap’, spanning more than a decade, has done little to move the needle in education outcomes — meaning much work remains to address Indigenous educational disadvantage.
- Urls: https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2021/06/rr41.pdf
- Publisher Location: Sydney