Doug Taylor | How we can better prepare students for challenges ahead

I got the sense that despite the many fantastic achievements, there is a sense of relief for many students, parents and teachers who have faced yet another incredibly challenging year.

While there have been challenges for all students, some of the biggest impacts have been on young people experiencing disadvantage. And as students need more support than ever, schools and teachers are facing unprecedented challenges of their own.

At The Smith Family, we've been hearing from the schools we work with that issues such as COVID fatigue and staff shortages are taking an immense toll. Just recently, one of our partner schools reported having 20-40 teachers absent from a core teaching team of 150 on any given day.

Without enough teachers at school, some students are struggling to re-engage and catch up after many months of school closures. Others are switching off altogether, choosing to leave school early, which can limit their future career options.

The latest NAPLAN results confirm what we're seeing and hearing in our work. While students overall are generally faring better than expected after COVID, that's not the case for students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, who face long-standing educational gaps and are falling further behind.

Parents and carers have shared some insights around why their children are struggling, in a national survey of almost 2,000 families supported by The Smith Family. Around four in 10 respondents said that school had been "hard" or "very hard" for their children this year, due to an array of issues children are facing in their learning, such as struggling academically, socially or with motivation for school, as well as disability and medical issues (for both children and parents) and the disruption of COVID.

Financial pressures were also raised as a major concern. In fact, almost two-thirds of those surveyed said they found it harder to afford all of the things their children needed for school this year, with more than half saying this was due to the rising cost of everyday expenses such as groceries, food and petrol.

With the impacts of COVID expected to continue for years to come, and the high cost-of-living creating an additional burden, we must step up efforts to keep all young people engaged and on track in their learning.

Investing in initiatives shown to improve learning outcomes is critical, particularly for young people experiencing disadvantage. The evidence shows that when students get the targeted support they need, they can catch up in their learning, finish school and successfully transition to further study or work.

We welcome the federal government's commitment to a broad review of our education system with a focus on equity - but this is not just the responsibility of schools and teachers.

Young people do best when they get support from their families and the wider community.

We all have a role to play to ensure children can make the most of their education, and build the skills and confidence they need to reach their potential.

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This is why The Smith Family is expanding our proven Learning for Life education support program to another 40,000 students nationally over the next five years, and calling for support from the Australian community to help us achieve this.

We will also continue investing in measuring and evaluating the impact of our programs, to ensure the best outcomes for these students and share what we learn with others. Most recently, we shared the heartening results of our Catch-Up Learning online tutoring program, showing remarkable progress in literacy and numeracy for a significant number of students who were struggling.

Beyond this, we strongly believe the national Unique Student Identifier (USI) for school students - one of eight national policy initiatives in the current National School Reform Agreement - must be implemented to enable a better understanding of how all students are progressing and improve the national evidence base. The USI will help identify, as early as possible, who needs additional support and lead to a more efficient allocation of resources.

These are just some of the investments needed to help close the widening education gap in our country and give our children a better start to the new school year, with the support they need to thrive in the classroom and beyond.