Postcode hinders education

CHILDREN in lower socioeconomic groups are twice as likely to start school developmentally vulnerable than those in the highest socioeconomic groups, a new report has revealed.

The Front Project – an independent group that looked at the data from the Australian Education Development Census (AEDC) – also found that children in regional Australia were more likely to be disadvantaged when they started school than their city cousins.

Research showed that of the 63,000 who were behind when they started school in 2021, around half would never be able to catch up.

By year 3 those children would be a year behind their peers on NAPLAN and by year 5 they would be around two years behind their peers. The report said that these students were also less likely to finish school, and more likely to experience unemployment and ill-health throughout their lives.

“In Australia your postcode or where you live should not be constraining your opportunities in learning and development,” The Front Project chief executive Jane Hunt said.

“These children are being held back ... because of lack of opportunity and support.”

The report, “Supporting All Children to Thrive – The importance of equity in early childhood education”, called for quality early childhood education for the two years before school to “break the cycle of vulnerability”.

The AEDC data classified children as “on track”, “at risk” or “vulnerable”, depending on how teachers scored them in five areas: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills and communication skills and general knowledge.

Children experiencing developmental vulnerability demonstrated a much lower than average ability in at least one of those areas.

Victoria had the lowest number of vulnerable kids, but 19.9 per cent were still deemed disadvantaged in at least one area.

Principal Steve Rogers, responding to the report by The Front Project, said some children were starting school without the social skills required to “work and play with others”.

He said parents should talk to their children more and limit their screen time if they want to give them the best start at school.

He recommended parents should read at least three books a day to their child before they start school, let them play and explore outdoors and spend more time talking to them.

“When I see people out at lunch and a young child is on a phone or iPad I think wouldn’t that be a good opportunity to talk to them,” Mr Rogers, who is head of a regional school in Victoria, said.