
Our first project is The Learner’s Journey.
Through a National Social Lab we will unlock several solutions around new metrics and a better currency for recognising learning.
We will build a trusted and well-endorsed approach to recognising learning that will strengthen and increase agency in young people and help them to effectively navigate and access a range of pathways beyond school.
This learning life blog
The Social Lab
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New knowledge, skills and capabilities
To ensure our ongoing quality of life, every Australian will increasingly need access to new knowledge, skills and capabilities throughout their whole life, not just while they are engaged in formal education.
There is a significant disconnect
Australian governments invest $91 billion each year in developing the skills of Australians – through education and training, yet young people are struggling to secure full-time work and 75% of employers are experiencing a skills shortage.
We have so much to gain
Australia is currently ranked as having the equal fourth-most socially segregated school system in the OECD, with 51% of disadvantaged students concentrated in disadvantaged schools.
One fifth of all Australian children are developmentally vulnerable when they start school and are being let down by an education system that does not address their needs.
Our education and learning system is crying out for a redesign
Australia has recorded ten years of sliding school and student performance against OECD standards and the most recent NAPLAN results revealed that there has been no statistically significant improvement in most year levels and testing areas since 2008.
National education reforms since the mid-2000s have been designed to address these persistent issues, and yet despite hard-fought political battles and reforms, and the efforts of leaders, teachers, parents and students, we continue to replicate a system in which key indicators of impact and equity are stagnating or going backwards.
We want every young person to be able to leave their formal schooling being able to confidently demonstrate what it is they know and can do.
But today, 40% of Australian students disengage regularly in the classroom, due to boredom, work being too difficult, and poor-quality teaching. 25% of 15 year-olds believe that school has not prepared them for life after school, and 10% see school as a waste of time. One in five students are still failing to complete Year 12 nationwide.