Education

Education sets life paths. A good education can unlock a future, and educational failure can devastate prospects.

The CSJ is committed to ensuring all children can reap the benefits education can offer and be prepared to flourish as adults, with as few falling through the cracks as possible.

Our education system has made admirable gains in the last two decades in some areas but is fraying in others. School readiness is weak, absence remains in crisis and more children are falling out of school completely. Teachers report growing hostility and disruption in schools. The broader environment children grow up in is also contributing to vulnerability, with soaring screen times, declining physical activity levels, and many growing up in unstable and workless homes.

Education is also increasingly distorted. Too much emphasis is placed on pushing young people into university in a system where the academic pathway dominates and the technical pathway has been marginalised and underappreciated.