Prepared by the Centre for Community Child Health (CCCH), this submission was made to the National School Reform Agreement Expert Panel to help inform a better and fairer education system. The CCCH is one of Australia's leading research and policy centres focused on understanding and addressing childhood inequities.

Education remains the single most important universal platform for improving children’s health, and development and addressing intergenerational disadvantage. School has the power (given the hours children spend there) to reduce inequities in children’s outcomes, yet, the current Australian education system has not been able to shift inequities in children’s learning outcomes for over 10 years.

Over a decade, more than 20 per cent of children will start school developmentally vulnerable. This gap increases when children progress through primary to secondary school, with inequities in children’s learning outcomes across schools also remaining unchanged over the last 10 years.

The National School Reform Agreement (NSRA), alongside existing policies aimed at improving children’s outcomes, has a unique opportunity to drive change for all children, especially those who are currently missing out. The NSRA presents an opportunity to establish bold reform that aims to improve our education system and deliver better outcomes for every child.

Submission date: August 2023

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