Turnbull Government funding for The Smith Family’s pioneering Learning for Life program is already delivering targeted interventions and support for 3,000 of Australia’s most disadvantaged young people.
The Prime Minister and Minister for Education and Training tonight met Learning for Life graduates at a ceremony in Melbourne to mark their achievements.
Learning for Life supports low-income and vulnerable families to help students stay at school, to finish Year 12 or an equivalent training qualification, and make the transition from school to work or further education and training.
The Turnbull Government is delivering $48 million for Learning for Life to help expand the program reach an extra 24,000 children each year who will benefit from the increased engagement of parents and carers in their education and bust the cycle of welfare dependency.
Learning for Life asks families to commit to ensuring their children attend school regularly and helping them with their education in return for:
- Financial support to pay for school supplies such as uniforms, shoes, textbooks and excursions
- A coordinator who works directly with the family and students to overcome barriers to school attendance and achievement, and to connect the family with other support services
- Access to out-of-school education program focused on literacy and numeracy and career mentoring.
More than 84 per cent of Learning for Life students overcame often difficult hurdles in their personal and home lives to either enter the workforce or undertake further education a year after finishing the program. Learning for Life has also had significant positive impacts on school attendance rates and school completion rates and it is an example of a program that evidence shows is working.
The support for Learning for Life complements the Turnbull Government’s focus on backing measures that are proven to boost student outcomes.
The Turnbull Government is delivering record schools funding that will grow from $16 billion in 2016 to more than $20 billion in 2020 and that will be distributed according to need and tied to evidence-based initiatives, such as improving literacy and numeracy, increasing engagement with science and maths subjects, and enhancing teaching quality.