NAB Schools First research into school-community partnerships
6 June 2011
Two ground breaking reports released by NAB Schools First provide the strongest evidence yet that Australian businesses should be doing more to assist in achieving strong student outcomes. Only 20 per cent of school partnerships are with business which is significantly less than the international trend and, according to education industry experts, shows that Australian business needs to be doing more to invest in our future workforce.
The reports, however, also reveal that school-community partnerships are having a significant impact on Australian students and that these positive impacts can be enhanced with further investment.
NAB Schools First is a partnership between NAB, the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) and Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The program rewards outstanding school-community partnerships that lead to improved student outcomes. The School-Community Partnerships in Australian Schools report has been compiled following a review by ACER of all 801 primary and secondary schools that applied for a 2009 NAB Schools First Impact Award.
“This is the first analysis of its kind to evaluate such a large number of school-community partnerships,” explains Professor Geoff Masters, CEO, ACER. “The report sheds light on what type of organisations schools are partnering with, why they have established these partnerships, and the positive student outcomes they are achieving.”
Among the most revealing findings of the School-Community Partnerships in Australian Schools report:
- 98 per cent of the school-community partnerships analysed are benefitting students
- 45 per cent of school-community partnerships are between schools and community groups, in contrast to the international trend where the majority of partnerships are with business
- Of the schools that are partnering with business, 53 per cent are with state or national corporates and 47 per cent with local business
- Catholic institutions are more likely to be partnered exclusively with a business (19.6 per cent) versus other sectors (14 per cent)
- The reasons that prompt the establishment of school-community partnerships are: improved student engagement, improved academic outcomes, enhanced social wellbeing and a broadening of vocational skills and options
- A large majority of partnerships focus on addressing issues associated with ‘at risk’ male students in Year 9 and 10
- Refugee, English as Second Language, Indigenous and/or partnerships concentrated on students at risk of leaving school early are also strongly represented
“This information compiled by ACER provides us with the strongest evidence yet that students thrive when schools partner with the community, and furthermore that these partnerships need to be invested in,” said Jan Owen, CEO, Foundation for Young Australians.
“What this research shows us is that there is a need for industry, business and government to invest more heavily in school-community partnerships. I would go so far as to suggest that school-community partnerships be enshrined in the National Curriculum and be invested in by the corporate sector accordingly.”
To that end, the First Interim Report of NAB Schools First: Evaluation of the 2009 awards, also conducted by ACER, shows the positive impact of NAB’s $5 million annual investment into school-community partnerships on the capacity of these schools to deliver outstanding impacts for students. The evaluation confirmed that the awards program had “contributed to a significant increase in strategic capacity for the enhancement and growth of partnerships beyond that envisioned before NAB Schools First.”
