Only three Australian high schools able to overcome disadvantage: study

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Only three Australian high schools able to overcome disadvantage: study

By Pallavi Singhal

Three high schools and 21 primary schools are overcoming high levels of disadvantage, a new study has found, prompting calls for changed school practices and broader reform.

The study, which looked at 8145 schools across the country, classifies disadvantage as being in the lowest quartile of the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) scores and high achievement as performing above the national average in NAPLAN tests between 2015 and 2017.

A new Australian study has found that only three high schools and 21 primary schools are both disadvantaged and high-achieving.

A new Australian study has found that only three high schools and 21 primary schools are both disadvantaged and high-achieving.Credit: Martin Hunter

An analysis of the teaching methods used in the high-achieving disadvantaged primary schools finds that school discipline, direct instruction and data-informed teaching practices are common elements that have been shown to lead to higher achievement.

The study also finds evidence of teacher collaboration and professional learning, experienced and autonomous school leadership and comprehensive early reading instruction across the 21 schools.

The significantly higher number of primary schools that are overcoming their disadvantage compared to high schools highlights the compounding effect of falling behind, according to the study's author Blaise Joseph, a research fellow in education at the Centre for Independent Studies.

"A relatively small difference in student achievement tends to grow into a much larger difference unless there's intervention early on, it really does highlight the importance of the early years," he said.

"There is evidence that most students who are below academic benchmarks in a range of subjects in year 8 do not catch up by the end of high school, and students who are below benchmarks in year 4 do not catch up by year 8, especially for schools in lower socio-economic areas," the study finds.

Studies have found that disadvantage is one of the main factors in determining student outcomes, followed by prior achievement.

"In secondary school, it's really important that [students who are behind] are identified as they enter school," Mr Joseph said.

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"Programs like Best Start Year 7 should be more common and it's even more important for disadvantaged schools to have that positive school culture."

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Peter Rouse, the principal at Canley Vale High School, which has been one of the highest value-adding schools in NSW for five years despite 68 per cent of its student population coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, attributes their success to targeted teaching and high levels of support.

"We explicitly build literacy and numeracy into the students' timetables and we have a highly-intensive 12 month professional learning program for teachers from day one," he said.

"We also have a lot of individual management for students, if they arrive on the first day of year 7 without a uniform, we help them get one, if they're not fed, we run a breakfast club every day, we have supports in place for every aspect of their journey."

However, broadly the school system may be getting worse at addressing inequality, with a recent international study finding that the proportion of Australian students who are overcoming their disadvantage has fallen from 36.3 per cent in 2006 to 28.6 per cent in 2015.

Christina Ho, a senior lecturer at UTS, said the fall in the number of high schools that are overcoming disadvantage most likely relates to school choice.

"It probably reflects the fact that in secondary school, a lot more parents are more anxious about where they send their kids, while in primary school parents are more willing to send their kids to the local primary school," Dr Ho said.

"Some people are able to avoid schools that have bad reputations by going to a non-government school while others are left behind, so in secondary school you've got a clustering of advantaged kids with other advantaged kids and disadvantaged kids with other disadvantaged kids.

"If we didn't have an education system that was so divided, we wouldn't have schools that have such high levels of disadvantage."

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