Children living in Queensland’s western suburbs were found to have the best educational advantage in the state, with Bardon hailed as the second best area with the greatest educational advantage in Queensland.
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre‘s Educate Australia Fair report published in July 2017 shows that Fig Tree Pocket enjoyed the greatest educational advantage in the state. Bardon ranked second followed by St Lucia, Chelmer – Graceville, Pullenvale – Pinjarra Hills, Sherwood, Brookfield – Kenmore Hills, East Brisbane, and Ashgrove as 10th best. The educational advantage were based on family background, demographic characteristics, and geography.
Children in the western suburbs of the state were found to have better educational achievement and access than any other place in Queensland. The report includes analyses of years of NAPLAN results, school attendance rates, census information about family make-up, and even internet access, as well as unemployment figures and data from the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection .
As stated in the report, “Children living in the least disadvantaged areas will achieve on average double the score in reading, writing and numeracy tests than those living in the most disadvantaged areas.”
Source: Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre
The report also revealed the areas that scored in the bottom ten on the educational disadvantage index are most likely located in the remote and very remote regions across the State. A number of these areas are also Indigenous communities.
Interestingly, whilst areas at the bottom 10 are most disadvantaged, preschool attendance in some of these areas are still higher on average than national figures. This suggests that for a number of areas across Queensland, such early investment in children will eventually pay off in the coming years.
The average NAPLAN scores of the disadvantaged areas may be lower than the overall national average, but they are relatively higher than the most disadvantaged areas located across other regions of Australia.
This report from the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre’s Focus on the States series aims to better understand the education journey taken by children; to explore the degree to which improvements in education outcomes are evenly distributed across the full range of equity groups; and to support effective policy development on an issue of central importance to Australia.