Participation for All: Curriculum Corporation Conference Tony Keenan Chief Executive Officer Hanover Welfare Services

Inclusion is Central to Productivity Demand for skilled labour will continue even with economic downturn A significant decline in the growth of the workforce to 2035 Substantial human costs and entrenched generational disadvantage Substantial financial costs to criminal justice, health, social security, housing etc

Changes in Policy and thinking about Disadvantage Move away from passive welfare/support measures to more interventionist inclusion based approaches A move away from “throughput” models of service delivery to outcome based approaches Greater emphasis on “joined up’ service delivery and programs Evidence based approaches and solutions

Homelessness 2006 Census - 105,000 Australians were homeless, a 5% increase since 2001 An increase of 17% in families since 2001 Census Largest client group of homeless support agencies are accompanied children (56,800) 20% of these children are ATSI ,230 secondary students were “unaccompanied” homeless Good news –2006 Census reported a 21% decline in unaccompanied homeless youth (12- 18).

Our Inclusion Record for Students Experiencing Homelessness Which Way Home, the Green Paper on Homelessness highlights appalling failure of programs in this regard. in , 35 per cent of SAAP (Supported Accommodation and Assistance Program) - clients aged between five and seventeen were in education before entering SAAP Following the period of SAAP support this figure actually dropped slightly to 34 per cent. Contact with SAAP did not increase school attendance for students who were already not attending school. In 2005– 06, 57 per cent of young people aged under 17 years of age were not in education before entering SAAP, and 56 per cent were not in education after SAAP support.

Our Inclusion Record for Students Experiencing Homelessness Rates of early school leaving is much higher 12 to % not in school 14 to % not in school 15 to % not in school AIHW reports that within 12 months of becoming homeless, two thirds of young people leave school, and once having left school, find it harder to complete their education Early school leaving is not only an indicator of educational disengagement, but it also has longer- term effects such as lower wages and financial insecurity, a greater likelihood of unemployment and poorer mental and physical health

How does this happen? Fragmentation and lack of coordination of programs including school, family violence, welfare, housing and support Lack of affordable housing While fantastic examples of local programs/protocols no policies/programs have been developed at state or commonwealth levels to encourage coordination Different professional paradigms “Joining up” massive bureaucracies of health, human services, education, social security etc. Little research/evidence into the actual professional practice of effectively working with disadvantage

Inclusion Targets and Outcomes Will be the key policy drivers Need to work across program areas A reduction in the numbers of Australians experiencing homelessness of X % by Y year An improvement in school readiness of children from families experiencing homelessness and a reduction in delayed school entry for children in families experiencing homelessness

Inclusion Targets and Outcomes A positive improvement in the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) for the 20 collection areas with the highest number of child clients receiving homelessness support services. An increase in child clients of homelessness services attending four year old kindergarten An improvement over time in the performance of child clients of homelessness services in Year 3,5,7 & 9 Literacy and Numeracy tests An increase in the number of young clients of homelessness services who complete Year 12 or equivalent