Fostering school attendance for students in Out-of-Home Care

Fostering school attendance for students in Out-of-Home Care: Improving educational outcomes and life chances

Being at school is a prerequisite for achieving success in learning and life.  Absence from school (for whatever reason) means students miss out on all the benefits school has to offer.  Children and young people in care are absent from school more than their peers, and they also have worse experiences and outcomes from school.  To improve educational outcomes for these students it is vital to help them attend school.  That is the focus for this project with a team from four universities and either partner organisations.

Project outcomes

The project will produce important knowledge that is needed to understand:

• why students in care experience significant absences from school, and
• what can be done to improve their attendance by schools, carers, education systems, and OOHC systems.

Project team:

• Professor Kitty Te Riele, University of Tasmania
• Professor Sharon Bessell - The Australian National University
• Professor Anna Sullivan - University of South Australia
• Professor Daryl Higgins - Australian Catholic University
• Dr Michael Guerzoni - University of Tasmania
• Dr Emily Rudling - University of Tasmania

Partner organisations:

• Berry Street
• Allambi Care
• Life Without Barriers
• Key Assets Australia
• Anglicare ACT/Southern NSW
• Stronger Smarter Institute
• MacKillop Family Services
• Tasmanian Commissioner for Children and Young People

Funding body:

This project has been partially funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme (LP2201001130). It will run from late 2023-2026.