Is public investment in education the only way to improve education in Australia?

Asking about Australia, but happy to hear experiences and opinions from other countries.

Students of regional and lower socio-economic areas have fewer resources and a poorer quality of teaching compared to students from opulent, metropolitan areas. Furthermore, students of a lower socio-economic area are less likely to have access to support services and extracurricular activities to compliment their studies and be in a culture that priorities education. As time has shown, this has resulted in intergenerational poverty.

Given that these "vulnerable" demographics are less likely to have the funds to access private education compared to free public education and the value of such options are likely undervalued, is public strategic investment the only way to effectively make change?

Given there is little financial incentive for the private market, volunteering may be able to assist in addressing some of these issues, but people cannot make a living doing so. Volunteering in education is also difficult as schools operate during business hours (preventing people from volunteering who must also work a job) and those most in need are unlikely to be interested or encouraged to engage with out-of-school programs.

I would also say that similar trends can be seen in middle-class "mortgage belts". Where students of poorer area may lack interest to attend school, students of "mortgage belts" may have a reasonable level of education but lack the desire to achieve more than just the minimum.

Even with high quality education services, responsibility also lies with parents in supporting students in their education. If parents do not encourage or support their students to engage, how to we enable these students to succeed?

Submitted April 11, 2023 at 07:14PM by 566route https://ift.tt/MRCsyWh