The Hon Peter Malinauskas MP
Premier of South Australia
State Administration Centre
200 Victoria Square
ADELAIDE SA 5000

Dear Premier,

"Positioning All South Australians to Share in the Benefits of Economic Growth"

In accordance with the terms of reference received by the Commission on 18 February 2024, I am now pleased to submit the South Australian Productivity Commission's Final Report on our inquiry into "Positioning All South Australians to Share in the Benefits of Economic Growth".

Our key conclusion

South Australia does a much worse job than the national average at giving our young people the skills and support they need to successfully transition out of school into work or education that is meaningful to them.

Despite a strong labour market and widespread skills shortages, 40 per cent of South Australian 24-year-olds – 9,100 young people – are not fully engaged in education, employment or training. This is 3,100 more disengaged 24-year-olds than if we were at the national average.

This early disengagement has significant and persistent effects, causing unemployment and underemployment, significantly lower incomes and contributing to ill-health, crime, and child maltreatment and neglect, passing the costs on to the next generation.

Even 11 years later aged 35, average wages for this disengaged cohort are less than half of the wages of their peers who were engaged in study or work at 24.

These negative impacts are not evenly distributed around our state. Where young people live in our state has a substantial impact on their outcomes from school and on their life path.

Addressing these failed transitions is an economic imperative

Reducing the rate of long-term youth disengagement to the national average would stop just over 3,100 young South Australians slipping into disengagement from study and work each year.

If we can achieve this, after five years 15,600 more young South Australians would be engaged in study and work, delivering accumulated annual benefits to the South Australian community of $1.1 billion. This is roughly equivalent to boosting the GSP of the state by 0.7 percentage points.

Bridging the gap in outcomes for young people is even more important as a social justice priority

At the moment a young South Australian’s chance of success is disturbingly dependent on how educated their parents are, and where they live.

We should not accept that a child growing up in Walkerville is more than seven times as likely to attend university than a child growing up in Berri or Morphett Vale West.

Or that a young person who grew up in Elizabeth is almost nine times as likely to be not engaged in study or work aged 21 to 24 as someone who grew up in Burnside.

The solution lies in our public schools

There are many causes of these failures to set our children up for their future. In families, in communities, in schools, in the health system, in child protection and in short-term public policy.

South Australian public schools are the only institution that are present around the state, have contact with most of our disadvantaged young people, is broadly trusted in the community and through their campuses have facilities that can enable community connections. So, although they are only one part of the problem public schools will need to be supported to take the lead in delivering better transitions into study and work for our young people.

Our public schools can only realize their potential if they embrace the ideals of the new Strategy for Public Education, and commit to doing things differently. Through genuine changes in mindset and priorities. Our Government must therefore focus on better supporting schools serving disadvantaged communities to level the playing field with students in advantaged communities.

Schools are often isolated from their wider local community according to evidence provided to us by a range of stakeholders, but there is an opportunity to make schools central institutions in their suburbs and regions. They would connect families with health and other services, facilitate access to food, and draw community minded South Australians into the school to support its activities including around  career development. They would make their facilities available to the public after hours and during the holidays bringing the community into the school.

A smoother transition from education to employment, with greater explanation and support for the pathways available is essential to improve outcomes from school for our young people. Conversations about careers and education pathways with young children need to occur earlier and be inclusive and unbiased to help reduce the disconnect between employment and education and the impact this has on subject choices.

Bold reforms to deliver better outcomes for South Australian public school students

If we fix the poor transitions out of school into study and work, many more of our young people can find meaningful lives for themselves, contributing to their communities and to the state’s economy, and building a resilient future for themselves and their families. To help achieve this we propose two mutually reinforcing bold reforms for our public school system:

• Embracing bold, specific and achievable targets for the outcomes from public schools.

Robust, transparent and independent reporting arrangements are essential to understanding what is happening in our schools, what is working and where we need to change course.

Without specific quantitative goals and measures around outcomes, and the preconditions for achieving those outcomes, it is impossible to know whether we are on track to deliver the scale of change our young people deserve. We cannot think of any other important area of South Australian public policy where outcomes are not measured, and quantified targets are not set.

Importantly, as well as measuring progress in the system overall, the data framework should have a particular focus on tracking the extent to which reforms are able to level the playing field for public school students from disadvantaged suburbs and regions as compared to public school students in more affluent neighbourhoods.

• Supporting our public schools to become central institutions in their suburbs and communities, through:
• A concerted effort to build deep connections between a diverse range of South Australians and employers, and disadvantaged schools.

Community-minded individuals across the state, including former students at the school, will increasingly donate their time and expertise directly into disadvantaged public schools.

These connections will include joining governing councils to shape strategies that look to the future, and supporting career development activities such as helping disadvantaged students build career aspirations that reach beyond what they see in their daily lives, helping link the school into employers, and mentoring students to help ensure they know how to achieve their aspirations.

• Properly resourced and professionally delivered career development in schools, connecting students, particularly disadvantaged students, with opportunities for the future.

Well-designed and delivered career development is one of the most powerful tools available to help keep young people engaged in their schooling by giving them a sense of purpose, and the understanding of what they need to do to be on the path to achieving their targeted career outcome.

• Turning schools into community hubs drawing services into the school and reaching out into the school community to provide support students and their families.

Providing professional wellbeing services on the school site is important to support students and their families, as many of the barriers to building a successful life are outside the school gate.

Drawing services, and the skills and expertise of our community, into schools helps to support young people to be the best they can be.

Wherever possible school facilities should serve their local communities, for example through sharing facilities with local sports clubs or jointly providing services such as libraries or gymnasiums with the local council.

Importantly these links all need to be based around people and community connections. Past attempts, such as the Parks Community Centre in the Dunstan era, fell short where they focused on building physical infrastructure. Our recommendation is that we first focus on building our relevant human infrastructure.

These proposed changes will complement, and be complemented by, the substantial reforms already announced in public education including making pre-school available to all 3-year-olds and the roll out of the five Technical Colleges.

Whilst this inquiry has mostly been focused on addressing barriers to successful transitions out of school, we also propose interventions to support long-term unemployed people, drawing on the State’s central role in the skills system.

Yours faithfully

Adrian Tembel
CHAIRMAN

Government Response to the Final report

All Government responses to SAPC inquiries and reviews can be found on the Department of the Premier and Cabinet website (external site) (external site).

South Australian Government response to Positioning All South Australians to Share in the Benefits of Economic Growth (external site) (external site)

Contacts

Chair and Presiding Commissioner

Adrian Tembel
T: 08 8226 7744
E: adrian.tembel@sa.gov.au

Inquiry Lead

Steve Whetton
T: 08 8226 7705
E: steve.whetton@sa.gov.au