Unequal opportunities: Life chances for children in the 'Lucky Country'

  The importance of education and sufficient financial resources in equipping children and young people with the skills they need to succeed in life, to open doors and enhance social mobility, has been well documented. The overarching goals of the Australian Government’s ‘education revolution’ and social inclusion agenda, reflect this importance with a stated focus on increasing participation in education and training. Despite substantial concern about these issues, there has been to date very little research or regular indicators which focus specifically on equality of opportunity for Australian children. How can we tell if Australia is meeting the government’s vision of a ‘socially inclusive society’ in relation to the life prospects of children and young people? To what extent are we as a society enabling children born into low socio-economic status (SES) families to access the opportunities they need to make a better life for themselves and break the cycle of disadvantage? Put simply, are we really the ‘lucky country’, the land of the ‘fair go’ where children are able to reach their potential regardless of their background? The Smith Family and NATSEM have developed a suite of indicators that capture aspects of equality of opportunity and social mobility of Australian children and young people, which can be used to assess whether any change is taking place and if so, in what direction. A key goal of this research report is to assess the degree to which our society is able to provide children and young people with the opportunities to develop the skills they need to participate effectively, especially those most financially disadvantaged. This is important, not only from an equity perspective, but also an economic perspective. As a nation we need individuals to be able to leverage new educational opportunities, adapt career trajectories, contribute economically and reach their potential regardless of their social status, background or income in order to achieve productivity and participation goals. Also included in this report is a feature piece that delves further into the concept of intergenerational mobility within Australia. This section looks at an additional set of indicators to test whether those from less advantaged backgrounds have the same likelihood of moving up the social hierarchy to a higher income or occupational ranking as those from more advantaged backgrounds..   Authors: Rebecca Cassells, Justine McNamara, Cathy Gong and Sharon Bicknell