Addressing Educational Disadvantage

In an op-ed in The Australian, the education spokesman for the federal Opposition, Tony Smith, quotes research recently commissioned by the BCA on school education.

‘The Business Council of Australia, in its Restoring our Edge in Education report, picked up on this when it noted that the correlation between reading levels and the SES [socioeconomic status] was not particularly high. It also noted that not only were group-based solutions to address student underperformance disappointing, but “interventions targeted on low SES students are likely to be less effective than interventions targeted on individuals with low reading levels, regardless of SES”.’

From op-ed titled ‘Disadvantage Is More Than Socioeconomic Status’ by Tony Smith, The Australian, 26 March 2008.