YOUNGSTERS living along the northern banks of the Brisbane River have better education access and achievement than any other place in the city and the rest of the entire state.
A ribbon of an educational advantage running through the capital city from Bellbowrie in the west through to New Farm in the east has been plotted by researchers that also shows northern riverside suburbs ahead of Southsiders.
The report on education inequity in Australia reveals “staggering” differences between locations, showing where children live and go to school are some of the biggest influences on education.
While Sydney Harbour and oceanfront suburbs and Melbourne bayside ones were the blue-chip areas for education, in Brisbane it was the river when comparing educational achievement, access, resources and social and economic factors.
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre report Educate Australia Fair?: Education Inequity in Australia found, that in contrast to southern capitals, Brisbane bayside areas such as Wynnum were more disadvantaged than riverside ones.
Overall, the area with the greatest education advantage in the state was the mid-west riverside suburb of Fig Tree Pocket, followed by Bardon and St Lucia while Wacol was in the top 10 most disadvantaged in the state, which was otherwise made up of remote and regional areas.
The research found some enclaves of the advantage away from the river such as Macgregor and Carindale and also identified some of Brisbane’s trendiest suburbs like West End were not as advantaged as Toowong and Auchenflower just across the river, despite million-dollar property prices to match.
Across Queensland, educational disadvantage increased away from the river and the capital with the most disadvantaged areas all remote or very remote locations.
The report analysed years of NAPLAN results, school attendance rates, Census information about family make-up and even internet access, as well as unemployment figures and data from the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection.
Detail from the Map of Educational Disadvantage In Queensland.
Authors of the report said it was hoped it would be used to better target educational policies and show the current debate about funding was not the complete answer.
“The divide between the most advantaged and disadvantaged areas is staggering,” the report stated.
“Children living in the most advantaged areas will on average achieve more than double the score in national proficiency tests in reading, writing and numeracy than those living in the most disadvantaged areas.
“A child born in remote Australia is only a third as likely to go to university as a child born in a major city.”
Nationally, Queensland’s most disadvantaged areas scored better than average on a number of indicators and this state leads the country with the highest proportion of children enrolled in more than 15 hours of pre-school education.
Sally Rosario, Director and teacher at Gan-Gani Community Kindergarten in Fig Tree Pocket, said children in the area were supported by families who valued education and teachers who were highly qualified at a centre which exceeded all national quality benchmarks.
“The key in the area is the majority of families are professionals who value education and as a result they want their children to have a high-quality early education and then all the way through school,” she said.
Overall, the area with the greatest education advantage in the state was the mid-west riverside suburb of Fig Tree Pocket.
TOP 10 AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGE
1 Fig Tree Pocket
2 Bardon
3 Wilston
4 St Lucia
5 Chelmer – Graceville
6 Pinjarra Hills – Pullenvale
7 Sherwood
8 Brookfield – Kenmore Hills
9 East Brisbane (south of Brisbane River)
10 Ashgrove
BOTTOM 10 AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGE
1 Carpentaria
2 Yarrabah
3 Northern Peninsula
4 Cape York
5 Far Central West
6 Far Central South
7 Torres
8 Balonne
9 Wacol
10 Westcourt-Bungalow
Originally Published: www.themercury.com.au