Children and young people in out-of-home care often blame themselves when they struggle at school. They think it's their fault they're not doing as well as their classmates.
Megan Turner, project manager of MacKillop Family Services' Education Strategy for Children in Care, says that self-blame is misplaced.
“We're now recognising this and saying, no, it isn't you, this isn't the result of anything that you have created,” Turner says. “Even the brightest, most motivated person is going to have difficulties if they have barriers.”
The numbers bear that out. Nationally, only a quarter of students in care progress from Year 10 to Year 12, compared with more than 80 per cent of their peers. Within MacKillop's own Melbourne metro residential homes, just 42 per cent of children attend school full-time, 70 per cent are below expected academic level, and 16 per cent are not in education or work.
The new MacKillop education strategy was developed with young people themselves and sector partners, following the 2023 Let Us Learn report, which described the education gap facing children in care as shameful.
The strategy treats education as central, bringing MacKillop's residential care teams, schools and sector partners together to help young people stay connected to learning, complete school, and see themselves as students with a future.
The Ross Trust is now backing another year of the rollout with a $150,000 grant, which will let MacKillop:
- continue to employ a project coordinator
- train residential care workers
- roll out individualised education plans for young people in MacKillop’s Melbourne metro residential homes
- build relationships with schools close to the metropolitan residential homes, and
- set up tracking of attendance, engagement and outcomes.
Residential care workers will be trained as “education champions”, while schools will be better equipped to understand the trauma histories shaping students.
The long-term targets are concrete: every young person in care to have an Individual Education Plan within six weeks, transition plans for 90 per cent of placement changes, and at least 90 per cent school enrolment across each metropolitan region.
Underlying it is a broader shift from disengagement to belonging, and from crisis management to genuine opportunity. Educators are already responding, Turner says.
“They realise it's not a blame game, but that we are there to support them as much as the students,” she says. “We've seen schools who historically have had a track record of our students facing expulsions or suspensions reaching out saying they want training and support.”
Ross Trust executive officer Meghan Weekes says the early results reflect MacKillop’s expertise.
“They look at everything through a trauma-informed lens to encourage and educate everybody involved in supporting these children and young people,” she says.