What do the south west of Sydney and the northern suburbs of Adelaide have in common?  For the last year, it’s been the Compass program!  The success of the Social Inclusion Unit’s schools engagement program inspired the University of Adelaide to launch its own Compass program in 2012.  Last week two of its key staff members visited the University of Sydney to share their experiences, results, and plans for future collaboration. 
Adelaide’s program, like Sydney’s, delivers outreach, mentoring and professional development, with the aim of building school completion rates and attainment, lifting community expectation and helping children aim for higher education in the future.  Unlike Sydney’s program, which extends into secondary school, Adelaide’s focus is on Years 3 – 7 (with Year 7 being the final year of primary education in South Australia).
Over two days in Sydney, the Adelaide team attended meeting with Compass staff at the University of Sydney where both teams shared their 2012 successes. Curriculum coordinator Sally Owen shared feedback about her programs in maths, literacy, science, as well as plans for embedding Compass within the university and the progress of the student volunteers.  Indigenous Outreach Officer Louise Mitchell took the opportunity to undertake training in the Mulitlit program and commented “It was really useful to hear what happens in Sydney and what the possibilities are for us in Adelaide.” Team members from both universities highlighted the reciprocal learning made possible by the visit as particularly valuable.
What does collaboration like this between universities offer?   For the University of Sydney, it was a chance to gain a valuable perspective when seeing ‘our’ activities in a different context, and as Mike Tran (volunteer coordinator, Compass Sydney) commented, “We came away feeling really energised about some new possibilities and possible directions that better yet, someone else has already tried out successfully!”

• Date: Monday 11 March 2013
• Time: 4.15 pm to 5.45pm
• Venue: Law School LT 104, 
  Sydney Law School, Eastern Avenue. Click here for venue access details
• Cost: Free event, with registration requested
• Registration: Register online now click here

As Australians like to say we are the ‘lucky country’, New Zealanders say they live in the ‘the land of plenty’. They like to believe ‘Godzone’ is a great place for children. For most children this is indeed true. But it is not true for children living in poverty. As many as 25 percent of New Zealand’s children – about 270,000 – currently live in poverty. Such figures compare unfavourably with those of Australia and many European countries.

Child poverty is extremely costly. For individual children, it can mean going to school hungry and living in a cold, damp house. Important childhood opportunities are missed like school outings and sports. This can influence educational achievement and health outcomes. In New Zealand each year there is at least $6bn in additional health and education costs associated with child poverty, as well as reduced productivity. 

Finding the policy mix that will get results is not simple. How can a country improve the circumstances of their most deprived children? How do you ensure your country is a great place to live for all your children? What is the role of education for solutions to child poverty? This presentation will address these questions, drawing on the report and recommended actions of a report to the New Zealand Children's Commissioner. Hundreds of New Zealanders, including children, contributed to this report. Their voices will be included in this presentation. Overall it was clear that action is needed, now. No child should experience severe and persistent poverty, least of all in ‘the land of plenty’.

Dr Airini is Head of the School of Critical Studies in Education, The University of Auckland. She does research into equity issues in education and solutions. Airini has led national strategy and policy development in New Zealand, OECD and developing nations, and has worked for UNESCO. She was the sole education specialist invited by the New Zealand Children’s Commissioner to join the 2012 Expert Advisory Group to plan actions to overcome child poverty in New Zealand. (www.education.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/airini)