Dropping off the edge 2015: persistent communal disadvantage in Australia

This report shows that complex and entrenched disadvantage is experienced by a small but persistent number of locations in each state and territory across Australia. Foreword In 2007, Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia commissioned ground-breaking research into place-based disadvantage across the nation. The resulting report, Dropping off the edge, built on previous work that Jesuit Social Services had engaged Professor Tony Vinson to undertake on its behalf and quickly became a critical resource for governments, service providers and communities attempting to address the challenge of entrenched and often complex geographical disadvantage. That report received over 284 scholarly citations and supported the establishment of the Australian Social Inclusion Board – a body charged with identifying long-term strategies to end poverty in Australia. Since the publication of Dropping off the edge, our organisations have received many requests to update the findings and produce a new report tracking the wellbeing of communities in Australia over the intervening time. Sadly, the current report drives home the enormous challenge that lies in front of our policy makers and service providers, as many communities identified as disadvantaged in 2007 once again head the list in each state and territory. As a society we cannot, and should not, turn away from the challenge of persistent and entrenched locational disadvantage, no matter how difficult it may be to solve the problem. We call on government, community and business to come together to work alongside these communities to ensure long term sustainable change. We hold hope that the young people and future generations in these communities will have a better outlook and life opportunities than is currently available to them. It is our belief that every Australian should have access to the opportunities in life that will enable them to flourish – to complete their education, to get a job, to access safe and affordable housing, to raise their children in safe communities and to see the next generation thrive. Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia are indebted to the dedication and perseverance of Professor Tony Vinson in leading this important research and analysis over the past 15 years. Julie Edwards Chief Executive Officer Jesuit Social Services Marcelle Mogg Chief Executive Officer Catholic Social Services Australi

Markedly socially disadvantaged localities in Australia

Localities in which there is a markedly high level of disadvantage are often characterised in terms of perceived behavioural shortcomings -- things like residents’ lack of commitment to improving their situation, indifferent motivation generally, unlawful conduct, and parents’ inadequate attention to child rearing. Indeed, surface appearances of the kinds mentioned are used to justify a view that the dominant cause of residents\u27 plight resides in their moral slackness and own defective personal choices. Researches in which such judgements have been suspended and an attempt made to identify the foundations of locational disadvantage have come to different conclusions. They have found that much more is involved than the compounding of individual laxity. For example, two priority concerns of DEEWR, namely, education and employment, were to the fore in the earliest formal investigations of the geographic concentration of social disadvantage. One hundred and fifty years after Mayhew (1861) mapped the spatial concentrations of illiteracy, unemployment, crime and teenage marriage in England and Wales, there is ample evidence that concentrations of the kind he discovered continue to be a feature of our Australian social landscape. Indeed, there is evidence of a growing concentration of urban poverty in Australia and, in Gregory and Hunter’s (1995) terms these areas are developing their own \u27pathologies’, the consequence being a cycle of increasing disadvantage

Good news stories

A new report finds a kind of social chemistry that  encourages success, writes Tony Vinson in Eureka Street THE NEW Jesuit Social Services study Moving from the Edge is not a welfare tale of woe. It is a celebration of lives that have \u27come good\u27. Individuals and families have spoken in a basically human way about their transition from being \u27outsiders\u27 to social \u27insiders\u27. In the process we gain some important leads on different influences that have supported that journey… Read the full article Illustration: Chris Johnston/ Eureka Street   Editors note: Moving from the Edge is only available for purchase for $20 - details are in the PDF media release   &nbsp

Good transitions: through the eyes of primary and secondary principals

Tony Vinson\u27s paper aims to advance discussion about ways of helping young people to make a good beginning to secondary schooling, relying heavily on the perceptions primary and secondary principals. "At any time of life, a change of the magnitude of moving from primary school to high school would cause significant disruption; during early adolescence this is exacerbated by the developmental challenges the young people face. Moving from primary to secondary school is less well recognised as a transition of significance. Yet research amply demonstrates the challenges it poses for young adolescents. Students face physical and social dislocation and a new learning program.  I am not going to canvass those challenges on this occasion. That topic has received its share of attention in recent years. Rather, I want to advance discussion about ways of helping young people to make a good beginning to secondary schooling. I will be relying heavily but appropriately on the perceptions of those upon whom we ultimately rely for the effective management of our schools: our primary and secondary principals.

Intergenerational disadvantage

For some time now work participation statistics in Australia have confronted us with the apparent prolongation of the disadvantages experienced by some parents in the lives of their offspring. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 1994) data has indicated that young people whose parents are not in work have lower labour force participation rates and higher unemployment rates than young people with at least one parent at work.1 More recently, information gathered from a group of jobseekers showed that young people with one or both parents in work were significantly more likely to have found stable employment over a one-year period than young people whose parents were not in work (ABS, 1998).2 It is the meaning of this type of pattern that is explored in this paper and an attempt is made to estimate the extent, the medium and cost of the passage of disadvantage from one generation to the next. This is the fifth of a series of commissioned papers on social inclusion/exclusion, prepared for the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations by Professor Tony Vinson, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. August, 2008

Social inclusion and early childhood development

One of the most decisive findings of behavioural and social research has been the economic and social benefits of early education. The scale of those benefits will be outlined after examining the factors that enhance, or impede, a good beginning to children\u27s education. The common ground is children’s readiness to learn in their earliest years and the disadvantageous consequences in educational and other terms of missing that opportunity

Good Transitions: through the eyes of Primary and Secondary Principals

Students in the “middle years” of schooling: years 5 to 9 (aged 10-15), have very different learning and social needs from younger children and older adolescents. This is a period of rapid development in all areas: intellectual, social, physical, emotional and psychological, and moral understanding. Research indicates that brain growth peaks at about age 11 in girls and 12 in boys, at which time permanent consolidations begin to be made (Giedd et al., 1999). It appears that connections in the adolescent brain are strengthened through practice, and those not reinforced are lost. Clearly, this ‘use it or lose it’ principle has serious ramifications: intellectual stimulation is vital in early adolescence. Of equal importance during this period is sensitivity to complex needs, as young people move from concrete to abstract thinking, critical analysis and establishing emerging adult identity. Adolescents respond in a variety of ways to the challenges of their (internal and external) environments, and need to be offered multiple strategies for adjusting to change (Dahl, 2004). Transition from primary to secondary schooling provides one of the most consistent challenges to the majority of young adolescents, as students face physical and social dislocation, and an entirely new learning program. At any time of life, a change of the magnitude of moving from primary school to high school would cause significant disruption; during early adolescence this is exacerbated by the developmental challenges the young people face. Acknowledgement of these pressures upon students moving from primary to secondary school has lead to the introduction of programs designed to facilitate smooth transition (Galton, Gray and Rudduck, 1999). In NSW these have included a website outlining a range of strategies and the appointment of a full-time position to assist groups of schools with their implementation. The present study aimed to examine the implementation and practicability of these strategies, by seeking the opinions of principals in both primary and secondary schools. An online questionnaire was circulated, listing 20 designated strategies and asking, with regard to each: (i) how important is this strategy? (ii) how widely is it being implemented? and (iii) if it is considered of high importance but is not being widely implemented, why not

Young people on remand in Victoria

This comprehensive report analyses current Australian and international trends in evidence-based prison policy in Australia and overseas. This includes a review of remand and its place within the criminal justice system. The report includes a statistical analysis of more than eleven thousand Victorian remandees incarcerated while awaiting trail between 2008 and 2010, with particular attention to the socio-economic background of remandees by age, gender and Indigenous status. The analysis highlights the accumulated disadvantage of young people involved in the criminal justice system, including high rates of unemployment and low levels of educational attainment. This landmark report concludes with recommendations for remand reform that promote social inclusion and community safety, and the health and well-being of disadvantaged young people, families and communities

New national report highlights suburbs stuck in cycle of disadvantage

The postcode you grew up in can say a lot about you. Perhaps it might explain your accent or the school you went to. But a national report released today by Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia, has found that your postcode can explain far more than that. The report has pinpointed the worst postcodes to grow up in, where incarceration rates are high, domestic violence and drug use are common, and education levels are low. The lead author of Dropping Off The Edge is former head of New South Wales prisons, Professor Tony Vinson. He complied the same type of study seven years ago, and today he has released his latest snapshot of disadvantage. &nbsp