This is the second day in a series of posts on education priorities for the 2025 federal election. Today’s posts are about why we need connected solutions.

The middle years

For more than two decades I have conducted research in the field of young adolescent learning and teaching, with interests in student engagement and wellbeing; teacher self-efficacy; and professional learning.  During this time, policy-makers and systems have sporadically focussed on the middle years (Years 6/7-9/10) with specific initiatives, such as the 2015 implementation of the Junior Secondary Guiding Principles.

The impetus for the focused attention has ranged from responses to structural shifts, such as moving Year 7 into secondary schools, to concerns about the wellbeing of our middle years’ students across a range of academic, social and emotional indicators. The initiatives have been characterised by their transient and short-lived nature. They are often a reflection of political cycles,  which in turn impact the sustainability of reforms to achieve long-term transformation.

The most recent evidence provides an alarming insight into how we are travelling in the middle years. It is the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 data.  PISA is an international comparative study of student performance, directed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It measures the cumulative education outcomes of 15-year-olds in 81 countries.

Lower than the OECD average

The findings reveal Australia’s mean index score is lower than the OECD average for: students’ sense of belonging; student-teacher relationships; disciplinary climate in mathematics classes; feeling safe at school; resistance to stress; curiosity; and perseverance. Exposure to bullying is higher than the OECD average. These scores occurred despite our investment in schooling that is just above the average of the OECD countries.

Students in various states and sectors also report variations across these indicators, highlighting the inconsistency of experiences around the nation. This is gravely concerning data. 

Furthermore, it aligns with persistent evidence of declining mental health and wellbeing of young adolescents over the last two decades. That has surged since the COVID pandemic, with the peak of onset coincidentally occurring at 15 years of age. 

Young people’s mental health and wellbeing is now a leading health concern. It accounts for 45% of disease globally in those aged 10–24 years.

It is clear that the middle years in the education life course requires urgent and sustained attention in Australian education.

The intention is there

The intention to improve middle years education is evident in the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration. It provides the vision for Australia to achieve a world class education system that encourages and supports every student. 

The middle years receive special attention in the Declaration which states: [T]he middle years are an important period of individual growth and learning when a balanced set of cognitive, social and emotional skills are developed.”

And: “[T]his is also a time when they are at the greatest risk of disengagement from learning.

“Through directly addressing each student’s range of needs, schools must focus on enhancing motivation and engagement”

The need for learning with positive student-teacher relationships, strong peer relationships and age-appropriate pedagogies are the salient factors to achieve effective engagement, with the promotion of student agency at the core. The implications of disengagement are profound, with students life chances diminished when appropriate climates for learning are not in place.

Moving in and moving out

In addition to age-appropriate teaching and learning, the Declaration explicitly calls for the improvement of transition into – and out of – the middle years. 

Transition from Year 6 into Year 7 has been identified as an area of concern for decades. The words ‘gap’ and ‘plunge’ are commonly used to describe the impact of ineffective transition. That leads to disengagement, lack of achievement and disillusionment in the middle years.

Some hope

The Flying Start Initiative in Queensland was a timely approach to ensure the efficacy of the introduction of a prep year and the shift of Year 7 into secondary schools.  It also included an intentional model of Junior Secondary Guiding Principles that explicitly shaped teaching and learning for the middle years. It included a focus on distinct identity and sense of belonging related to effective transition into Year 7.  While the standalone Principles has now been abandoned as explicit policy, many of the concepts have been embedded into practice. We can share some promising findings of the impact of intentionally shaping middle years pedagogy.

Our study tracked 317 Year 6 students in 18 Primary Schools into Year 7 in 11 Secondary Schools. We discovered that the intentional approach resulted in students’ sense of belonging at school remaining mostly stable and positive through the transition. It set them up for success and avoiding the gap that might negatively impact their engagement and success at school. However, there is little evidence about the effectiveness of transition out of the middle years, and the relevance and veracity of the senior school models which vary around our nation. 

The need for connected solutions – a longitudinal framework with efficient pit stops 

In this brief commentary I have focused on the middle years. This is my area of passion and research, and where the stakes are especially high. However, similar challenges exist in all phases across the life course, from early childhood education to tertiary education. The opportunity to seek enhancements for confluence in our schooling system reduces abrupt shifts that serve as pit stops and potentially detours between phases, which have become increasingly compartmentalised.  The possibility to explore greater connectedness and a longitudinal framework of success for our students is needed now. And it must be said, the mental health and wellbeing of our students must sit at the front of the class. Investing in a consistent and evidence-based approach is paramount to addressing the declining mental health and wellbeing of our young people.

Professor Donna Pendergast is the Director of Engagement in the Arts, Education and Law Group and former Dean and Head of the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University. Her research expertise is education transformation and efficacy.