Authors: Louise Watson, Jenny Chesters, Affrica Taylor, Adam Murray, Stephen Lamb, Michael Long, Merryn Davies and Esther Doecke

Evaluator Company/Business: University of Canberra and University of Melbourne

Year: 2014

URL or PDF: Download the Evaluation of school external partnerships: Bridges and Barriers, the challenges of building external partnerships in low SES school communities, progress report 5 (PDF, 1.03MB)

Summary:  This report presents survey data on teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of external partnerships undertaken by their schools under the Low Socio-economic Status School Communities National Partnership (Low SES NP). Survey participants were from 636 schools in both government and non-government sectors with a total of 2,408 respondents. Survey findings indicate that the Low SES NP has had a positive impact on low-SES schools’ capacity to engage with parents and carers and the wider community on a number of indicators. The findings also indicate that levels of school-parent engagement in secondary schools remain lower than in primary schools, and that teachers’ perceptions of the impact of the Low SES NP differs, according to their age, length of service in their current school, and their professional role.