Through the lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), over the 17 days leading up to the Australia’s national election we will be highlighting the challenge for an inclusive and sustainable Australia, what can be done to address the challenge and what BCSD Australia, as part of a global WBCSD network is doing to create impact.
On Day 4, we are looking at SDG4: Good health and well-being
Australia’s workforce is well-educated, with high levels of participation in higher education. However, it spends less than the average of similar OCED countries one education. According to the SDG Index, Australia’s quality education performance is relatively high but there is poor performance on some measures (particularly on science) signalling more focus is required. Better academic outcomes, especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) would lift future workforce productivity and better prepare Australia for the Industrial Revolution 4.0.
Making our education system fair, accessible and fit for future purpose:
At its highest level, Australia’s education sector should enable students to think first and foremost about what skills and knowledge are right for them, and not about what institution they’re going to, or what degree they’re going to do. A sustainable needs-based funding plan must put more money into school education. The vocational education and training sector needs to have a national, coordinated approach to quality assurance, the same as for tertiary education providers, both public and private. Other areas for improvement include the quality of initial teacher education and the need for more focus on young people in regional areas who overall tend to have less formal education.
What is BCSD Australia doing to create impact to address this challenge?
We place a strong emphasis on the need for education on sustainable development and business. We are working with a number of partner organisations on projects that will help to address this challenge here in Australia and around the world, including:
Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to see our latest posts on #SDGsAndTheElection each day.
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