The federal government is spending about $250,000 on market research – including focus groups and surveys – to help it plan a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign urging parents to be involved in their children’s education.
In the meantime, it has published tips for parents on the Department of Education and Training’s website, including “have hopes, dreams and ambitions for your child”.
Senators used an estimates committee hearing on Thursday to ask officials about the $5m earmarked in last month’s budget for a campaign to “raise awareness of the positive effect parental engagement has on their children’s achievement in education”.
It would be paid for with unspent funds left over from the previous ad campaign spruiking the higher education package that has been blocked in the Senate twice, according to the budget papers.
Departmental officials told the committee the government was yet to decide the nature and detail of the campaign, but it would be informed by a $250,696 market research project.
“We really are in the initial research stage at the moment,” said Tony Cook, the department’s associate secretary for schools and youth.
“What are the best messages; should these messages be targeted; should they be focused on particular groups; what is the best way of communicating that message; is it television; is it mass media?”
Another official in the department, Jackie Gleeson, provided more detail about the government-commissioned research by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.
“There are focus groups and there’s also quantitative research that’s been undertaken which I understand has taken the form of an online and telephone survey,” she said.
“It depends on what the research tells us as to what form the campaign takes and that is the purpose of the developmental research at the beginning of any government campaign process.”
Cook said parental engagement was one of the four elements of the government’s “students first” policy, and he referred to ideas the department had already published online.
The department’s website includes a page titled “What can I do to help my child do well at school?” and the first tip is to have have hopes, dreams and ambitions for their children.
“When a parent holds high aspirations for their child, they do better at school,” the website says.
“Aspirations are hopes, dreams, aims or ambitions. If you show your child that you believe in their potential and tell them that you know they can succeed, it can help your child build confidence, set higher expectations for themselves, and they can achieve better results at school.”
The page also suggests ways to help children enjoy learning and urges parents to talk with their children every day about their day, read with them and get involved with their school and local community groups.
Labor’s acting education spokesman, Mark Butler, questioned whether the department needed “to spend $5m to tell parents to want the best for their child.”
While parents always hope for the best for their child, what they are hoping for right now is for the government to reverse their savage school cuts which will hurt every child in every school,” Butler said, referring to long-term education funding allocations.
