A $37m cash injection will allow the Navigator program to be extended to primary schools

A program working with vulnerable Victorian students will be rolled out in primary schools under a funding boost.

Interventions to stop Victoria’s most vulnerable students dropping out of school will be ramped up from next year.

Almost a year after a report revealed that the state government could not prove whether its Navigator program was effective in getting 12-17-year-olds at risk of disengaging from school back in the classroom, the initiative will be extended to target kids as young as 10 years old.

The report by the Victorian Auditor General’s Office (VAGO), released in March, found that data collected by the Department of Education could not indicate whether students across the state had equal access to the measure, or how effective the program was since its inception in 2016.

A $37m cash injection, which will allow the program to target primary school children – comes as educators warn the true extent of ‘grey exclusion’ – students asked to leave a school in an unofficial capacity or who is not engaged with a professional service – is higher than what statistics suggest.

The Navigator program helps children at risk of disengaging from school. Picture: iStock

A pilot program for 10 and 11-year-olds will be rolled out across Bayside Peninsula, Western Melbourne, Loddon, Campaspe, Hume and Moreland from term 1 2023 before expanding to the rest of the state.

The Department accepted all recommendations made in the VAGO report, bringing on-board a central data scientist to identify and prevent kids most at risk from dropping out.

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed that primary school kids missed an average of 20 days per year, while secondary school kids missed 26 days.

Dr David Armstrong, senior lecturer in Special and Inclusive Education at RMIT University, said the real test to determine whether the government initiative is working will be identifying children likely to disengage from their studies earlier.

“Once a kid leaves school, it’s really difficult to get them back in. We need to think about primary and preschool to support kids and their families,” Dr Armstrong said.

“The problem with these (programs) is they can create this other grey space for kids. Many of them are not in official statistics.

“It’s about reducing the system drivers that see kids not being included.”

The pilot program for 10 and 11-year-olds starts in 2023. Picture: iStock

Navigator targets factors driving kids away from the classroom, such as substance abuse, mental health issues and students in the youth justice system.

Specialists work one-on-one with students and their families to gradually build up their daily attendance.

Director of the St Kilda based School Refusal Clinic and mental health social worker John Chellew said re engaging kids with learning was “pivotal” so they did not fall behind their peers in social and academic development.

The waitlist for Mr Chellew’s clinic has blown out to 30, with Mr Chellew potentially having to hire more clinicians to address the backlog.

“It’s absolutely imperative that children the younger, the more important obviously, so they don’t fall behind their peers academically in terms of numeracy, literacy, core leanings, academically but also social learning,” he said.

“Re-engaging kids is a growing complexity which presents a range of issues. There is an increase in kids with autism and the number of kids willing to go back to school, even at this point given Covid is well behind us now.”

Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said expanding Navigator would encourage more students to reconnect with their education.

“Thousands of young Victorians have returned to learning through this program, improving their career options and setting them up for the future. That’s why we’re expanding this Navigator to give every Victorian child the best chance in life,” she said.

About 3,700 students of the 5,500 who have come through the Navigator program have resumed schooling.