Beyond education: The important role of schools

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The pandemic has highlighted the critical role that schools play in protecting our most vulnerable children

The Covid-19 pandemic has sharpened our understanding of how schools fit into our communities. It has been a clear reminder that we rely on schools for a lot more than the education of our kids – particularly their enablement of the economic productivity of working parents. An equally important contribution is the opportunity to connect supports to vulnerable children and families.

By virtue of our compulsory education system, most children and families are regularly engaged with schools over the longer term in way that they are not connected into other settings. The universality, consistency and longevity of schools’ engagement with families means they are excellent settings within which to address many forms of disadvantage and vulnerability.

The pandemic has highlighted the critical role that schools play in protecting our most vulnerable children, particularly those whose home environments place them at risk. School attendance is one of the ways that our communities keep ‘eyes on the child’ and exercise our collective responsibilities toward children.

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Teachers have a complex role that extends beyond doling out quality education

Over the past ten years, we have seen a trend toward integration of health and mental health services into schools within some jurisdictions. In Victoria for example, we’ve seen increasing presence of medical, nursing and allied health supports in primary and secondary schools – most recently with a commitment to mental health practitioners in every secondary school by 2022.

These ‘on campus’ services are part of a broader reconceptualization of schools as community hubs. They provide direct access to much needed health interventions. By bringing the service to the person, and removing many of the barriers to service access for families in the community, these strategies also increase our community’s ability to identify problems and intervene early.

These types of services also have the added benefit of providing advice and support to educators. Teachers have a complex role that extends beyond doling out quality education. Having access to health and mental health expertise in the school can support teachers to more confidently identify, accommodate or make referrals when health and mental health issues are present in their classrooms.

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It’s time to embrace and accelerate the movement toward more multi-disciplinary service integration in schools

At Urbis, we undertake a broad range of evaluative and advisory work which looks at the ways in which systems intersect. Our research explores how schools can better connect people to their communities. This in turn, creates opportunities and pathways that enable children to reach their potential. Our findings can help to guide how schools integrate with health and mental health services, social and family supports, and local community economies.

It’s time to embrace and accelerate the movement toward more multi-disciplinary service integration in schools. If executed well, the opportunities for earlier, timelier supportive intervention will enable us to improve life outcomes for our children.