Gaining the skills and education needed at all stages of life
Canberrans have equitable access to education and learning opportunities, through all ages and stages of life, to develop and gain the skills needed to live life well.
Wellbeing Indicators
In developing the ACT Wellbeing Framework, participants in consultations consistently identified education as a key dimension influencing a person’s wellbeing and their growth from a young age into and through adulthood. Education is fundamental to enabling people to make choices in life and giving them the opportunity to participate in society.
The course of an individual’s educational prosperity is often determined at an early age. Given this, one of the indicators in the Education and life-long learning domain focuses on tracking the quality of access to early childhood education in the years before pre-school.
In shaping the Framework, conversations about school education focussed on issues of equity and access, and students feeling safe and accepted in schools. While school educational attainment is a driver of opportunity in later years, the ACT recognises that the wellbeing of children in their school years is vital to their life outcomes. Acknowledging and celebrating the diversity of ACT school students, their different needs and ambitions, and identifying equity as the key component in meeting the needs of each individual student is vital.
In addition to school education, learning over the life course – including through vocational education and training or higher education – is important to ensuring individuals feel prepared for new opportunities. Life-long learning also ensures their capacity and ability to gain new skills in response to changes in life circumstances or economic conditions.
