Notes on the data: Families

Children in families where the mother has low educational attainment, 2021

Policy context: Strong relationships between education and health outcomes exist in many countries, favouring the survival and health of children born to educated parents, especially mothers; but the pathways are culturally and historically complex and vary between and within countries [1,2,3]. A lack of successful educational experiences of parents may lead to low aspirations for their children; and may be related to parents’ attitudes, their ability to manage the complex relationships which surround a child’s health and education, and their capacity to control areas of their own lives [4,5,6,7].

In August 2021, some 14.1% of children aged under 15 years were in such a family, 196,009 children in jobless couple families and a large number (327,197 children) at these ages in jobless one parent families. This was well down on the proportion in 2011 (23.5%) and also below that in 2016 (17.0%).

Although, under this measure, one in seven children remains at risk from a poorer outcome, the reduction over the past ten years is heartening.

References

Cleland JG. Maternal education and child survival: further evidence and explanations. In: Caldwell J et al. (Eds.), What we know about the health transition (Vol. 1). Canberra: Health Transition Centre, Australian National University; 1990.
Ewald D, Boughton B. Maternal education and child health: an exploratory investigation in a Central Australian Aboriginal Community. (Occasional paper series, no. 7). Casuarina, NT: Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health; 2002.
Hobcraft J. Women's education, child welfare and child survival: a review of the evidence. Health Transition Review 1993; 3(2):159-73.
Graetz B. Socio-economic status in education research and policy. In: Ainley J et al. (Eds.), Socio-economic status and school education. Canberra: Department of Education, Employment and Training (DEET) and Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER); 1995.
Williams T, Long M, Carpenter P, Hayden M. Year 12 in the 1980's: report of a study supported by the Commonwealth EIP program. Canberra: AGPS; 1993.
Considine G, Zappala G. Factors influencing the educational performance of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In: Eardley T, Bradbury B (Eds.), Competing visions: refereed Proceedings of the National Social Policy Conference 2001. (SPRC Report 1/02). Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales; 2002.
Ryan C, Sartbayeva S. Young Australians and social inclusion. Canberra: Social Policy Evaluation, Analysis, and Research (SPEAR) Centre, Australian National University; 2011.

Notes: The data presented are of children aged less than 15 years living in families where the female parent’s highest level of schooling was year 10 or below, or where the female parent did not attend school, expressed as a proportion of all children aged less than 15 years

Geography: Data available by Population Health Area, Local Government Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area and Quintiles within PHNs, and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Children in families where the mother has low educational attainment

Denominator: Total children under 15 years

Detail of analysis: Percent

Source: Compiled by PHIDU based on the ABS Census of Population and Housing, August 2021 (unpublished data).