The Mitchell Institute monitors the performance of Australia's education system, with a specific focus on developing and advocating for policies that reduce inequality.

Our work identifies who is experiencing reduced opportunities in education, the factors driving inequality and the policy solutions that will provide greater opportunities for all young people to succeed in education and their life beyond.

Key contacts

Sergio Macklin
Deputy Lead of Education Policy, Mitchell Institute
Preschool, childcare, early learning
Opinion

Nearly 40% of Australian families can’t ‘afford’ childcare

30 June 2021

The Conversation: Childcare is unaffordable for more than 385,000 Australian families, a new report from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute shows.

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.
Assessing Affordability of Childcare report photo
Reports

Assessing Childcare Affordability in Australia

30 June 2021

Childcare is currently unaffordable for 386,000 Australian families or 39% of families who use childcare, a new report from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute shows.

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.
Opinion

Bridging the higher education/industry gap

25 June 2021

How can universities collaborate with industry and the wider education system to help young people move successfully into skilled careers and continually up-skill and re-skill thereafter?

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.
Opinion

An extra $1.7 billion for child care won’t improve affordability for most

3 May 2021

Our analysis suggests the government's child-care subsidy changes won’t do much to improve the affordability of child care for many families on low to middle incomes. Nor will it address systemic problems.

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.
Opinion

Closed border could cost education sector $20bn a year in 2022

28 April 2021

The Conversation: New research from the Mitchell Institute forecasts the education sector's biggest losses are yet to come, finding a third academic year of no international students would cost about $20 billion a year.

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.
Reports

Stuck in transit: international student update

28 April 2021

Continued border closures mean the value of Australia's intern­­ational education sector is to shrink from $40.3 billion in 2019 to $20.5 billion by the end of 2022, new modelling from the Mitchell Institute shows.

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.
Opinion

Australia can’t afford not to protect investment in tertiary education

4 April 2021

The Age: Australia’s investment in tertiary education, and the benefits it delivers, is at risk because of the pandemic.

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.
Preschool, childcare, early learning, child, children
Opinion

Families in eastern states pay around twice as much for preschool

22 February 2021

The Conversation: Our new report maps preschool policies across Australia and found many families in the eastern states have been paying around double what families pay in other states and territories.

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.
Preschool, childcare, early learning
Opinion

The case for universal, accessible, high-quality preschool

19 February 2021

The economy needs all talents to be developed from an early age. Direct public funding, based on evidence that shows two years of preschool are highly beneficial, is good social and economic policy.

assets/arrow-long Created with Sketch.