Partnerships ‘Down Under’: The Kwinana Industries Council Excellence in Education Compact

An innovative partnership in Western Australia is helping to keep young people in school and prepare them for the world of work. The Kwinana Industries Council (KIC) Excellence in Education Compact is a formal agreement between major industries and senior high schools in an industrial area of Western Australia. This paper describes how, from relatively simple beginnings, the Compact has grown and diversified to include industries, schools and the wider community. The Compact is notable for the long-term commitment of the various partners, the attention devoted to the management of the partnership and the results achieved. When the Compact began in the mid-1990s, only 68 percent of Grade 10 students in the area were staying in school to enter Grade 11. Now, school retention rates in the Rockingham, Kwinana and Hamilton districts are 82 percent well above the national average. In 2000, the Compact was selected from 400 international applicants to receive the Millennium Global Best School/Industry Partnership Award.
ISBN – 1-894598-90-3