Social Ventures Australia (SVA) asked the Mitchell Institute to conduct a literature review on the effectiveness of policies, programs, practices and interventions aimed at strengthening educational and wellbeing outcomes for people highly disengaged from education, employment and training.

Overall the body of evidence did not yield any clear conclusions on the effectiveness of policies, programs, practices and interventions aimed at strengthening educational and wellbeing outcomes for people highly disengaged from education, employment and training. However a number of factors were consistently referred to across the literature as being associated with positive outcomes:

• Creating personalised/individualised supports
• Addressing student wellbeing and any broader issues the young person is facing outside education
• Creating relevant and meaningful pathways that reach beyond the period of the intervention
• Fostering family and community involvement
• Creating strong and trusting relationships
• Creating a safe and comfortable setting
• Creating a curriculum and pedagogy that mixes general curriculum with applied vocational learning for work