Students who are disengaged from learning are at high risk of leaving school early. The Navigator program is designed to support Victoria’s most disengaged students aged 12–17 years. These students are often highly vulnerable with complex barriers to re engaging with school.

The program aims to reduce disengagement for students whose attendance was below 30 per cent in the previous school term, and to re-engage most of them in mainstream education with sustained attendance above 70 per cent.

Key findings:

• Not all students have equitable and timely access.
• Referrals to Navigator vary across Victoria.
• Only a quarter of students received specialised Department of Education and Training (DET) support before referral.
• DET does not manage Navigator to meet variation in demand.