Announcing our new partnership with The Smith Family

Here at Pearson Australia, we don’t just think that learning changes lives, we know it does. That’s why we are thrilled to announce our new partnership with The Smith Family. 

As Australia’s largest children’s education charity, The Smith Family are the perfect partners to work with us towards achieving our company-wide mission - to help people make progress in their lives through learning.

Our three-year partnership will help disadvantaged young Australians succeed at school by providing the life-changing educational support they need to open the door to a world of opportunity. We’re very excited to be supporting a range of Smith Family programs, including their flagship program, Learning for Life.

The past experiences of one of our own employees, Melissa, makes the Learning for Life program a particularly special one for us.

Mel, currently part of the Pearson Australia Marketing team, is a former Learning for Life student. Mel went through her whole education - primary, secondary and tertiary - with The Smith Family by her side. She says “thanks to the Learning for Life sponsorship, I was able to enjoy a completely normal school life where I wasn’t made to feel different or disadvantaged."

For Mel, and many other Learning for Life students, the impacts of the scholarships are far-reaching. “It gives children the opportunity to join school excursions which might ignite a future career passion in them, or it might allow them to attend school camp where they meet their best friend for life.”

“A Learning for Life sponsorship is more than just a financial contribution - it rolls into a bigger piece about children learning and growing and developing, and lets them figure out their own career path, just like everyone around them is doing.”

“It's very special to come full circle and be able to give back to The Smith Family through this exciting partnership, and to make sure other parents can give their children the same opportunities I was given.”

Listen to Melissa's story to learn about how our partnership with The Smith Family will help disadvantaged young learners to succeed at school.

As part of our partnership, we’ll be sponsoring 37 Learning for Life scholarships for primary school students across Australia.

We’ll also provide support to tertiary students through The Smith Family’s Cadetship to Career program, providing students with a structured pathway to undertake paid work experience at Pearson Australia.

Our enthusiastic and engaged employees have the opportunity to volunteer for The Smith Family’s iTrack online mentoring program, supporting and encouraging students with their post-school plans.

As David Barnett, Managing Director of Pearson Australia says “We're committed to helping people improve their lives through learning, and I couldn’t think of a better partner to help us do this than The Smith Family. We’re hugely excited for the opportunity this gives us to reach more learners across Australia and help them create a better future for themselves through education.”

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