The Sporting Chance Program is an Australian Government initiative that started operations in schools in 2007.

The objective of the Sporting Chance Program is to encourage positive educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

In 2011 a total of 22 providers deliver 64 projects under the Sporting Chance Program for up to 11,000 primary and secondary school students at risk of not completing their schooling. These projects use sport and recreation as a vehicle to increase the level of engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to improve their educational outcomes.

Sporting Chance Program Fact Sheet ( PDF 132KB | RTF 144KB)

The Sporting Chance Program has two elements:

• School-based Sports Academies that provide intensive, innovative and high quality sports-focused learning and development opportunities to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary school students.
• Education Engagement Strategies that provide a range of sport, recreation and education activities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary and secondary school students.

Evaluation

This year the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) will undertake an evaluation of the Sporting Chance Program, to be completed by September 2011. The evaluation will measure the extent to which the Sporting Chance Program is meeting its objective and will be crucial for shaping the future direction of the program. 

For further information please email sportingchance@deewr.gov.au.

Complementary Initiatives and Programs

Interested organisations might also like to investigate the following complementary initiatives and programs.

Note: Funding has been fully committed to December 2012.