Two Australian charities are merging to significantly scale up their work to prevent disengaged children from dropping out of school.

Hands on Learning Australia (HoLA) and Save the Children Australia will be working together to re-engage vulnerable children in school to improve their educational and life outcomes, when the two charities merge on April 1.

Together the charities will address a real need.  A recent study by the Centre for International Research on Education Resources (CIRES) revealed the rate of Australian school students finishing year 12 is in decline with one in four young people not completing year 12.

Since 2008, HoLA has partnered with over 65 school Victorian schools to roll out its innovative education program, which caters to the different ways young people learn, and has helped more than 7,500 disengaged students stay at school.

With the support of Save the Children – which operates in more than 200 sites across Australia – HoLA will expand its Victorian footprint, as well as expand into other states and territories.

Hands on Learning Australia executive director, Cameron Wiseman, said the merger would ensure greater educational outcomes for children and young people, potentially across Australia, with support particularly needed in remote and economically disadvantaged communities.

“Right now, only a fraction of the number of students who could benefit from HoL are doing so. Together we can leverage our joint expertise and our local knowledge  to support more young people to stay at school . We can also consolidate funding efforts and have greater influence on government policy and the systems that support children. It’s a real win-win situation,” said Wiseman. 

Save the Children chief executive, Paul Ronalds, said the merger would bring together two not-for-profit organisations with the same goal.

“HoLA has a long-term ambition of preventing early school leaving, while we have a vision of a world in which every child attains the right to a quality basic education,” he said.

“We’re excited and inspired by HoLA’s work. They run a program that has been proven to be effective at keeping young people at school. So we will be proud to work with them to reach even more students, because we know that a quality education is critical to ensuring children have every possible chance in life to reach their potential.”

Ronalds said the current competitive charity space meant the merger also made sense on a financial level.

“The Australian charity sector is becoming more and more competitive and resource constrained. So it’s critical that NGOs get creative, evolve new business models and start working more closely together on sustainable approaches that best serve communities in need.”