Team Name

Gerald Mendeja

Team Members

Project Description

EduMatch

The Issue

Educational Navigation Challenges for New Australians:

• New citizens lack cultural knowledge to navigate Australia's complex education system (government, Catholic, independent schools)
• School choice has become "a common and expected activity" but requires access to information and networks that new Australians often don't have (Warren 2015, p. 153)
• Parents "really only have a choice about which school their child will attend if they can find money for fees or a house in the right suburb, and have access to information and networks" (Warren 2015, p. 153)
• Language barriers and cultural differences create additional obstacles in understanding school options

Democratic Participation Gap:

• Limited understanding of how to engage with school governance and community decision‑making
• Missed opportunities to build civic connections through educational involvement
• Reduced confidence in navigating Australian democratic institutions

Indigenous Education Equity:

• Only 4 of 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track to be met (GovHack Challenge Brief 2025)
• Persistent disparities in Indigenous educational outcomes
• Difficulty finding schools with strong Indigenous support programs and cultural competency

The Solution

EduMatch - Intelligent Education Tool:

• Comprehensive digital platform built on processed ACARA data covering 9,847+ Australian schools
• Personalized school recommendations based on family needs, cultural background, and preferences
• Multilingual support and cultural bridge connections
• Democratic participation pathways through educational engagement
• Indigenous education excellence tracking and support
• Community integration tools and mentorship programs

Features

Intelligent School Matching:

• Comprehensive 11-question personalized assessment covering child's age, gender preference, language background, and academic priorities
• Location-based recommendations with travel time calculations and distance filtering
• Support for government, Catholic, and independent school sector preferences

School Discovery and Comparison:

• Advanced search with real-time filtering by state, school type, sector, and performance ratings
• Side-by-side school comparison tool with visual analytics and performance charts
• Detailed school profiles with academic performance, enrollment demographics, and facility information
• Interactive maps with school locations and proximity indicators

Personalized Experience:

• Favorites system for saving and organizing preferred schools across all views
• Personalized dashboard showing recommended schools based on assessment results
• Smart sorting options including distance, academic rating, student-teacher ratio, and enrollment size
• Cultural diversity indicators and Indigenous support program identification

Indigenous Education Support:

• Dedicated Indigenous Resources section highlighting schools with Indigenous student populations
• Statistics tracking and school cards specifically for Indigenous education outcomes
• Resource links to ACARA data, Closing the Gap initiatives, and cultural competency information
• Filter capabilities to identify schools with strong Indigenous support programs

Accessibility and User Experience:

• Native iOS design with full offline functionality for areas with limited connectivity
• Location services integration for automatic proximity calculations and travel time estimates
• Comprehensive school data including teacher-student ratios, ICSEA ratings, and academic performance metrics
• Visual data representation with charts, progress bars, and performance indicators

Technical Information

Data Architecture:

• Custom ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipeline processing raw ACARA datasets into structured format
• Cleansed and normalized school profile data, enrollment demographics, and performance indicators
• Geographic data processing with coordinate validation and distance calculation optimization
• Indigenous support program data extraction and categorization from ACARA source files
• Data quality validation and consistency checks across multiple ACARA data sources

Technology Stack:

• Native iOS Application built with SwiftUI framework
• Core Data persistence layer with custom data models for processed ACARA data
• Core Location integration for proximity-based school recommendations
• SchoolService.swift managing local data synchronization and updates
• MapKit integration for school location visualization
• Native iOS accessibility features

Data Processing Implementation:

• Custom data transformation logic converting ACARA raw data into app-compatible format
• SchoolData struct handling parsed ACARA information with proper data type conversion
• PersistenceController managing local Core Data storage of processed school information
• Data validation and error handling for inconsistent or missing ACARA data fields
• Efficient data loading and caching strategy for optimal app performance

Performance Specifications:

• Native iOS performance with optimized Core Data queries on processed datasets
• Offline functionality through local persistence of transformed ACARA data
• Location-based school matching using CLLocation distance calculations
• Memory-efficient data handling for large processed datasets

What's Next?

Government Partnership Integration: Collaborate with Department of Home Affairs settlement programs and state education departments to embed EduMatch into official new citizen services and resources

Community Impact Measurement: Deploy comprehensive analytics to track democratic participation increases (target: 40% improvement in school governance engagement) and Indigenous education access improvements aligned with Closing the Gap targets

Platform Expansion and Research: Scale nationwide with advanced AI features, conduct longitudinal research on educational equity outcomes, and establish EduMatch as the definitive tool for educational navigation in Australia's multicultural democracy

Reference List

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2025) ACARA Data Access Program. ACARA, viewed 30 August 2025, <https://www.acara.edu.au/contact-us/acara-data-access (Accessed: 31 August 2025)>

Warren, D 2015, 'Parents' choices of primary school', in LSAC Annual Statistical Report 2015, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne, pp. 153-172, viewed 30 August 2025, <https://aifs.gov.au/research/commissioned-reports/parents-choices-primary-school>.

Data Story

EduMatch leverages ACARA Data Access to transform raw school information from almost 10,000 Australian schools into personalized recommendations by analyzing enrollment demographics, academic performance metrics (ICSEA scores), geographic locations, and Indigenous student populations through an intelligent matching algorithm that helps new Australian families navigate the complex educational landscape and find schools that align with their cultural, academic, and community needs.