'What's the problem represented to be?’ in Australian state education policies aimed at pregnant and parenting teenagers

Despite existing federal legislation protecting students who are pregnant and parenting from being denied access to education, many adolescents find schools cannot or will not cater for their needs. Although teenage birth rates have been declining, this demographic shift has not been met by consistent, supportive policy implementation. As a result, a proportion of pregnant teenagers are left at risk of exclusion from education. This study critically examines how Australian state education policies construct the ‘problem’ of pregnant and parenting teenagers by applying Carol Bacchi's What's the Problem Represented to Be? (WPR) framework. By deploying the WPR method to analyse documents from Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and the Northern Territory, I identified four dominant problematisations – discrimination prevention, inclusion, medicalisation, and child protection – shaping each state's response to pregnant and parenting students. The analysis demonstrates that a fragmented approach perpetuates educational disadvantage for this cohort. This paper argues that a coordinated, evidence-based national framework is essential to guarantee equitable access to education for all pregnant and parenting adolescents.