Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has given a speech on the future of education in the world’s poorest nations, in her new role at RMIT.

Ms Gillard outlined a model to get more primary school students in developing countries into school and engaged in learning.

“All my life I have been driven by my strong belief that every child should have access to a high quality education,” she said.

“And it's imperative that donor nations, developing countries and experts in the education field band together around a single plan and focus resources to help build and strengthen education systems in some of the world's poorest countries.”

She discussed the idea at a private lecture organised by the Australian Coalition for Education and Development (ACED), after assuming the position of Board Chair of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in March this year.

The GPE is a organisation that unites government of developing and advanced countries, businesses, schools and civil society. The partnership is designed to improve global access to education and its quality.

Australia is the second largest donor to the Global Partnership.]

Civil society groups, including The Global Poverty Project, are asking the Australian Government to increase the nation's contribution to AU$125 million per annum through to 2018.