Helen Stokes has been a research fellow and lecturer at the Australian Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne since 1996. From 2004 - 2007 she was the Centre Manager at the Australian Youth Research Centre. Over the last 12 years she has conducted and managed research projects and evaluations, internationally, nationally and locally. These have included a range of projects based in schools, TAFE, and ACE and in community organizations. Central to this work has been research about early school leaving, vocational education, partnership development and the role of young people, community organizations and schools in that development. Throughout these projects she has had responsibility for project design and project delivery including conducting interviews with young people, workers and community personnel, analysis of data and report writing.

Helen is currently completing her PHD. Her research looks at the role of the work place and extra curricula activities including the arts in the construction of young people's identities

Helen is School Council President at Princes Hill Secondary College. Helen has been on School council at princes Hill Secondary College for 10 years and President for eight years. She also chairs the School and Community sub committee.

Bachelor of Arts, University of Melbourne 1986
Graduate Diploma in Education, University of Melbourne 1988

Helen Stokes has taught in the student well being area.

The subjects she has taught include:

Student well being Contexts and frameworks Seminar leader Semester 1 2007

School community partnerships, Post Graduate Diploma in Educational studies (Student welfare),lecturer, 1999 - 2003

Socio political context, Post Graduate Diploma in Educational studies (Student welfare), lecturer, 1999 - 2003

Organisational Change, Post Graduate Diploma in Educational studies (Student welfare), lecturer, 1999 - 2000

Other teaching includes:

EPSS, Graduate Diploma in Education seminar leader, semester 2 2003

Australian Youth Cultures, seminar leader, Semester 1 2003

She has supervised research projects for the Post Graduate Diploma in Student welfare and the Bachelor of Teaching

Helen Stokes and Malcolm Turnbull, Research and evaluation for the Education Foundation Australia programs including WOW, City Centre, ru Mad, opportunity scholarships, Stepup, Back to school and Reimagining learning 2008

Helen Stokes and Hernan Cuervo for Worksafe on occupational health and safety knowledge and behaviours of young people in compulsory and post compulsory education 2008

Helen Stokes Hitting the mark? Research on the teaching and learning for high achieving students at a Melbourne secondary College for DEECD 2008

Helen Stokes and Malcolm Turnbull Evaluation of the Generation Next radio program at JOY Melbourne for the Foundation for Young Australians 2003 - 2007

Helen Stokes and Bernadette Murphy Youth Transition Support Initiative Evaluation project, Department of Education 2007

Johanna Wyn, Debra Tyler, Helen Stokes, Graeme Smith and Dan Woodman pathways Then and Now, ARC Longitundinal Study 2006 - 2007

Ani Wierenga and Helen Stokes Situation of Bhutanese Youth in Bhutan
Youth Development Fund, Bhutan, 2004 – 2005

Helen Stokes, Kathleen Stacey, Murray Lake, Schools, VET and partnerships: Capacity building in rural and regional areas National Centre for Vocational Education Research NCVER, 2004 – 2005

Gary Shaw, Helen Stokes and Debra Tyler Reconnecting Young People to Supportive Learning Environments Crime Prevention Victoria 2003 – 2004

Roger Holdsworth, Helen Stokes Youth Economic Participation and Mental Health Project VicHealth, 2002 – 2003

Johanna Wyn, Helen Stokes and Debra Tyler Structured Re-entry for Young People with Disrupted Educational Pathways National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) 2002 - 2003

Helen Stokes Evaluation of the music industry and young people program Crime Prevention Victoria, 2004 - 2005

Helen Stokes and Roger Holdsworth Tracking the Youth Economic Participation for Mental Health Pilots Vic Health 2003 – 2004

Helen Stokes Evaluation of the School Community Regional Arts for Youth Program Maribyrnong City Council and Crime Prevention Victoria, 2003

Helen Stokes, Ani Wierenga, Johanna Wyn The Young Visions Project Enterprise and Career Education Foundation, 2002 – 2003

1. Chapters in Books

Wyn, J. and Stokes, H. ‘Community Strategies: Addressing the Challenges of Young People Living in Rural Australia’ in Falk, I. (ed) (2001) Learning to Manage Change; Developing Regional Communities for a Local-Global Millennium, National Centre for Vocational Education Research

2. Refereed journal articles

Stokes H and Wyn J (2007) ‘Constructing identities and making careers: Young people’s perspectives of work and learning’ in International Journal of Lifelong Education 26 (5): 495-511

Tyler, D and Stokes, H (2007) ‘Constructing Identities: Young people’s perceptions of life and career’ in International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 2 (1):367 - 374

Stokes, H (2005) How drama can engage young people at risk of leaving school early in The International Journal on School Disaffection Vol 3 No 2

Stokes, H. and Tyler, D. (2003) Stepping Stones in International Journal of Learning Vol 10 Article LC 03 – 0016 – 2003

Stokes, H. & Tyler, D. (2001) The Multidimensional Lives of Young people: Young Peoples’ perspectives of Education, Work, Life and Their Future in The Scottish Youth Issues Journal, no 3 Autumn pp 93 – 114

Stokes, H. and Mukherjee, D. (2000) The Nature of Health /School Links in Australia in Journal of School Health Vol 70 No. 6 pp 255 – 256

Semmens, R. and Stokes, H. (1997) Full Service Schooling for Full Citizenship: from Theory to Practice, in Melbourne Studies in Education, pp. 38, 2: 115-130 (peer reviewed)









3. Refereed Conference papers

Stokes, H and Quale, A (2007) Developing identities: Young people and their involvement in radio training at JOY Melbourne in Wierenga, A (ed) Are We There Yet – Conference proceedings, ACYS Hobart

Stokes H and Wyn J (1998) Community Strategies: Addressing the Challenges for Young People Living in Rural Australia in Falk I (Ed) Learning Communities, Regional Sustainability and the Learning Society - Conference Proceedings, Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia, Launceston



4. Reports

Murphy, B, Stokes, H, Taylor, F. (2008) Youth Transition Support Initiative formative evaluation, Melbourne, DEECD

Wyn, J Smith, G, Stokes, H, Tyler, D, Woodman, D (2008) Generations and Social Change: Negotiating Adulthood in the 21st century, Melbourne, Australian Youth Research Centre

Stokes, H, Stacey, K, and Lake, M. (2006) Schools, vocational education and training and partnerships: Capacity - building in rural and regional communities, NCVER, Adelaide

Wierenga, A and Stokes, H (2006) The Situation of Bhutanese Youth in Bhutan, Final report, Youth Development Fund, Bhutan.

Stokes, H, Shaw, G, and Tyler. (2005) Reconnecting Young People to Supportive Learning Environments – Evaluation of Early School Leavers Pilot program and Truancy Reduction Program, Crime Prevention Victoria. (unpublished)

Stokes, H, Wierenga, A,. Wyn, J. (2004) Preparing for the Future and Living Today

http://www.ecef.com.au/web/Files.nsf/files/YoungVisionsFocusGroup.pdf/$FILE/YoungVisionsFocusGroup.pdf
Research report No 24, Youth Research Centre, Melbourne

Wyn, J. Stokes, H. and Tyler, D. (2004) Stepping Stones: TAFE and ACE program development for early school leavers, Adelaide: National Centre for Vocational Education Research Adelaide

Stokes H, (2003) Engaging Young people in School through the Arts
Youth Research Centre, Melbourne

Stokes, H and Tyler D (2002) Negotiating Pathways – Evaluation of Phase 2 of the Pathways Program, DE&T, Melbourne

Stokes, H., Holdsworth, R., Chiswell, M. and Stafford, J. (2001) Vocational Education and Training in Small Rural School Communities, National Centre for Vocational Education Research Adelaide

Wyn, J., Stokes, H., Forth, G. and Howell, K. (2001) Evaluation of the Victorian Youth Enterprise Pilot South West Youth Research Centre, Melbourne

Holdsworth, R., Stafford, J., Stokes, H. and Tyler, D. (2001) Student Action Teams An Evalu

Current projects - 2008

(previous projects are listed under research)

Helen Stokes and Malcolm Turnbull, Research and evaluation for the Education Foundation Australia programs including WOW, City Centre, ru Mad, opportunity scholarships, Stepup, Back to school and Reimagining learning 2008

Helen and Malcolm are currently working with the education Foundation Australia to evaluate and research their suite of programs over 2008. The research project Reimagining Learning will look at the impact of EFA program in schools where the school undertakes a number of EFA programs.This information will be used to assist EFA plan their direction for programming in the future.

Currently as of May 2008 Evaluation reports have been completed for World of Work (WOW) and Step up

Helen Stokes and Hernan Cuervo for Worksafe on occupational health and safety knowledge and behaviours of young people in compulsory and post compulsory education 2008

Helen And Hernan are conducting interviews in both metropolitan, regional and rural Schools and TAFEs with young people aged 15 - 18 who have part time work.

From these interview a report will be written that provides an account of young people's understanding of occupational health and safety and the training they have received. There will also information as to how they would like to learn about OHS to help inform Worksafe develop materials for schools to teach OHS. The final report will be completed in August.


Helen Stokes Hitting the mark? Research on the teaching and learning for high achieving students at a Melbourne secondary College for DEECD 2008

Interviews were conducted with students, teachers, parents and past students at a Secondary School in Melbourne to gain an understanding of the learning needs of high achieving students at that school. The final report provides an account of teaching and learning across all the school as well as responding to the needs of the particular group being researched. The report is currently being used by the school in development of the strategic plan.