About the Project
School connectedness and retention is an established key to both immediate and long-term health, academic and life outcomes. Young people with health conditions often miss schooling and get caught in a spiral of catching up and disconnection from important peer relationships and from school. Taking an approach that foregrounds education relationships (rather than focusing on chronic illness), this study investigates the experiences and perspectives of young people whose schooling is disrupted by illness or accident.
Bringing together a multi-disciplinary team of education and adolescent health researchers, together with industry partners from the Royal Children's Hospital Education Institute, the research will illuminate the educational and social experiences of young people with an ongoing health condition. Utilizing visual and narrative approaches within a qualitative and longitudinal framework, the experiences and perspectives of young people will be elicited through in depth interviews over a two-year period. Data from a large-scale survey will complement the qualitative approach while the perspectives of parents, education professionals and health professionals will further elucidate the experiences of these young people.
Through examining the professional and institutional processes that support or impede young people's connection to education, the research will build a new foundation for best practice for the professionals and institutions who work with young people in this situation. The research will produce guidelines for improving the services offered by health and schooling professionals, and provide better knowledge about the processes by which disconnection occurs.
