Youth Research NewsVol 10 No 1; May 2000

In this Issue

• Project Update
• PD Unit
• Publications
• Post-Compulsory Review - Interim Report
• Around the Centre
• AERA Conference
• Universitas 21 Fellowship
• Change of Telephone Numbers

Publications

YRC 1999 Annual Report

A copy of the YRC 1999 Annual Report is enclosed to all financial members. Extra copies are available from the Centre at $5 per copy.

The Annual Report is also available on the web at:

http://www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/yrc/publications/AR2000.htm

Working Paper 20

Evaluation of the Behaviour Management Program
at the Melbourne Juvenile Justice Centre

Bob Semmens, Sandy Cook and Cherry Grimwade

The project aimed to: increase the range of skills for management of client behaviours in a fair, respectful and rewarding environment; encourage clients to become accountable and responsible for their actions; change client relationships to authority and society; and maximise young people's abilities to transfer positive learning to the community. This last aim could not be a part of the evaluation which was limited to one year within the institution.

The evaluation focussed on identifying the expectations that clients, staff and management had for the project; assessing the impact the project had on clients, staff, management and the environment in the unit; and formulating recommendations which would contribute to the development of unit management techniques at Melbourne Juvenile Justice Centre.

It was also recommended that an action-research model be implemented so that all participants could be involved in on-going evaluation of the program.

As was advertised in the last newsletter, a copy of this working paper is enclosed for all the financial members.

Further copies are available from the YRC at $10 per copy plus $5 for postage and handling.

Connect 122

The April 2000 issue of Connect has a particular focus on active student participation in primary schools. Junior School Councils in 7 schools in 3 states are profiled, along with some reports from secondary school SRCs. There are also articles exploring 'learning about democracy' from a European perspective, and a report on a teacher professional development activity.

Subscriptions to Connect can be ordered through the YRC or directly from 12 Brooke Street, Northcote 3070 - for $20 pa for individuals or $30 pa for organisations (6 issues per year).

Publications from ACEE

Full Service Schools Kit

Between 1997 and 1999, seven school communities - two in New South Wales, one in Tasmania and four in Victoria - participated in the Linking Schools and Communities project. Their aim was to establish sustainable partnerships with families and the local community, local business and employers, local service agencies and other education providers. Their purpose was to provide better education, better access for students, and better support structures for students and their families - to develop "full service schools". The Linking Schools and Communities project was funded by the Australian Youth Foundation. The Indigenous Education Branch of DETYA supported the inclusion of Woolum Bellum KODE school and the Victorian Catholic Education Office provided support to Marion College.

The story of these school communities will be available in a number of forthcoming publications. The first is the Full Service Schools Resource Kit. The Kit includes the stories of the four Victorian school communities and their participation in the Full Service Schools Research Circle. The Circle, which was facilitated by the National Schools Network, supported the schools and enabled them to share their learnings. The four Victorian schools include a primary school, a secondary college, a Catholic secondary school, and a Koorie Open Door Education school.

Professor Stephen Kemmis worked as an Academic Colleague to the Circle by assisting its members, from schools and community agencies, to reflect on their ideas and practices as they worked to develop inclusive, engaging and enabling school communities. The story of the Circle includes the theories underpinning the Circle's work and the issues that emerged. The kit includes workshop materials to be used to begin discussion about how a school can become the hub of an education community that extends beyond school boundaries. The kit enables the school, its staff and students to build collaborative partnerships with the community and community agencies. The kit also includes reading lists of useful articles.

The Full Service Schools Resource Kit will be available from the ACEE for $100 (less 10% for Equity Network members).

Kirra Kirra Moutpoo

Kirra Kirra Moutpoo is the story of a collaborative project in Dareton, NSW between Tulklana Kumbi Aboriginal Art Gallery and the local schools. Dareton is a Murray River fruit growing town situated between Mildura and Wentworth and is seven hours drive from Melbourne and even further from Sydney. It is a small horticultural town with a high percentage of Aboriginal families.

Tulklana Kumbi Aboriginal Gallery began in 1994. It grew out of the sewing group that started as a TAFE program in 1987. Judy Bartelli was the teacher and is now director of the gallery. In 1996 the former principal at Dareton Public School was looking for activities that would help the Aboriginal children in the primary school learn about their culture. He arranged with Judy for all the Aboriginal children in Grades 4 - 6 to attend a program at the gallery one day a week. The girls did sewing with the women in the gallery and the boys did woodwork with the men. This was funded through ASPA, which is funding to the Aboriginal parent body.

In 1998 some funding through the Linking Schools and Communities Project was provided to the Gallery and schools. After negotiations between the gallery, Coomealla High School and Dareton Public School, the participants agreed to collaborate.

The following objectives were agreed to by the project participants:

• to encourage young Aboriginal people to attend school or return to school;
• to link pride with the gallery to interest in work at school;
• to build stronger links between Aboriginal parents and community and schools to move towards a community that fully serves the needs of its young people.

The gallery has developed a program for young people to attend both the gallery and school for a short time. This has improved the attendance of some of the young people in school. The project's development may not have been smooth but, as it continued the communication between the participants became more positive. A genuine desire on the part of the school and the gallery for the programs to continue developed.

Kirra Kirra Moutpoo is available from the ACEE for $12 including postage and handling (10% discount for Equity Network Members).

Linking Schools and Communities Evaluation

The Linking Schools and Communities Project was developed by the ACEE and funded by the Australian Youth Foundation. It sought to facilitate and document the way in which learning can be improved though collaboration between schools and their communities. Often the concept of school/community links is seen solely in terms of interagency collaboration and, in some instances, co-location of services. The project and the evaluation took a wider view. Collaboration between schools and other community agencies was certainly part of the program. However, each school in the study had in place a range of curriculum, structural and pedagogical procedures that facilitated and promoted collaboration with community agencies.

As part of this project, an evaluation was undertaken in the five sites. In some sites the lead agency was the school, but in some the leadership was shared and, in one site, the lead agency was a community art gallery. The sites were: Banksia Secondary College and Berry Street; Canadian Lead Primary School.; Cleveland Street High School; Tulklana Kumbi Art Gallery; Coomealla High School and Launceston College. During the project, the sites were engaged in a reasonably systematic process of reflection on their work, and this reflection was the basis of further action. The evaluation facilitated this reflection and provided another perspective.

Linking Schools and Communities Program: An evaluation is available from the ACEE for $20 (less 10% for Equity Network Members).

These 3 resources are available from:

Australian Centre for Equity through Education
Cnr Bridge & Swanson Streets
Erskinville NSW 2043

Ph: (02) 9565 2948; Fax: (02) 9565 2954

Change of Telephone Numbers:

Please note that there has been a change of prefix in all University of Melbourne telephone and fax numbers. The new phone number to the Youth Research Centre is:

+61 3 8344 9633

The new fax number is: + 61 3 8344 9632.

Project Update

Student Action Teams

The Student Action Teams project has been extended for a second year. In this project, secondary schools are supported by a small grant (from the Victorian Department of Justice, through the Department of Education, Employment and Training) to establish student teams to investigate and act on issues of community safety. In 1999, twenty schools took part in the inaugural program; twelve of these are continuing their work in 2000. The Youth Research Centre is providing both formative and summative evaluation services to the project.

In 2000, the Centre will monitor the continuing work of these teams, provide support and training where required, and draw together teams' experiences in a 'How To' style manual.

In addition, some local government areas are developing an interest in supporting similar approaches in schools locally and the Centre may play a role in conveying project learnings in their formative stages. For further detail, contact Roger Holdsworth, Helen Stokes, John Stafford or Debra Tyler at the YRC.

Civics and Citizenship Education

The final Professional Development day was held at the end of March for the 25 schools involved in the Civics and Citizenship Education project. The day focused on issues of sustainability; schools discussed ways in which this curriculum area would continue to be a priority once the project focus and the financial support came to an end.

The Youth Research Centre team has been providing project support throughout the 18 months. At the moment, schools are writing their final reports and we are assisting and advising in this process. Sections of these reports will be compiled into a substantial publication that provides practical and useful information to other schools.

YRC contacts are: Roger Holdsworth, Helen Stokes, Debra Tyler and Shirley Carson.

Alternative Education Provision in the ACT

Late in 1999, the Centre was asked to carry out a review of the operation of two alternative education programs in Canberra. These are both programs for high school aged students, located within a College environment. Roger Holdsworth and Andy Moffat (a Victorian-based teacher with experience in alternative education) have been working on the review.

As part of this review, we have been talking with program staff, other College staff, students, parents, support workers and departmental officers. A final report which summarises the successes and needs of the programs and recommends on development plans, has been written for the ACT Department of Education.

Strategies for Engaging 'At Risk' Young People in Education to Year 12

At this stage interviewing has started in Victoria, NSW and WA. Interviewing at the 60 sites nationally will be completed by the end of July, with a draft report of the interviews due at the end of July as well.

It is important that young peoples' voices and opinions are heard in regard to future policy directions. The research will contribute to an understanding of young peoples' perspectives on education, employment, lifestyle and their future. The research will also contribute to the national evaluation of the Full Service Schools (FSS) program currently being undertaken.

The research will identify the perspectives of "at risk" 15-18 year olds on:

1. the social and cultural influences on their attitudes towards education and employment;
2. their connectedness with family, school and community;
3. school and the education system for 15-18 year olds;
4. what they see as their future.

Contact: Helen Stokes

Out of Education

The YRC undertook a research project for the Victorian Full Service Schools Program. The project focussed on a target group of 'at risk' 16 and 17 year olds who are not in education, training or employment. The final report for this project will be available in June.

The report will look at:

• the changing context of welfare provision;
• who are the young people and who is out of education;
• how the young people survive on and off the Youth Allowance.

Five substantial themes emerge from these interviews. These are:

1. the complexity of young people's multi-dimensional lives, in which education and training are only small parts;
2. the strong hopes and ambitions expressed by these young people, including aspirations for satisfying and meaningful work and for further education and training;
3. the degree and nature of these young people's connection to or disconnection from family, peers, education and support agencies;
4. the diversity of the un-met needs expressed by these young people;
5. the need for a diversity of support mechanisms to meet their needs and to bridge their current situations to their aspirations.

Contact: Helen Stokes

Victorian Post-Compulsory Education Review

The YRC has been active in various spheres in relation to the Victorian Government's Review of Post-Compulsory Education and Training Provision. As well as having direct conversations and presentations, the Centre assisted the Northern Industry Education Board (NIEB), based in Shepparton, to draw together a submission to the Review. This involved John Stafford and Roger Holdsworth in discussions with local employers and education and training representatives and the development of a document based on the Centre's support of NIEB's Pilot Program in Part-time New Apprenticeships. We are also assisting the Country Education Project and the Office for Youth in consultations with young people. In addition, the Centre is working with the Dusseldorp Skills Forum to develop ways in which the voices and perspectives of young people can be heard in this and other policy development forums.

PD Unit

MindMatters

MindMatters a Mental Health Promotion Resource for Secondary Schools was launched on March 30. Developed by a consortium including the Youth Research Centre, Deakin University, Sydney University and ACHPER, it comprises a kit including 7 booklets and a video. The materials include:

• School Matters: Mapping and Managing Mental Health in Schools

This document provides schools with a framework and planning approach to assist them with possible structures, strategies, partnerships and curriculum programs to promote and protect the mental health of all members of the school community.

• Educating for Life: a Guide for School-Based Responses to the Prevention of Self-Harm and Suicide

These guidelines outline the policies, processes and practices that make up a comprehensive preventive approach to suicide.

• Enhancing Resilience 1: Communication, Changes and Challenges

These materials are designed to assist schools in running a transition program with junior secondary students. The activities are designed to promote communication, participation, teamwork and positive self-regard. Three curriculum units are targeted at students in their early weeks in high school and include:

• Creating Connections: activities for the home group, personal development or core curriculum teacher, focussing on issues of communication, codes of behaviour and team work. A collection of teambuilding games is included for use in each of the key learning areas.

• Friendship and Belonging: activities for the English class exploring the challenge of making new friends and promoting interactive classroom processes.

• People, Identity and Culture: activities for the Study of Society class exploring personal and social identity and addressing issues of belonging and culture.

• Enhancing Resilience 2: Stress and Coping

This booklet guides schools in their focus on enhancing the resilience and connectedness of their students. It is targeted at middle to senior secondary students and deals with the importance of providing ongoing opportunities for participation and communication, creating a positive school culture, friendly relationships and a valuing of school and community. Two booklets, designed for use in health, pastoral care or religious education, address issues of coping with stress and challenge, help-seeking, peer support, stress-management, and goal setting.

• Coping: students identify some of the stresses and challenges young people have to deal with and explore the range of emotions commonly associated with feelings of stress. They explore a range of coping strategies and consider ways to deal with a range of challenging circumstances.

• Stressbusters: students explore the role and effect of supportive groups, the role of trust and courage in help-seeking behaviour and explore conflict resolution and stress management techniques.

• Dealing with Bullying

This booklet guides schools in their attempts to take a whole school approach to dealing with bullying and harassment. A comprehensive checklist to guide policy and practice is included. Three curriculum units are provided, targeted at junior high school students, and developed for use in the Personal Development class, the English class and the Drama class. It is anticipated that schools would choose one of the unitsFacing Facts: a whole school approach to dealing with bullying and harassment for the Health Class; Students define and give examples of different types of bullying and harassment, consider the effects of bullying on victims, perpetrators and onlookers. They identify common barriers to seeking help or taking protective action. They are equipped to research bullying in their own school and use interactive exercises to develop help-seeking and assertion skills.

• Facing Facts: a whole school approach to dealing with bullying and harassment for the Health Class; Students define and give examples of different types of bullying and harassment, consider the effects of bullying on victims, perpetrators and onlookers. They identify common barriers to seeking help or taking protective action. They are equipped to research bullying in their own school and use interactive exercises to develop help-seeking and assertion skills.
  
• Giving Voice: a whole school approach to dealing with bullying and harassment for the Health Class; Students explore the language of bullying and look at forms of bullying perpetrated at different levels of society. They use group work and participatory exercises to read, write and discuss poetry, stories and newspaper items, exploring the effects of bullying and possibilities for protective action.
  
• Defining Moments: a whole school approach to dealing with bullying and harassment for the Health Class; Students explore the body language of status and power, identify and enact common human responses to messages of welcome or rejection and use a range of dramatic devices to depict and examine the stories and experiences of oppression and to prepare a performance piece around the theme of bullying.

• Understanding Mental Illnesses

This document provides an overview of the issues a school may face in relation to mental illness among students, staff and families. It includes a curriculum unit, aimed at middle to senior secondary students, that aims to increase students' understanding of mental illness, reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems and increase help seeking behaviour. A video accompanies this curriculum unit and this is also relevant for considering mental illness and stigma with any school audience.

• Loss and Grief

Issues of loss and grief have been linked to depression and traditionally such issues have been under-explored in schools. This document provides an overview of school practices relevant to dealing with death and loss within the school, including a sequence of lessons for junior, middle and senior secondary school students.

In addition, a report describing the development and pilotting of the MindMatters materials is published on the YARN website at

http://yarn.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/MMReport/MMReportIndex.htm

MindMatters will be disseminated on a national basis by the Australian Principals Association Professional Develpoment Council (APAPDC) and Curriculum Corporation. Each secondary school in the country is entitled to one free copy of the resource and to receive professional development.

Enquiries should be addressed via http://www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters

An evaluation of the MindMatters pilot project conducted by the Hunter Institute of Mental Health has been published and is available on http://www.himh.org.au/mmep

Drug Education Resources for Hong Kong Schools

Helen Cahill has been conducting focus groups and workshops with students in primary schools in Hong Kong in preparation for the development of a series of drug education videos and animations for use by the Life Education Activity Program (LEAP). The materials will be developed both in English and in Cantonese for use through school in Hong Kong. This follows the development of a series of interactive CDROM games on smoking developed for secondary students in Hong Kong.

Summary of the Interim report of the Ministerial Review of Post Compulsory Education and Training Pathways in Victoria

The Review focusses on the transition period for young people between the end of compulsory schooling, at about age 15, and the gaining of full-time employment, at about 24, although it does not want to generalise too far and is clearly aware that there are few unbroken journeys and that it is difficult to identify an end point for many young people. For example, in country Victoria the rates of early school leavers are rarely below 30 per cent. Most of these young people do not go on to another education institution, and many who do stay to complete school, are reluctant stayers. The degree of disaffection amongst young people does not finish there because, according to employers, even a high proportion of graduates from university and TAFE courses do not have the basic skills to make them employable.

International surveys indicate a relatively low rate of higher order cognitive skills in Australian adults, including those who have completed secondary school. This limits the potential of Australian society to function cohesively and requires greater investment in social capital development to increase the capacity of citizens to engage with the wider community and to improve international performance. At present Australia does not rate highly on an Innovation Index.

It is clear that education and training arrangements that appear to serve the majority of students can no longer be claimed to be optimal. The 'system' must be more accountable for the participation and outcomes of all young people.

Four key principles guide the review:

1. the primary focus of the education and training system must be on the needs of young people and their access to an appropriate system;
2. the education and training system and its program should be accountable to the community for meeting their needs;
3. the education and training system also needs to be accountable for its contribution to economic prosperity of the community and the welfare of all its members within a representative democracy;
4. education systems, at all levels, need to be sensitive to changes in social and economic circumstances.

The current system fails the test. There are limited opportunities for horizontal movement between programs, limited re-entry points, and limited opportunities to combine learning with work for all students. Many young people are unaware of their options and there is a lack of post school monitoring of students. Accountability is built around a limited set of outcomes.

Some options include:

1. use of VET certificate level courses to enrich the curriculum in Years 9 and 10;
2. relaxation of rules for the provision of courses in secondary schools, TAFE and other providers;
3. the capacity of other programs or elements of programs to be located alongside the VCE.

Other possible outcomes are:

1. Involvement of communities collaboratively in planning;
2. A Qualifications Authority may strengthen the capacity to concentrate on the needs of young people as a whole, rather than through the fragmented responsibilities of the three existing boards;
3. More relevant pre-service training for people working in post compulsory education and training.

Other possibilities are mentioned in relation to guidance education, funding, administrative arrangements, monitoring and evaluation, all with a view to increasing State responsibility in breaking down the barriers faced by some groups, thereby accommodating a broader range of young people.

Bob Semmens

Around the Centre

Teaching

This semester Bob Semmens has been teaching in the B. Teach and DipEd courses, in the learning area called Studies of Society and the Environment (SOSE) for Secondary Schools. Classes have been exploring the concept of 'community of inquiry', specifically whether inquiry learning in the context of a caring classroom is possible in the highly competitive education market of today. Students are enjoying the'idealism' of the 'community of inquiry' concept but are unsure of its durability in the real world of schooling - but that is after only a few weeks of classes and one teaching round.

Bob is also coordinating an MEd subject called Social Context and Educational Outcomes. Johanna Wyn, Peter Dwyer and Helen Stokes are also involved, along with Richard Teese from the Educational Outcomes Unit. This is a new subject and one of only a few offered in the area of school and community issues. Students have so far investigated concepts of social context, social capital, and social exclusion and are applying these concepts to data on differential schooling outcomes for particular groups of students. Their assignment requires them to propose more desirable, yet realistic, outcomes for these groups.

Visitors

On Friday 12 May a delegation of 12 senior Chinese police from Guandong province visited the Youth Research Centre. They were interested to hear of the work of the Centre in the areas of school to work pathways, projects relating to the health and mental health of young people, and in discussion of delinquency prevention strategies. Their visit was a follow-up to a series of talks and meetings in 1997 in Guangzhou and Shenzhen with an Australian delegation which included Bob Semmens.

Youth Research features at the American Educational Association Conference

Reinventing Youth was the title of one of the few symposia which focused on youth at the 2000 AERA Annual Conference in New Orleans. The symposium, chaired by Diane Pollard (University of Wisconsin), featured papers by Sari Biklen, of Syracuse University; Lyn Yates, University of Technology, Sydney; Johanna Wyn, Youth Research Centre, The University of Melbourne; Karen Evans, University of Surrey; and Lesley Bogad and Kristen Luschen of Syracuse University. The discussant was Nancy Lesko, Teachers' College, Columbia University.

Each of the papers focused on the need to develop new approaches to researching youth. Lyn Yates focused on the question of concepts of class, drawing on examples of her Australian longitudinal research project on young people's experiences of education and the construction of identities. She made the point that while the relevance of social class to analyses of youth is undisputed, there is a need to clarify how this concept should be used in contemporary research and discussion. Sari Biklen argued for the importance of narrative research, particularly in researching youth and gender issues, drawing on her research on American youth. Karen Evan's paper reported on a large-scale comparative study of UK and German youth in their transition into work. She argued for the importance of conceptualising young people's agency in this process. Johanna's paper, based on the Youth Research Centre's Life Patterns project, put forward the argument that a 'new adulthood' is being constructed by young people. The paper focused on the implications of young people's new life patterns for education. Lesley and Kristen's paper provided a perspective on US media and public discourses which marginalise young women who do not conform to norms.

In summary, Nancy Lesko pointed out that educationalists need to question the extent to which traditional, age-based conceptions of youth are still relevant. She felt that the papers all provided strong evidence for the need to make 'youth research' more of a central concern within 'educational research' in the future.

Report on Universitas 21 Fellowship

The award of the Edward Clarence Dyason Universitas 21 Fellowship to Johanna Wyn has further strengthened existing links with Canadian researchers. Johanna was a visiting scholar at the University of British Columbia for five months in 1999 where she was based in the Department of Educational Studies and furthered the research collaboration between the Youth Research Centre and the Western Region Network which is based at UBC, lead by Professor Jane Gaskell. The Youth Research Centre is an international partner in the Canadian-based network which brings together representatives from different sectors who are interested in the relationship between education and labour market outcomes. The network involves academics, policy makers teachers and representatives of the private sector. The 2000 WRNET conference featured a presentation on the Youth Research Centre's involvement in the establishment of the Victorian State Government's Youth Enterprise Strategy which is currently being piloted in the South West of Victoria. As well as strengthening current research links, the Fellowship facilitated the development of new research links between staff at the two institutions. During 2000, researchers will explore the feasibility of involving Melbourne-based teachers in an international 'teachers as researchers' project.

The Fellowship also entailed an appointment as a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow. There, links were made with the youth health research team at the Medical Research Council (Patrick West and Helen Sweeting) and with the youth studies projects which are located in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (Andy Furlong and Fred Cartmel). In both Canada and Scotland, Johanna gave seminars on different aspects of the Youth Research Centre's Life Patterns Project.