Youth Research Vol 4 No 4 September 1994

YRC PUBLICATIONS: Reminder: NOW AVAILABLE!

"Early School Leavers: Young Women & Girls At Risk"

This recent YRC Research Report focuses on the post-compulsory outcomes from schooling for young women. It draws on the YRC's Disaffiliated Early School Leavers Study. Following the experiences of a group of young women who left school early, the paper explores the processes whereby some young women are marginalised during their post-school years, leaving them vulnerable and dependent.

These issues are of direct concern to teachers and other members of school communities because of their implications for the nature and quality of all aspects of schooling, including the development of policies regarding school organisation and curricular issues, welfare and discipline frameworks.

Cost: $5 for financial YRC members; $10 for others - prices include postage. Order from the YRC at the above address or phone: (03) 344 8252; fax: (03) 344 8256.

CATALOGUE OF PUBLICATIONS 
New ..  Updated Version (August 1994)
Available now ......FREE
Phone:  Jasmina on (03) 344 8251

Forthcoming YRC Publications: Youth Research Issues & Directions; Early School Leavers: Final Report

YRC STAFF CHANGES

Stephen Lamb, Research Consultant at the Youth Research Centre and Sociology Lecturer in the Department of Social and Educational Studies, has been appointed to the position of Lecturer in Education at the University of Tasmania in Hobart.

Stephen has been a key researcher in the Centre's analysis of national data on Early School Leavers over the past 18 months. His expertise and insights have meant that the Centre has been able to provide substantial information and advice from this data to the Department of Employment, Education and Training. Stephen's skills and experience will be greatly missed within the Centre.

Stephen will take up the position in Hobart later this month. We wish him well in the move.

ANZCIES CONFERENCE 1994

The Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society will hold its 1994 Conference - Educating All the Family - from 4th - 7th December, at the Institute of Education, The University of Melbourne.

The Conference will present comparative and international perspectives on gender and equity, post-compulsory schooling, pre-school education and education for immigrant and refugee families.

For further information and Registration Form, contact Mike Read, Department of Social and Educational Studies, Institute of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3052. Phone: (03) 344 8693; fax: (03) 347 3916.

Around the Centre

Projects

The Next Move Database

The Centre has received a small grant to develop a database on the post-compulsory education pathways of young Victorians. The data set was collected in 1990-1 and 1991-2 as part of a survey of all Victorian students in their final year of schooling. Included in this data was information about intentions of students for employment, training or further education the following year. This data has been entered onto magnetic tape, and the Centre has been given access to these tapes.

The students were followed up twelve months later in what was called The Next Move Resurvey Project. The survey asked whether they were working, looking for work or studying, and there were approximately 24,000 returns. Our task now is to enter and codify the data in useable form for subsequent analysis in 1995.

YARN

The Youth Affairs Research Network is finally underway! A separate news-letter is included with this issue of Youth Research News - if you want to link in with this exciting development, make sure you follow up the information contained in YARNing.

Andrew Vanderstock has joined the YRC to develop the Network. Welcome! Andrew brings extensive background experience and interest in network and database development, and will be able to help you with advice about your electronic circumstances and suggest ways in which you can link with and contribute to YARN.

Youth Sector Funding Project

How is the funding of organisations in the community youth sector changing? What are the implications of these changes on the services being provided by those organisations?

The Centre moves into Stage 2 of a project that will monitor such changes. In this phase, data from 50 organisations across the state will be collated over a three year period. While the project will report specific information at various stages, it is intended that a comprehensive analysis will be available to the sector at the conclusion of the project.

DEET Project on Early School Leavers

Work on the patterns of employment, education and training of early school leavers has reached the final stages. Six reports have been compiled so far and forwarded to the Department of Employment, Education and Training. They cover issues related to the changing composition of early school leavers over the last decade, reasons for dropping out of school, initial experiences in making the transition from school to work, participation in technical and further education and training, and labour market outcomes. A final report drawing together the different strands of the work is currently being compiled.

Alienation in the Middle Years of Schooling

This is a Project of National Significance due for completion in mid-1995. The Youth Research Centre is collaborating in it with the Institute's Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, along with the Australian Curriculum Studies Association. The aims of the project are to assist students in years 5 - 8 who are Ôbecoming alienated from the learning process', and to trial and develop responsive school structures and classroom strategies.

Conference Reports

The 13th World Congress of Sociology was held in late July in Bielefeld, Germany. It involved a cast of thousands, with Australians well represented. Peter Dwyer, Bruce Wilson and Johanna Wyn took part in the work of Research Committee 34: The Sociology of Youth. Both Bruce and Johanna gave papers which were well received.

Stephen Lamb, a research consultant at the Youth Research Centre, attended the 1994 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting held in Los Angeles from August 5th to 9th, 1994. The theme of the meeting was The Challenge of Democratic Participation and the program included special sessions, workshops and presentations on this subject.

Stephen presented a paper on the changing characteristics and outcomes of Australian early school leavers across the 1980s. The results reported in his presentation were derived from the Australian Youth Survey. They formed part of the DEET project on early school leavers undertaken at the Youth Research Centre (see above).

CHEERS DRINKSAFE PROJECT NEWSLETTER

Following the initial research undertaken by the Youth Research Centre in 1993 entitled Health Education in Secondary Schools: A Focus On Alcohol, the Australian Brewers' Foundation agreed to fund a major school curriculum project.

The aims of the three year project are:

• to increase the breadth of alcohol education in secondary schools by producing user-friendly classroom materials;
• to provide professional development for teachers in the area of alcohol education;
• to provide materials which support schools to implement and sustain their own alcohol education programs without relying on outside support.

During the planning and developmental stage of the project from December 1993 to June 1994, consultation occurred around the approach, content and teaching strategies that were most appropriate for alcohol education. These workshops involved students and teachers from a variety of schools and resulted in the completion of the pilot materials in June.

This phase also saw the establishment of a Reference Group with representatives from the education and health sector and other key players in the alcohol education area.

The Alcohol Education in Schools Project, now in its second phase, is piloting educational materials for students, teachers and parents within a diverse range of school communities under the name of Cheers Drinksafe. The pilot is occurring in both Victoria and New South Wales with the aim of eventual national dissemination of the materials.

Background Research

The findings from the mapping activity undertaken by the Youth Research Centre in 1993 revealed that:

• while harm minimisation was acknowledged as the most appropriate strategic goal for alcohol education, the concept was not well understood by teachers and in practice other objectives including abstinence were still present;
• it is difficult to find systematic documentation of practices of alcohol education in schools;
• professional development of teachers in the alcohol education area is almost non existent - this is a serious weakness facing the effective provision of alcohol education across all states;
• across their school life, students receive between 4 and 7 hours of alcohol education.

The Australian Drug Foundation's Youth Alcohol and Communities Project 1990 - 1993, found that young people believed traditional approaches to alcohol education were unrealistic. It also showed that young people wanted to learn how to prevent the harms associated with using alcohol. These harms include being sick, losing control, arguing with parents and coercive or unsafe sex.

State and National research indicated that fifty percent of young people had their first drink by the time they turned fifteen and forty percent of year 10s drank on a regular or weekly basis.

This supports the known reality that alcohol use is an established part of youth sub-culture. This is not surprising, given that alcohol plays an important part in the Australian culture.

The Harm Minimisation Approach

The Cheers Drinksafe materials have been developed around the approach of harm minimisation. This approach aims to reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of alcohol use by minimising the harm and hazards for both the community and the individual without necessarily eliminating use. Harm minimisation does not promote use of alcohol nor does it condemn its use. The National Drug Strategy endorses harm minimisation as the most appropriate approach for alcohol and other drug education within the community, including school based programs.

Harm minimisation represents a significant shift from previous alcohol education programs which have been characterised by consumption reduction, delaying experimentation, replacement theory and abstinence. Teachers and parents alike are certain from their own school experiences, that abstinence doesn't work. Professor Bill Saunders warns against continuing with an abstinence model: "the usual prevention goal of abstinence is unthinkable, unobtainable and unrealistic."

The harm minimisation approach can also be likened to serving an apprenticeship. Students learn the ropes, have a chance to practise necessary skills, watch demonstrations by others - all in an attempt to become more competent and able to operate without super-vision. An apprentice is allowed time and special consideration, usually in a protected or supportive environment.. We teach young people about many personal development issues of which alcohol seems logically placed. "By failing to teach young people how to drink in a low risk manner we adults have failed our young."

Harm minimisation is based on sound educational principles in terms of stages of development. We know that in the move from dependence of the child to independence of the adolescent, it is natural and necessary that experimenta-tion occurs. With this experimentation will come finite harms and dangers, risks and potential hazards. Harm minimisation accepts and builds on this sound and well established principle. The Cheers Drinksafe materials encourage strategies which empower students to make choices and respects a student's decision - whether it be to not use or use alcohol.

The Materials

The materials for the Cheers Drinksafe Project have been developed in the form of a resource kit. This kit includes:

• Teacher's manual - which provides a concise overview of the project, including a program for teachers, students and parents. It also provides eight structured lesson plans which are based on information provision, small group activities and facilitated group discussion and guides teachers through the use of the other resources;
• Student Workbook - a user-friendly, cartoon style booklet which is designed to stimulate and interest young people. It allows them to explore topics and record what they have learned;
• Trigger video - which features three typical situations young people may encounter ('forget-ting what happened the night before', 'sobering up' and 'gatecrashers', and aims to stimulate discussion about how to avoid or minimise the harms associated with alcohol use;
• Interactive computer game - which allows students to simulate the effects of drinking and explore ways to avoid or minimise harms. It uses colourful graphics, animation and can be used on both Macintosh and IBM compatible computers;
• Video for teachers and parents "Taking the Hiccups Out of Alcohol Education - A Harm Minimisation Approach". The video
  • looks at alcohol use from a young person's perspective;
  • explains the harm minimisation approach to alcohol education;
  • discusses barriers to adopting the harm minimisation approach and ways to overcome them;
  • demonstrates teachers using harm minimisation in the classroom.

Parent Involvement

One of the interesting components of the Cheers Drinksafe pilot project has been the parent nights conducted in various community settings. The aims of these evenings have been to inform parents about the pilot project and the harm minimisation approach, and further to provide a forum for discussion and open communication between parents and their children around the alcohol issue. Given that alcohol use is not an issue which only concerns young people, school communities have been keen to consider the need for a harm minimisation approach which crosses the generation boundaries.

A recent parent evening at Upper Yarra Secondary College saw the group discussing issues from 'responding to your children when they come home very late ' through to 'putting pressure on the local pub which was supplying many of the underage youth in the town with alcohol.'

St Columba's, another pilot school, conducted its parent evening using students to facilitate all activities. With 170 people in attendance, it was a major achievement on behalf of the students to lead the informal discussions. Some student comments from the evening were: 'I found the Harm Minimisation night really interesting. It was informative and I think it made a lot of parents more aware of the fact that their daughters drink, but that it's not the end of the world if they do." (Year 9 student)

"It was good to talk to adults/parents and see what they thought about alcohol." (Year 9 student)

Clearly, the most valuable time in the parent evenings has been the informal discussions.

Evaluation

While the evaluation of the project is in its early stages, initial feedback from school communities indicate an acceptance of harm minimisation and that the classroom materials are very user friendly. The Centre for Program Evaluation is undertaking the evaluation of the project. The first report indicates that:

• The lesson plans and activities have received an extremely positive response - teachers are following the lesson plans fairly closely and students are finding the activities interesting and informative.
• For some of the activities, boys are tending to not respond as well as the girls - this may indicate that some revision needs to occur to ensure the materials are 'gender inclusive'.
• The trigger videos are thought to be very short and may need to be extended, however these have proved effective in prompting student discussion.
• Schools have experienced some difficulty with the use of the interactive computer disks which are very slow given the power of the computers which are available, and which are further slowed down when networked.

The final outcomes of the evaluation process will be addressed at evaluation workshops planned for early November in both States. Following evaluation reports the materials will be refined, and the project plans to work with a greater number of school communities and teachers in 1995.

While some academic research questions the effectiveness of alcohol education in schools, there co-exists a strong community expectation that schools will deal with social issues and problems, including alcohol use. Furthermore the Syllabus documents in all states, including the new national curriculum, expect or even mandate the inclusion of alcohol and drug education in school programs. It is therefore necessary for schools to continue to work toward developing the most appropriate and compre-hensive alcohol education programs that they can, with due concern for purposes, goals, methods and messages for young people. The Cheers Drinksafe material attempts to provide resources for classroom teachers and school communities to tackle the issues with concrete ideas and teaching strategies which engage students in the learning.