Youth Research News Vol 8 No 5 December 1998

In this issue:

• New Projects
• Conferences
• Publications
• YRC Price Increase
• Mind Matters Update

New Projects

Civics and Citizenship Education Support

The Youth Research Centre has been commissioned by the Victorian Department of Education's Professional and Leadership Development Centre to provide program support to 25 schools who have received Civics and Citizenship Education Grants. These schools will be investigating ways to develop best practice models of curriculum implementation, both in teaching and learning about Civics and in areas of active Citizenship Education.

The schools - primary and secondary, across Victoria, and from Government, Catholic and Independent sectors - have developed exciting and innovative proposals to explore local responses to the Discovering Democracy curriculum materials.

YRC members working on this project are Roger Holdsworth, Helen Stokes, Debra Tyler and Shirley Carson. The first professional development activity for teachers from the schools was held on Friday December 4th, an e-mail list linking them has been set up, and a kit of resource materials produced. Further development will occur in 1999 and 2000, with visits to each school, production of issues papers and documentation of activities within the schools.

ARC Small Grant

The Full Service Schools project proposes to investigate how schools respond in 1999 to the introduction by the Federal Government of the Youth Allowance (combining Austudy and unemployment benefits, with a requirement that young people under 18 years attend full-time education and/or training), and to determine the nature of the educational experiences and outcomes for students in response to those changes.

This study aims to investigate the impact of the Federal Government's Full Service Schools Initiative on approaches taken by schools by comparing programs developed (in response to the Youth Allowance changes) in schools receiving Full Service Schools Initiative grants with matched schools not in receipt of such grants.

Specific study aims are to:

• document changed practices in schools as a result of the introduction of the Youth Allowance;
• report on the impact of the introduction of the Youth Allowance on student outcomes;
• investigate the impact of Full Service School funding on schools in responding to the needs of students returning to study.

Conferences:

UNESCO/ACEID Conference

The Fourth UNESCO/ACEID (Asia-Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation for Development) International Conference, was held in Bangkok in mid November around the theme: 'Secondary Education and Youth at the Crossroads'. Roger Holdsworth attended and presented a well-received paper on 'Schools That Create Real Roles of Value for Young People'. There was broad interest in school-based curriculum development in many countries in the region and the paper's exploration of the meaning of active student participation and the authentic purposes of learning were also echoed in other presentations. A Youth Forum of about 50 young people operated before and during the Conference, presenting its reports and responses on panels and in roundtables.

The Centre holds papers from the Conference which are available for the use of members.

6th Annual International Conference on Post-Compulsory Education and Training

Debra Tyler recently attended the 6th Annual International Conference on Post-compulsory Education and Training in Surfer's Paradise and delivered a paper entitled Vocational Pathways and the Decline of the Linear Model. The paper addressed many of the issues raised by the longitudinal study conducted at the Youth Research Centre, but its main focus was on how young people today negotiate their lives in times of great change and uncertainty.

The conference offered a great deal of stimulus particularly in the area of Vocational Education and Training (VET) and its role in schools. This was of particular interest to the Centre as this is one of our established areas of research.

National Association for Gambling Studies (NAGS) Conference

The national NAGS conference was held in Adelaide last month. Key note speakers included Mark Griffith (UK) and Elizabeth George (USA). For the first time, youth gambling issues were high on the agenda, acknowledged as a serious health issue effecting young people both through their own gambling behaviours and as children of problem gamblers. In seems that Australia is one of the few countries tackling this issue of gambling education. Delegates from numerous countries, including Papua New Guinea and New Zealand were clearly interested in the work being conducted at the Youth Research Centre in developing guidelines for implementing gambling education in Victorian schools.

Achieving Together Conference

Debra Tyler and Helen Stokes presented an interactive workshop at the Achieving Together Conference on Developing Inter-Agency Collaboration, at the University of Ballarat in November. After exploring some of the guiding principles for developing collaboration and definitions of co-operation, co-ordination and collaboration the interactive part of the workshop began.

The challenge for the workshop participants was to use the principles of inter-agency collaboration to try to solve a tricky situation involving the development of school/community/agency links. The participants were divided into three groups: the school, the agency and the concerned community - with particular roles to play in each group.

The different roles bought the different perspectives to each of the groups, with each of the groups having to solve the problem which involved a number of conflicting interests.

Each of the groups came up with a number of interesting solutions to the problem and encountered some of the barriers in trying to develop Inter-Agency collaboration.

For information on upcoming events, refer to the ACYS web site at:

<http://www.acys.utas.edu.au/ncys/events/>

Publications:

Negotiating Staying and Returning

Earlier this year, the Centre produced a report for the Victorian Department of Education about student responses to education and the introduction of the Youth Allowance (see Youth Research News Vol 8 No 4, September 1998). This report suggested approaches at school, college and system levels to meet the needs of students returning to school, or staying in schools, as a consequence of these changes to conditions on the allowance.

Due to the high demand for the report, the Department of Education has authorised publication of the document by the Youth Research Centre as Research Report 18.

This report explores the impact of the introduction of the Youth Allowance for young people aged 15 to 17 and those over 18 years. Its objective is to identify characteristics of the young people expected to return to or remain in education as a result of the changes. It also identifies the expectations of these young poeple and their preferred learning options and environments as well as implications for providers.

The report identifies and draws upon relevant national and international research and literature. The views expressed in the literature have then been tested against the views and experiences of likely Youth Allowance participants, service workers and schools through a series of focus groups and interviews undertaken in two metropoitan and two rural areas.

Using the information emerging these discussions, the report develops a schema for identifying different needs of students and some concrete suggestions for appropriate responses of schools and systems.

Research Report 18:
Negotiating Staying and Returning: Young People's Perspectives on Schooling and the Youth Allowance
Peter Dwyer, Helen Stokes, Debra Tyler and Roger Holdsworth
Youth Research Centre, December 1998;
ISBN 0 7340 1589 5; Cost: $10 ($5 for YRC members)

Vocational Education: Options and Directions

The Northern Region of the Victorian Department of Education asked the Youth Research Centre to build on its work in various projects, in a discussion paper (for teachers and administrators) on the context of and options for Vocational Education in the region. In writing this paper, the Centre drew upon issues from the national and international literature and on discussions with employers, teachers, students, and administrators in schools in the region.

The report both presented an outline of the development of vocational education - taken in a broad, whole school context - including a comparison of 'generalist' and 'vocationalist' approaches, and also provided curriculum examples and options through a brief documentation of some local initiatives. It broadly suggested three 'imperatives': for whole-school consideration of work issues across the curriculum; for learning within a community context; for broader local decision-making about vocational education.

An 'audit' for use within school discussions in deciding on priorities for vocational education was also suggested and a draft version developed.

These documents were presented to school teams at a large regional professional development day on Thursday 19th November and were well received.

The discussion paper is now available from the Youth Research Centre as Working Paper 18. A free copy is included for each current financial member of the Centre and further copies are available for $5 from the Centre.

Working Paper 18:
Vocational Education: Options and Directions
Helen Stokes and Roger Holdsworth
Youth Research Centre, December 1998;
ISBN 0 7340 1591 7; Cost: $5

1999: YRC Prices to Increase!

The Youth Research Centre was established in 1989. Over ten years, it has offered membership and associated benefits to the youth, education and academic sectors. Prices for membership and publications have not changed over those ten years. But finally, increases in production and administration costs have caught up with us.

As of March 1, 1999, it will be necessary to increase Centre charges to reflect the real cost of producing and distributing materials.

New costs will be:

Membership:

Organisational: $50 per year (currently $30)

Individual: $30 per year (currently $20)

Student: $10 per year (currently $5)

Publications:

• Research Reports: $15 each (currently $10) and $10 for members (currently $5)

• Working Papers: $10 each (currently $5)

Working papers will continue to be supplied free to members on production. These prices include postage, but there will be an additional flat charge of $3 per order by mail to cover handling costs.

MindMatters Update:

In Search of the “Whole Story”

As part of the MindMatters Pilot Project, an Evaluation Workshop was held recently in Brisbane. Feedback was sought in two main areas:

1. classroom trials of the curriculum materials produced

What did or did not work in various units; how appropriate/relevant were materials to the students in curriculum levels targeted; suggestions for refining or improvement of lessons or lesson plans.

2. whole school changes/barriers to change

Each Pilot School presented a synopsis of the work and various activities undertaken by students and staff at their school as part of the MindMatters Project. Of the 24 pilots, just over half are situated in rural or remote areas, from across schooling systems and encompass a range of socio-economic backgrounds. The diversity of experiences, the richness of each school “snapshot” and the obvious commitment of each teacher to the welfare of students in their care, were overwhelming. As was their desire to offer students a range of living skills with which to emerge into the mainstream of today's uncertain world.

In line with the project focus of a “whole school” approach to health (and in particular mental health) the workshop was held on 14 and 15 November as a lead in to the Australian Health Promoting Schools Conference, to encourage maximum pilot participation in that event. At the conference a joint MindMatters presentation was delivered by: Bernie Marshall, Helen Cahill and Shirley Carson (all from the MindMatters Team), Chris Hansen (Galen Catholic College, Wangaratta, VIC), Bob Whitehead (Tennant Creek High, NT), Deb Marks (Burra CEC, SA), Phil Young (Clarence High, Rosny Park, TAS) and Jock Bidwell (All Saints College, Bathurst, NSW). The combination of talent and experience in this line up provided a heartfelt, dynamic and informative presentation which was extremely well received and generated many requests for further project information. We congratulate and thank the school speakers involved in the presentation for their personal creative efforts. Congratulations also go to other pilots, Deception Bay State High School (Qld) for their drama presentation "Mental Health Matters" at one of the plenary sessions; and to Darren Armitage and Kylie Dickman from Bwgcolman Community Education Centre (Palm Island, Qld) for their presentation on that school's approach to health issues.

Project Enquiries: Anne Sheehan (03) 9344-9639 or Shirley Carson 9344-9640