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Melbourne Graduate School of Education
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PublicationsWorking PapersAll prices: $11 each The Young Homeless: A Summary and Analysis of the Burdekin Report Our Homeless Children (also known as the Burdekin Report) made a profound critique of government policy and programs directed towards young people in Australia. This analysis of the Report's contents, theses and proposals was prepared to assist debate amongst youth workers and organisations about the Report, and to assist consideration of possible further action. Early Labour Market Experience of Young People: An Overview and Proposals for Future Research This comprehensive report documenting the early experiences of young people in the labour market was produced under a National Youth Affairs Research Scheme grant. It identifies gaps in existing knowledge about the early experiences of young people in the labour market and recommends a number of research projects which would add significantly to the research base on which youth policy is developed. Evaluating Outcomes The Improving Students' Outcomes project was set up to document and draw together accounts of the various innovative teaching and learning strategies being implemented in a number of specific schools. At the same time, the project team was interested in developing a better understanding of how innovations had worked and how they were perceived by students, parents, teachers and ex-students. In addition, it was hoped that by holding a "mirror" to aspects of the school's activities, teachers, parents and others would see various ways in which their programs and practices might be improved. Youth Research in Sweden Australia has seen Sweden as successful in identifying the needs of its young people and in ensuring their integration into Swedish society. This outline of some of the recent developments in Swedish youth research was written during a Special Studies Program in the first semester of 1990. The paper provides an overview of contemporary themes and trends in Swedish youth research. Youth and National Policy in America: An Australian Perspective Concern over the educational, economic and social problems confronting the post-compulsory schooling age-group throughout the world, has led to efforts to establish national youth policies in many countries. The issue of national youth policy, however, is a problem for nations such as the United States and Australia which operate under a federal model of government. The lack of coordinated national policy on youth in the United States and its Australian parallels are the subject of this working paper. It addresses the dimensions of youth policy in America and asks whether Australia has anything to learn from what has happened there. Structured Pathways for Young People: A Comparative Study of Youth Policy in Australia, United States and Sweden This paper draws on some of the material in Working Papers 4 and 5, and also on some aspects of Research Report 4: Early School Leavers. The material has been reorganised and new material introduced in order to highlight the main policy issues that the studies of the separate countries have uncovered. A comparative study of the three countries clarifies the common issues of concern and extracts some likely strategies for the future, particularly in light of the growing impact in Australia of higher school retention rates and limited entry into tertiary institutions, alongside the current levels of youth unemployment. Young Women and Sexually Transmitted Diseases This discussion paper provides an overview of research relating to young women and sexually transmitted diseases and serves, in part, as an update to Research Report 3. The overview has been compiled as part of research which explores the views and experiences of 100 young Victorian women (from diverse backgrounds and circumstances and aged between 16 and 18 years) in relation to sexuality, knowledge about STDs and views and opinions about health services. Making the Break - Leaving School Early This is a report on a longitudinal study of 132 young Victorian people who left school before completing their secondary schooling. It tests the policy issues discussed in Research Report 4 and is the first in a series of three papers (WP 8, 9, 10). This paper is concerned with the thoughts, feelings and circumstances of the group just after they have left school. It focuses on their experiences of the secondary education system and their expectations for the future. Getting a Life - Pathways and Early School Leavers In this second Early School Leavers working paper, the focus has shifted to the post-school options of the 132 young people and to the pathways that have begun to develop. There are five clear options that have been taken up by the early school leavers (family dependency, employment, income support, education and illegal activities) and these are documented in terms of their impact on the young people's lives. Other issues include those surrounding accommodation, re-entry into the secondary school system, further education and training, as well as the overall patterns that have emerged within particular pathways. Services and Early School Leavers: Policies, Programs and Practices The third and final working paper of the Disaffiliated Early School Leavers project examines the service needs and experiences of young people who had left school before completing their secondary education. The paper focuses on the types of services available to young people in the three areas studied, their experiences of these services and general issues identified by the services. It also includes recommendations for improvements in policies, programs and practices. Information is based on interviews with the 132 study participants, a series of questionnaires distributed to service providers in the areas, and the outcomes of a round-table discussion held by the YRC in April 1993. The Thinking Skills Project This paper assessed the impact of participation in selected cognitive development tasks on a small group of young adult offenders. Impact was measured in terms of an increase in the range of options proposed by each participant for solving a set of interpersonal problems. The issue of cognitive development for adults and the relationship between cognitive development and social competence was explored. The research has potential significance for the wider community in that the cost of the recidivism rate may be reduced by appropriate program intervention. Young People in Full-Time Work: Issues Affecting Apprentices The two papers in this publication report on issues around young workers who have had apprenticeships. The first ('Perspectives on Changes in the Training Agenda') outlines some of the key themes expressed by apprentices in commenting on their experience of existing training arrangements. The second ('Young Workers and Recession in the Transport Industry') notes that this process of change has been hastened by the recession. The downturn in economic activity, as much as workplace reform, has weakened the process through which apprentices establish a pathway to full-time employment. Youth Unemployment and Crime: Policy, Work and the 'Risk Society' Since the 1970s, many 'youth problems' have been 'discovered' in Australia. Concern about young people is not new. Ours is a history in which young people have often been simultaneously the objects of censorious adult anxiety and worry, and also the repositories of adult fantasies and hope. Understanding that longer history, we now confront the fact that since the 1980s, academics and members of the policy community and the media have constituted unemployment as a key causal determinant of youth crime, and/or constructed a picture of an unemployed 'youth underclass' wracked by ill-health, self-destructive behaviours and criminal and anti-social dispositions. This Working Paper by Judith Bessant, Department of Sociology, Social Work and Administration at the Australian Catholic University (Melbourne), contests the claim made frequently that a youth unemployment problem is causally linked to increased juvenile criminal and anti-social activities. Young People, Social Resources and the Underground Economy: A Community Worker Perspective This report provides a description of findings from a series of interviews with youth and community workers regarding the economic and social activities of the young people with whom they work. The intention of the report is to present a community worker perspective on issues related to local community resources, youth livelihood and various kinds of legal and illegal economic activity. It is the second phase of a larger project examining the life situation and lifestyle options of young people in six local council areas in Melbourne. This report deals with the perceptions of youth and community workers as to the issues and dilemmas facing many of the young people with whom they work directly or with whom they have some type of ongoing contact. Another Hole in the Wall: A progress report on a study of young people, crime and families in North Queensland A major assumption underpinning recent news reports, police actions and government policy is that juvenile crime results mainly from the failure of parents to adequately supervise their children. Such an assumption supports the importance of this project in seeking to understand the ways in which juvenile offending affects families in the local community. The indications from the research reported in this Working Paper are that juvenile crime has a number of far-reaching consequences for family members, including the young offender. Whatever else parents might do in such situations, they are rarely indifferent to the consequences which offending and criminalisation have on the family as a whole. As the accounts of family members show, the commission of offending by a young person may have life-altering consequences for the entire family. Indifference is not an option if the family is to address the negative impact of processes of policing and criminalisation. Rethinking Drinking: You're in Control: Reflections on the development, implementation and strengths of the program Rethinking Drinking has been a large research and development program carried out by the Youth Research Centre between 1994 and 1997. It has been evaluated at all stages and the reports of these evaluations are available on request from the Youth Research Centre. This Working Paper supplements these evaluations by providing reflection on the development, curriculum and pedagogical aspects of the program. The paper:
Establishing an Integrated Services Model in the Port Phillip Cluster: An Evaluation Following well-publicised attempts in the USA to coordinate the delivery of health, welfare and other services to youth through schools, there have been some pilot projects in Australia. The subject of this evaluation is one such project in the Port Melbourne-South Melbourne area in Victoria. One special school, two primary schools and one secondary college participated, along with twelve health and welfare agencies. The evaluation investigated what was attempted and what was achieved in the one-year pilot phase of the project. Briefly, it was found that one year was not long enough to establish such a complex process and that a longer and more community development oriented approach may have achieved a more durable change in the structure of service delivery in the agencies and schools involved. Vocational Education: Options and Directions The Northern Region of the Victorian Department of Education asked the Youth Research Centre to develop 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 presents 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 provides curriculum examples and options through a brief documentation of some local initiatives. It broadly suggests 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 is also suggested and a draft version developed. Seeking the Balance - Risk, Choices and Life Patterns in the Life-Patterns Project 1998/9 This Working Paper provides an up-date on the findings from the major longitiduinal study titled the Life-Patterns Project. The Paper is based on returns to the 1998 survey and some of the material from the interview sub-sample. At this stage in thier lives, having just completed their studies and entered their mid-twenties, for the majority of the respondents 'having a steady job' is the number one priority, but many are now revising their previous expectations about the balance between a 'career' and other priorities in life. They seem very much aware of the need for flexibility but this raises the question of whether some respondents are just biding their time or reluctantly 'settling for less' because of changes in the labour market. Evaluation of the Behaviour Management Program at the Melbourne Juvenile Justice Centre The project aimed to: increase the range of skills for management of client behaviours in a fair, respectful and rewarding environment; encourge clients to become accountable and responsible for their actions; change client relationship to authority and society; and maximise young people's abilitiers 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. Th 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. The significance of the MJJC project lay in its difference from most treatment and other types of intervention programs with young offenders. The MJJC project focussed on increading staff skills at least as much as it focussed on behaviours of the young offenders. The report concluded that the unit became a more humane environment for both staff and young men but that the program should be monitored on a continuing basis and resourced appropriately as the changes do require a lot more interaction and negotiation with the young men and there was evidence that staff were feeling the pressure. 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. Student Action Teams - An Evaluation: 1999-2000 This working paper draws upon two years work with 20 Student Action Teams in Victorian secondary schools (1999-2000). With funding from the Victorian Department of Justice, as part of the (then) Vicsafe Community Safety and Crime Prevention Framework, through the Department of Education, Employment and Training, these schools were challenged to identify and tackle a school or local issue of community safety. All 20 schools set up small teams and, in many different ways, researched, planned, proposed and acted on issues such as truancy, road safety, community development, unsafe pathways and skateboarding. In some cases, these Student Action Teams works as ad hoc groups, meeting at lunchtime or in spare classes; in other cases, the Teams were incorporated into electives or core classes. The team from the Youth Research Centre worked as evaluators with the Program over the two years. This Working Paper draws on the final report of the evaluation, and includes information on the processes of setting up and maintaining Student Action Teams, stories of eleven of the schools, and analysis of Program outcomes and learnings against its objectives, and a discussion of several of the issues. Education for Rural Development in Australia 1945-2001 A component of a ten-countries comparative study on Rural Education in Asia and the Pacific Region carried out for INRULED under UNESCO's program and financial contribution. This report documents educational policy and its relationship to rural development in Australia since 1945, with an emphasis on the last 20 years. The literature reveals three recurring themes: overcoming the difficulties posed by distance, isolation and low population density; developing culturally appropriate educational programs for Indigenous people; and meeting the educational challenges posed for rural communities by economic restructuring Today, culturally appropriate, community-based education is seen as an integral and strategic element in the development of sustainable rural economies and viable rural communities. Within an overall pattern of rural disadvantage, many rural communities can demonstrate the development of highly successful and innovative educational programs. Sharing a New Story: Young People in Decision-Making This Working Paper focuses on young people in decision-making. Through the voices of young people, it explores:
Young people in decision-making is part of the broader issue of youth participation in community life. It is most often used to refer to young people on boards and committees but there are many other ways young people are, and can be, involved in public decision-making. This Working Paper was commissioned by and provided for The Foundation for Young Australians to gather some of the recent thinking, pointers to better practice and tools for those who wish to work well alongside young people. Three key elements emerge from young people’s stories of their own experiences: doing something that has a bigger purpose and therefore that ‘I believe in’ (meaning); making decisions, being heard and thus also having the skills to see the task through and do it well (control); and working with others and being part of something bigger (connectedness). The Working Paper also looks at two of the most common assumptions about young people: ‘young people can do nothing’ and ‘young people can do everything’ – finding that both positions leave young people unsupported and alienated. The Working Paper highlights the need to listen to the voices of all young people, including those who might be marginalised, stating “there has been a tendency when looking at issues of young people in decision-making, leadership and youth participation more generally, to end up thinking, speaking and targeting the more privileged, those who already have a secure place and those who have encountered few barriers to participation”. Across different settings, the young people's stories are distilled into seven practical pointers for groups who wish to work well alongside them: storytelling; listening; recognising and affirming capacities; resourcing; re-working structure and process; honouring each other (through formal roles, naming of expectations, rites of passage); and nurturing informal relationships (bonding, networking). It challenges all organisations involving young people in decision-making roles that “taking it seriously will mean changes in the way we do business as organisations and as a community”. It makes the case for new roles, connections and meeting points between young people and with their communities. The report goes on to provide some reflective tools, a ‘toolkit’ of questions, and a framework that groups and organisations can use when working alongside young people in decision-making. Engaging Young People in School Through the Arts - SCRAYP: Youth arts with an Edge - An Evaluation The arts are increasingly being used in health promotion and community building strategies. Through involvement in arts activity, participants have been shown to develop supportive social networks and report increased feelings of well being. In this Working Paper, Youth Arts with an Edge, formally known as the School Community Regional Arts Youth Program (SCRAYP), was evaluated from a 'crime prevention perspective'. The evaluation focuses on the processes that SCRAYP used and the responses from the young people to these processes in relation to the goal of improving social competency. It also focuses on how drama engages young people in connection to peers, school and their community and enhances self-esteem and resilience. Information has been collected from students, teachers and artists using interviews, surveys and observation in two program locations. Both programs culminated with a performance to a range of school and community audiences. An important question for the schools and the young people is how the processes used in SCRAYP enhance the well being and learning of the students involved. Three connecting factors that effect the development of positive self concept were identified: a sense of control; a sense of bonding; and a sense of meaning. When asked explicitly about the frequency of experiencing these factors, the sense of meaning and the sense of bonding were rated most highly by the students in both programs, . There was a strong sense that they had done something worthwhile and that, during that process, they had worked together well as a team. The students indicated a lesser sense of control over the process. One of the key factors for connecting the young people to the program was the development of an inclusive process of which the students felt part. The students responded very positively to working together as a team and improving the way they cooperated throughout the SCRAYP program. The students also identified a wide range of skills and attitudes that they developed and used. These included contributing ideas, establishing priorities, helping solve problems, practical drama techniques, confidence to perform and taking responsibility. The Paper includes recommendations to the Program to enhance the outcomes and sustainability for young people in the school setting. SCRAYP has provided an effective crime prevention program. It has successfully developed and used drama processes that improve the social competence of the young people involved in their programs, through enhancing positive self concept and self esteem. This improved social competence increases the protective factors that the young people have against risk taking and criminal behaviour. The vast majority of results for the young people, especially those deemed at risk of leaving school, have been very positive in regard to their connection to peers, school and community. Real Learning Real Futures Revisited The Real Learning Real Futures (RL/RF) Program was developed within the Derwent District in Tasmania to meet individual needs (enhanced participation and success for students who are not experiencing that) and systemic needs (development of appropriate curriculum for all students that encourages increased rates of participation). The Program draws upon ideas of ‘at risk’ and ‘mainstream’, but goes beyond that to explore ways of stepping outside the isolation and separation of some students, and of developing learning approaches that are applicable to all students. It also involves high-level cooperation between all ten Derwent secondary schools, which pool resources to provide a shared range of community-based and community-focused learning projects for students throughout the District. This Working Paper provides a ‘one-year-on’ glimpse of the Real Learning Real Futures (RL/RF) Program that is operating in a network of nine schools (plus Derwent Support Services) in the Derwent District in Tasmania. An initial report at the end of 2003 outlined the Program after its first year of operation and presented some recommendations for improved operations. This Report revisits those recommendations and asks about their implementation. It also looks at the Program’s goals and asks about achievements against these. Servants or shapers? Young people, volunteering and the community Only available in PDF format, click link below. Various school and community programs seek to enhance the role of young people as volunteers within our communities. However, the nature of the opportunities for young people to play valued roles within those communities varies considerably. |
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