Evaluating Integrated Responses to Educational Disadvantage (2000)

"We wanted it not to be seen that we were choosing. We didn't want to target, I suppose, becausewe wanted an openness about it... So from all the schools in the area we had one reply... It was anintimidating experience for them. None of them replied because they were not ready to buy into it.some said they got the letter but they were not quite sure really. I think it is a process as well ofactually applying." (Home-school-community co-ordinator: interview)It was decided that a more targeted recruitment drive was needed and the home-school-community liaisonco-ordinators became directly involved in assisting this process. This targeting helped get the parents onboard straight away. Having a home-school-community co-ordinator within the school with whom parentscould identify and ask questions of helped tremendously with the project's overall acceptance. Thirty-twoparents started the training and 26 completed. Feedback from the training was positive: "It was veryenjoyable." "We wanted it for longer."Tralee Education Network, Co. Kerry (TEN)BackgroundTralee town is located on the south-west coast, in Co. Kerry. Traditionally, it was a rural market town and hasa population of over 25,000 of whom 40 per cent are aged 25 years or younger. The town and its hinterlandshad been included in the Local Development Programme. Within the local Partnership's catchment area, therewere pockets of disadvantage, with high levels of unemployment and educational disadvantage, most notablythrough early school-leaving, within the town's local authority estates and the depopulated rural hinterlands.Before participation in the Demonstration Programme, there had been an Early School-Leavers' Committee.This had commissioned a report to examine the extent and nature of early school-leaving and to makerecommendations regarding ways of addressing the needs of this target group 10 .v"It gave us more confidence that there was no fear of going and knocking on somebody's door. Itwas that this can be done and it can be done nicely and if you are just a bit more aware ofdifferent cultures, different lifestyles and sort of not to be critical, and you are there to do your bitand so get on with it. You are not there to look at their house or to see how clean their children are.Of course, if you did see anything that you thought was a bit strange you could mention it to thehome school liaison and she would pick up from there." (Parent visitor: interview)The first round of the programme focused on the transfer of pupils from infants' school to primary. Parentswere asked if they wanted a visit first and had the opportunity to refuse it. The visit provided information onthe new school and what the children were likely to encounter. The information varied from school rules andpolicies to uniform. Visits lasted from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. The time spent depended on thepersonality of the visitor."A typical visitYou knock on the door. Say hello! Introduce yourself.They have got a note saying thata visitor will be calling and they are given a time. I got a great response. I actually went on my firstvisit to a girl in her pyjamas giving her baby her breakfast and the other little one was runningaround. We were giving colouring books and crayons as an icebreaker and I must say a greatresponse I had everywhere - even from ones that had kids that had already gone through theschool. They were surprised that there was so much going on now compared to when the otherswere going to school." (Parent visitor: interview.)The focus of the visits was to help allay fears, to address the difficulties that children with particular needsmight face and to act as a stepping-stone between parents and the school.AimsThe Demonstration Programme was seen as an opportunity to implement an integrated response topreventing early school-leaving and to broaden the scope of the Committee's work into other issuesconcerning educational disadvantage.StructureThe Early School-Leavers' Committee consisted of representatives from the vocational education committee,probation service, FAS, youth training centres, Partnership Company, education centre, youth service, preschoolplaygroups, and Traveller development groups. After the network started to function effectively, schoolpersonnel were involved in the network's issue-based groups but were absent at network steering committeelevel (see below, Activity). This situation changed through 1998-1999, however.ActionsIn the first few months, the network established a steering committee, made up of representatives of the keyagencies involved in initiating the network, and recruited a co-ordinator. It also engaged an independentfacilitator to support the steering committee's development through its early stages. The facilitator organiseda series of workshops and team-building exercises designed to develop a shared mission and action plan forthe network. These exercises were particularly important in developing trust and building relationships withinthe network. TEN succeeded during its early stages in getting most of the key players, such as VEC, youth andprobation services, engaged in the network.^The mam aim is the link - the link between parents out there (in the community), parents here (inthe school) and the school. (It is) just to have somebody to approach. (The link) is to make it moreaccessible for the parents to go into the school.The hds think nothing of it (But), you would besurprised the amount of parents who just leave their children to the school gate and feet 7 wont goin.lt,s almost as if they feel that it is the children's domain and (they) shouldn't be involved butnow it is not just the children, the parents can be involved also." (Parent visitor: interview)It is hoped that the programme will encourage parents to attend school meetings. There was no negativefeedback from the v,s,tors. Parents implemented the programme. It was considered part of the officialstructure because of the involvement of the home-school-community co-ordinators but it was seen as deprofessionalised.An unforeseen benefit of the Droarammo h*< h QO „ ,,,,,,„ , „ rK , „ programme has been that the parent visitors see themselves aspart of KEN (and one has |oined its steerinq qrouo) It is envi^nori th*t n.y y.uup,. it is envisaged that the service will be expanded furtherboth in terms of numbers and focus.TEN adopted a primary role of supporting inter-agency groups, groups that were either already in placebefore TEN was set up or new inter-agency structures formed for specific purposes. These inter-agency groupswere collectively referred to as Issue-Based Networks. Such networks could be described as either interventionnetworks or discussion networks.The Issue-Based Networks included:* Co-ordination of Interventions;* Inter-Agency Forum on Traveller Education;* Literacy Network.' Moriarty, A. (1996), School's Out - Listening and Responding to the Needs ot Early School-leavers in Tralee.Tralee: Tralee Early School-Leavers' Committee.( Evaluating Integrated Responseso