Providing Education and Training for At Risk ... - Victoria University

All States and Territories are encouraging the growth of vocational education in schools.Although approaches and programs vary, there is growing recognition that vocationalprograms should build on a strong general education and not limit students’ choices.The notion of an integrated approach to upper secondary curriculum has received strongsupport. This has been reflected in the report … The Role of Schools in the VocationalPreparation of Australia’s Senior Secondary Students [NBEET: 1994]. (p72-73)(emphasis added)In the late 1990s, these issues of retention, participation and integration are still with us. Theadded imperative of engaging the learning of those returning to studies, who are clearlyexperientially-enriched adults, yet perhaps resistant to traditional schooling, increases theurgency with which the main issues must be addressed.Another area which could be brought to bear here is the emerging field of enterprise education,especially in the OECD version, a ‘cross-curriculum’ approach, which emphasises anenterprising state of mind. Here, study, work and life in general are thought to benefit fromexperiences requiring the application of initiative and resourcefulness in increasingly complexand less structured activities (Curriculum Corporation 1995; OECD 1989; Patterson et al.1997). Such an approach would be congruent with the self-directive possibilities latent inyoung adults, rich in life’s experiences, who are contemplating returning to studies, whetherin a school or a community setting. Here, shop-front program provision could come closest tosome shop-front enterprise!Program design which is itself inclusive (as above), integrated into mainstream schooling, andwhich is challengingly provided in non-school settings, for those returning to studies, shouldbear in mind what is not compatible with such design. Cole, in the Schools and CurriculumUnit at VISE (1984: 69), cautions against ‘youth participation projects’ which:• are designed exclusively for the academically gifted or for those who are seen as beingacademically weak;• send large numbers of students into the community with little preparation and guidance;• draft students into activities over which they have little or no control;• engage students in trivial or demeaning work in a school, community or industry setting;• give a peer group or clique certain liberties and privileges because of its members’ seniorityor maturity;• consist of activities unsupported by committed and sympathetic adults;• provide experiences but forgo reflection and evaluation procedures involving youth andother participants;• disqualify students from continuing with their formalised education.From these negatives, we can extract a set of descriptors for worthwhile program design. Thelast section identifies these, in the light of this Review as a whole.27