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

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Programs with on-site and off-site componentsA majority of the school programs reviewed fit into this category because of the workplacementcomponent. This component and the associated acquisition of work readiness skills were integralto the design and delivery of these programs. Programs conducted at Doveton, Flinders Peak,Box Hill Senior and Eumemmerring Secondary Colleges were typical. Doveton, Hawthornand Footscray City also enjoy close associations with community agencies and elements oftheir program are conducted off-site with them.A number of the schools have established links with TAFE and community agencies so thatthe programs can incorporate elements of off-site activity with their predominantly on-siteprogram design. In this way, there is a ‘flow’ of activity between the schools and TAFE withcommunity agencies mediating and enriching the programs in general.The Young Adults Industry Training Scheme (YAITS) is an on-site TAFE based literacy andnumeracy program that caters for students referred on by schools and community agencies. Itis a useful model for a totally on-site education and training program within the TAFE sector.Programs delivered entirely off-siteThe Blackwood Adolescent Development Centre program is an example of a school-basedoff-site program because the ‘at risk’ young people are removed from their alienating usualschool environment and placed in an environment designed to support their attempts to changeattitude and behaviour. There would no doubt be resourcing issues in replicating thisarrangement, however the model would appear to have a potential role in accommodatingsome levels of alienation.A number of worthwhile off-site community agency based programs (off-site in that they arenot either school or TAFE based) have also been reviewed. It is clear from discussions withschools that the expertise available in these agencies is highly valued by those teachers andschools fortunate enough to have established close working relationships with them. There isa danger that some schools and teachers will be put off by initial difficulties (time, funding)they may be confronted with in endeavouring to gain regular or on call association with localagencies. However, ready access to expertise on welfare matters would appear an essentialaspect of any plan to implement programs for ‘at risk’ young people regardless of on-site oroff-site locations. This again has clear implications for staffing and funding resourcing ofthese programs. Programs reviewed included the Melbourne Citymission Education SupportProgram, Bridging Education and Training (BEAT) and the Jobs Pathways Programs in theGoulburn Valley and Ovens Murray Regions.The Young Refugees Project is another model for an off-site program. The Project team workswith English Second Language Centres, English Language Schools as well as Migrant YouthAccess Courses and Young Adult Migrant Education Courses conducted at TAFE level.In the current environment of limited and short term funding, it is not surprising to note someanecdotal evidence of competition and territorial jousting exists among some communityagencies. It would be essential that any proposal to establish school/agency structures toaccommodate the ‘at risk’ young people be aware of the need to avoid encouraging unnecessaryduplication of services or competition for participants.59
6Conclusion and RecommendationsMr Gradgrind walked homeward from the school, in a state of considerablesatisfaction. It was his school, and he intended it to be a model. He intendedevery child in it to be a model - just as the young Gradgrinds were all models.There were five young Gradgrinds, and they were models every one. They had been lecturedat, from their tenderest years….Charles Dickens, commencing Chapter Three of Hard Times, sets up a model of successfullearning which comes out of Gradgrind’s view of successful living: your children should beclones not just of you, the parent, but of each other. Of course, Dickens’ satirical target is justthis soul-destroying modelling of both living and learning, since the rest of Hard Times showsthe disintegration of Gradgrind’s view of the world.We live and learn in our own hard times. Young adults thought to be ‘at risk’ of poor learningachievements, or who have previously left schooling and since shown their vulnerability, bothsocially and vocationally, are a challenge for any provision of appropriate learning. This issimply because successful learning seems to be inevitably underpinned by successful living,and it is a tall order to take on the consequences of a young person’s health, home and economicsituation, where these have clearly had, or are currently having, a negative impact upon her orhis learning outcomes.So our research in this Successful Learning Project, even although it has identified programmodels, has eschewed ‘modelling’ of worthwhile provision, on the grounds that this is toomuch like Gradgrind’s ‘cloning’. People are thankfully too different to model the success ofeither living or learning, much less how the former feeds into the latter.Nevertheless, we are confident that in certain broad areas of provision, namely, throughschooling, in TAFE, and in community settings, sufficient evidence of worthwhile programscan be identified so that generalisations can be made.The Literature Review concluded with these four principles of good programs. In listing themagain, we can draw, from the empirical work which has since ensued, a series ofRecommendations which match these. Sub-recommendations show how these can beoperationalised in worthwhile SL (Successful Learning) programs.1. The relevance of (students’) cultural or community context is centralHere, we specified that programs, activities and outcomes should be context sensitive, in afairly broad way. One size does not fit all: a diversity of provision will be required, but all will60
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Providing Education and Trainingfor
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ForewordThe Commonwealth Government
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ContentsForeword 3Acknowledgments 4
Page 8 and 9:
Executive SummarySuccessful learnin
Page 10: program leaders (at least) to meet
Page 13 and 14: The major outcome sought from this
Page 15 and 16: Data was entered in categories unde
Page 17 and 18: 2Literature ReviewBenchmark 1995Sub
Page 19 and 20: It is likely that a significant gro
Page 21 and 22: Indeed, these ‘messages’ have b
Page 23 and 24: In this we look at labour market sk
Page 25 and 26: Individuals appear to perform bette
Page 27 and 28: The research literature on ‘alien
Page 29 and 30: ConclusionPathways are notoriously
Page 31 and 32: 3Mapping the FieldThe Stage 1 inter
Page 33 and 34: Wilderness Enhancement Program, ATL
Page 35 and 36: them from progressing or even parti
Page 37 and 38: 4Program ModelsAnumber of the 19 pr
Page 39 and 40: 3. All students are case managed.4.
Page 41 and 42: (i) accommodating student diversity
Page 43 and 44: Teachers involved in the course hav
Page 45 and 46: There are VET subjects, of which th
Page 47 and 48: This approach helps the transition
Page 49 and 50: Young people are referred to the pr
Page 51 and 52: to become contributing members of t
Page 53 and 54: Rules are negotiated with the young
Page 55 and 56: 5Characteristics of Programs That W
Page 57 and 58: The review processes that already e
Page 59: attitude to learning and enhanced s
Page 63 and 64: 2.4 That program activities include
Page 65 and 66: ReferencesACFE Board (1998) Young a
Page 67 and 68: Withers, G. and Batten, M. (1995) P
Page 69 and 70: Successful learning projectsDraft o
Page 71 and 72: Successful learning projects 1998Dr
Page 73 and 74: Program and LocationTarget Group, P
Page 91 and 92: Program and Location- Certificate i
Page 103 and 104: Program and LocationCambodian Youth
Page 105: APPENDIX IIICURRICULUM OUTLINE FOR
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