By Susanne Koen and Phillipa Duigan
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Back to new Transitions - Re-Engagement Edition

Ever since he can remember, ‘John' has been passionate about cars. A couple of years ago, when they were both living with his mum, he and his older brother rebuilt an engine for the 1989 Holden. But last year his mum remarried, his brother moved away and John went to live with his dad. Life wasn't quite the same any more and John felt like he'd lost his best friend. School was boring and irrelevant: English classes were the worst, especially as he was always getting teased for being a slow reader. He couldn't really see the point in the English lessons anyway-didn't have anything to do with his dream of being a mechanic-and it simply became easier for everyone if he just wagged the classes.

At first it was only the odd day he'd take off, but the more days he missed, the harder it was to go back. He got suspended a couple of times for ‘back chatting' the teacher about his reading and his dad got pretty mad at him. John's dad was struggling with depression anyway and finding it hard to hold down his job. John now had three step sisters; he got on with them OK, but John reckoned they needed his mum and dad more than he did and it was just better to get out most of the time. He was happiest just getting on his bike and going for long rides to the beach; no one could hassle him if he was on his own. By the middle of term 1, John was only going to school for one or two days a week and was in danger of dropping out completely.

How many issues is ‘John' dealing with? There's family breakdown, loss of significant family figures in his mother and brother, a perceived lack of school relevance, possible dyslexia, and difficulty with relationships leading to isolation and loneliness, as well as issues around school behaviour, his father's mental health, and John's own attendance. Other young people may be facing early parenthood, drug and alcohol issues or they might be living independently. Many young people who have had difficult family lives may be lacking in social skills and have little self esteem and resilience. What becomes abundantly clear is the complexity of issues some young people are facing.

Recognising this complexity and that the task of improving school retention would not be easy, in 2003 the South Australian Government asked the newly established Social Inclusion Board to come up with a School Retention Action Plan (SRAP) which would trial projects to find ways to retain young people in learning and earning pathways. Funding of $28.4 million over four years was provided for the initiative. The Social Inclusion Board, which reports to the Premier, is well placed to work across a number of government portfolios and this is the approach it has taken in trialling ways to address the raft of issues young people might be facing.

By far the largest of the SRAP initiatives is the Innovative Community Action Networks (ICAN), which was funded with $7.4 million over four years. Since 2004, ICAN has been working with schools and local community partners to develop innovative and flexible ways to engage and retain young people who have dropped out of learning pathways or who are at significant risk of doing so. ICANs work with local communities and agencies to address the flexible learning needs of at risk young people in South Australian Department of Education and Children's Service (DECS) schools in four areas of the State: the metropolitan northern, southern and north western suburbs of Adelaide, and the Upper Spencer towns of Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla.

Who's dropping out?

Most young people are engaged in full-time traditional learning at school. However, up to 30% of young people become disengaged to some degree at some point in their schooling and require extra support. This may occur at recognised critical periods when disengagement is more likely to occur, such as when transitioning from primary to secondary school, around school leaving age and during the last year of schooling. Support might be provided through school or community mentoring, with additional support, including case management, either within the school or from external sources in the community. However, if the needs of these young people are not addressed, they may become at risk of disengagement from learning.

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A small group of people, about 10%, require more intensive support. Some may still be attending school, although often only erratically, and they are likely to be at severe risk of complete disengagement. Others will already have completely disengaged from any form of learning. Yet others may have been in custodial care in a juvenile justice setting and may be assisted to engage in community-based learning options and whole of community support.

If they want to leave, why keep them on?

Young people who complete their schooling can look forward to far brighter future prospects: research has demonstrated that their future health, social status and employment opportunities are greatly enhanced if they remain in school to complete year 12. However, not only do they profit as individuals, but the wider community benefits too, both socially and economically, when young people complete school and become active citizens. Recognising this, ICAN works in partnership with agencies, both government and non-government, local business and industry, community partners, schools and further education institutions, as well as the young people themselves, to find local solutions to re-engaging young people who have either dropped out or are at extreme risk of doing so.

So...what can we do about it?

Working with young people who are at risk of disengagement through to those who are chronically disengaged, ICANs have seen an extraordinary track record, with 82% of young people returning to learning or earning pathways. What is more, these young people have improved connections with community and, in communities where this is measurable, youth offending has dropped significantly and social prosperity has increased as young people are more engaged with their communities as well as their school or learning space.

The key to success is recognising the complexity of needs each individual young person is facing and addressing these needs through an individual case management approach, supported in joined-up ways through partnerships with a range of local agencies, both government and non-government. In more extreme cases, addressing ‘case management for living' will highlight whether there are needs which must be met before learning or earning can even be considered, such as homelessness, extreme poverty or serious health issues, and providing services which ‘wrap around' the individual.

For example, an ICAN program in the Adelaide northern suburbs is successfully re-engaging a number of 12-15 year olds from a number of schools who were chronic non-attenders. Through the RISE program, young people are case managed by Services to Youth, who refer young people with housing or health needs to other agencies, whilst liaising with the young people's school of enrolment. Mission Australia provide an off-campus learning space where young people work in small groups to acquire individually identified needs, including life skills, literacy and numeracy, all of which are mapped to outcomes from the South Australian Curriculum, Standards and Accountability (SACSA) Framework. ‘It works fantastically having the double agencies', says the youth worker: ‘What they can't provide, I can. What I can't provide, they can'.

Nothing changes when things stay the same!

Returning young people to learning pathways provides more than just an opportunity to acquire vital skills in literacy and numeracy: school, or an alternative learning establishment, is also the greatest protective factor for young people. For example, young people who are in dysfunctional home or living situations may find that the only positive role models are those at school or in their community learning environment. ‘Sometimes we are the only balanced people that some of these young people connect with,' explains an ICAN program coordinator.

However, schools and learning spaces also need to ensure that learning is young person centred and tailored to each individual through ‘case management for learning'. If young people see no relevance to their learning, if they feel disempowered by their lack of learning choices, or if they feel they are not treated as individuals because school systems are inflexible, they will not re-engage. On the other hand, young people who are invited to play an active role in their learning, in environments which take a flexible approach, are far more likely to successfully re-engage with and continue their learning. It is student focussed learning plans that are the key to successful engagement and retention.

The Bridges program, supported by ICAN, offers opportunities for young people who left school early to return to study in an off campus environment. It caters for those who live independently, young parents and those who work part time by offering a flexible timetable and support in independent learning. Furthermore, through partnerships with agencies, young people are building networks with their local communities so that they are empowered by knowing where and how to access support should they need it in their lives.

Other schools are working in clusters to provide case management, liaising with schools and agencies so that a range of programs may be offered to identified young people who present with a range of interests and a diversity of issues. ‘One of the biggest barriers for young people is schools not understanding what community services do from day to day and how they operate', explains Hugh Serfontein, Project Manager of the ICAN supported Flexible Funding Model, in which a number of schools cluster together across the southern metropolitan area.

Yet another ICAN supported program, the Flipcentre at John Pirie Secondary School in Port Pirie, is located at the school. Recognising the high percentage of students with complex requirements and that many of these are at risk of not completing school, the centre was established as a flexible learning centre to provide case management and one on one support to help young people get back into learning. At the same time, supported by agencies and in conjunction with BoysTown, the program offers alternative off-campus learning to a group of young chronically disengaged boys, many of whom also have juvenile justice issues. The program, both on and off campus, has become highly successful and the Flipcentre is now also used by young people, some of whom are taking extension subjects, who self select to go there as an alternative working space. Most recently the secondary school has established stronger connections with feeder primary schools so that transition programs can be offered to year 7s considered at risk when moving into high school. ‘From a social justice perspective, we owe these young people the opportunities this will provide', explains the Flipcentre coordinator, Bruce Miles.

Tailoring approaches

ICAN programs are diverse to meet a diverse number of individuals. Frequently programs have addressed the needs of young people by adapting curriculum content. For example, the Young Mums on the Move program has successfully re-engaged over 60 young women who were either pregnant or young mothers. Through the ICAN program, some of these young women have completed their South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE), gaining accreditation for their learning in health, nutrition, budgeting and child literacy. Not only do their futures look brighter, but so too do the futures of their children. ‘You don't wag here', says one of the young mums, ‘I actually want to be here because you learn relevant things'.

In another example, businesses in a rural township which is increasingly becoming a popular tourist destination, worked in partnership with the local high school in re-engaging young people who had dropped out of formal learning. Many of these young people were keen to learn hospitality skills and the township was experiencing a shortage of skilled labour in the industry. However, training required a long and expensive journey to Adelaide which many of these young people could ill afford. Building a training kitchen with ICAN funding and providing a trainer has seen a number of young people graduate into the industry or return to school to complete year 12. Miriam, who was failing year 10, says she is determined to stay on to year 12: ‘I'm concentrating and getting higher grades because I'm focused now on where I want to go', she says. Of the 46 participants, 45 have successfully re-engaged in further education or training, or have moved on to successful employment outcomes.

Flexible resourcing to maximise learning

Above are just a few examples of successful ICAN trial programs. However, having demonstrated that young people can be successfully re-engaged when communities and schools work collaboratively, ICAN needed to find a way to sustainably maintain that re-engagement without drawing on specifically allocated government funding. Flexible Learning Options (FLO) is a new DECS enrolment strategy which provides ICAN secondary schools with learning resource funding options to engage and retain identified students.

Not only must all young people up to a certain age attend school by law, but young people also have a right to an education. Funding is provided by governments to schools to pay for this education. However, frequently, whilst young people want to learn and become active and valued members of society, circumstances, often beyond their control, prevent them from doing so in traditional ways, in traditional places, and with traditional teachers. Whilst ICAN has demonstrated that it is possible to successfully re-engage young people-through specialised case management, where their needs are addressed, and through meaningful learning in flexible ways and spaces-in the past, school funding had only been provided for young people to access their education in traditional ways within the confines of the school walls. Furthermore, the funding was effectively tied to the classroom teacher and could not therefore be used flexibly to provide case management or to broker external support to meet identified needs.

Flexible Learning Options allows for this funding in ICAN secondary schools: students are individually provided with specialised case management to address their identified individual barriers and, in consultation with students, based on their needs and interests, a tailored learning program is created in the form of a Flexible Learning Plan (FLP). Whilst students remain enrolled with their home school, they may still be accessing most of their learning in spaces beyond the school walls. The home school manages their program, with a minimum requirement being that the Flexible Learning Plan is used to provide learning which is aligned and can be accredited with outcomes from either the R-10 SACSA Framework or SACE for senior students. Teachers may also be utilised in a broader community learning setting to provide specifically tailored learning programs, developed to meet the needs of a small group of specific students at a specific time.

For example, young people may be enrolled at a secondary school which they attend on one afternoon each week to access literacy and numeracy tutoring in partnership with a youth agency. Another youth agency may provide an external program in life skills and anger management. In addition, the young person may be attending TAFE for a pre-vocational course which complements some structured workplace learning. All of this can be organised within an individual Flexible Learning Plan arrangement.

Case management-the core of the issue

Aligned with a Flexible Learning Options enrolment are four models of case management which address the diverse range of student needs. Of course, early intervention makes a lot of sense so recognising when young people are at risk of early school leaving and addressing their barriers to engagement through school mentoring and an individual case management approach may prevent the necessity for more intensive support later. This is the first of the FLO individual case management models.

Each model builds progressively on the last, drawing on school-based learning as far as possible, but increasingly accessing community based programs and youth support as this is required to meet the holistic needs of young people. The final model meets the needs of chronically disengaged young people who may have significant barriers to their learning, with wellbeing, health and, possibly, juvenile justice issues. These young people are engaged entirely through off campus community based programs, and often spend extended periods of time on engagement activities before beginning to access accredited learning from local Registered Training Organisations to develop skills and work readiness. It is highly likely they will be receiving intensive case management over an extended period of time.

A brighter future

When the State Government commissioned the Social Inclusion Board in 2003 to look into school retention, only two thirds of young people who started year 7 were completing year 12 in South Australia. There is still a way to go, but 2007 school retention rates have now reached nearly 75%. Contributing to this are major reforms of the State's secondary schooling system and the high school certificate. However, the School Retention Action Plan and, within that, ICAN can also take some credit. If nothing else, ICAN has provided invaluable findings to the State on what it takes to re-engage young people: joined up approaches through case management; reframing perceptions of learning by offering flexibility through wider learning spaces; working in partnerships with local communities, businesses and agencies; and, above all, building relationships in which each young person is recognised as a respected and valued individual who is entitled to an education which provides pathways to a brighter future.

In 2007 ICAN won the South Australian of the Year award for education ‘in recognition of its successful programs, community involvement and overall contribution to education, retention and training'.

More information is available at:

ICAN www.ican.sa.edu.au
Social Inclusion Initiative www.socialinclusion.sa.gov.au

About the Authors

Susanne Koen is a freelance writer who researches, writes and manages the ICAN newsletters and website. Phillipa Duigan manages the state wide ICAN program and policy development.

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