Disengaged or  disempowered?

The term 'disengaged' is both complex and simplistic and as such, not much benefit to addressing the complex issues manifesting in schools across the country. It is also too deficit-laden and disempowering to provide such labelled students any real voice. Yet these very students are asking to be heard. They often ask, in the only voice they have, what I call 'acts of school resistance', to be heard. To be included. So how can we give them a voice?

This presentation draws on doctoral research that locates positive engagement in the relationship between students, teachers and school practices and revealed how some students are disempowered in this relationship. This disempowerment results in 'acts of school resistance' which further disempowers these students. Empowerment requires the provision of alternative education experiences that allow students to forge new educational identities and develop positive relationships with education. Importantly, these alternative experiences can be provided within mainstream schools and do not require students to attend alternative placements which can often result in further disempowerment. This presentation will outline the key findings of the research, introduce a novel capital, justice capital is key in empowering students and transforming their educational experience and demonstrate a pedagogical approach that promotes emancipatory learning. This approach involves the sharing of power between teacher and the student, and supporting dis-engaged students to forge new educational identities.

It made me feel like I could be something

Evidencing Fidelity and Outcomes: a rich tapestry of learning from a three-year impact evaluation of Launceston’s Big Picture School.

In 2020, researchers from the Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment delivered their final report to the Department of Education Tasmania: An Evaluation of the Launceston Big Picture School. The evaluation drew upon perspectives from students, parents, school staff, Big Picture Education Australia staff, and local members of the business community, and examined students’ work, school documentation, policy documents and Department of Education data.

This presentation curates a broad body of this evidence to demonstrate how researchers determined fidelity of the Big Picture design, and highlights a process which keeps young people at the centre – from consent to dissemination.

Creating a R.A.F.T to engage teenage parents back into education - Penny Round

The South East Region of Melbourne is home to one of the youngest populations in Victoria. It is an area of disadvantage, with low rates of Year 12 completion (16.9%). Added to this, the region is home to 700 young parents between 15 and 21 years of age (ABS, 2011).

Teenage parents present as a vulnerable population, and are at risk of becoming socially, economically and culturally disadvantaged. However, young parent support programs, such as the Young Parent Education Program (YPEP), provide a much-needed lifeline to student participants. These programs engage young parents back into education, after withdrawal due to pregnancy, and increase their likelihood of a life without social disadvantage.

AUTISM ADVOCATES- Project based learning through an advocacy lens – Natalie Evans

Last year myself and a group of ASD young people from St Joseph Flexible Learning Centres 'SJFLC', founded a program called Autism Advocates. The Autism Advocates was created in response to the social disconnection that was caused by COVID-19 for this particular group of vulnerable young people. The SJFLC Autism Advocates have met both virtually and in person on a biweekly basis throughout 2020 and 2021. Since first starting, the group has grown enormously and now includes young people from our Geelong programs and several 'Autism Allies'. Autism Advocates has proven to provide connection and a unique and safe platform to support learning for a group of young people who often feel marginalised from their peers.

Project based learning through an advocacy lens, has shown to be a successful approach to supporting a group of diverse and vulnerable young people to engage in meaningful learning. In linking to curriculum outcomes, the Autism Advocates have presented a 'you can't ask that' session at a whole staff meeting where they responded to questions staff had submitted around Autism and spoken at staff meetings and staff inductions about what it means to have Autism in a school context. The group have linked in with our Art and Music teachers and are working towards an immersive Autism exhibition. T

he Autism Advocates also plan to develop a website and sell advocacy merchandise. All learning outcomes have been achieved through visions and ideas that have emerged directly from the young people. Perhaps even more importantly than the curriculum outcomes that have been achieved through this program, is the sense of pride and ownership that many young people grow to have for their Autism. Learning to understand and acknowledge the strengths that come with a diagnosis such as Autism and to connect safely with others who have a shared experience has been the real success of this program.

Reconnecting with education: supporting young people to transition to the educational environment that is most appropriate for them - Fiona MacDonald, James Kelk, Alison Eales

Many of the children and young people spending time in youth custody have complex educational and life experiences and are often disenfranchised from education. Re-engaging with education through Parkville College, the school that operates within Victorian youth custodial settings, a return to education outside the youth justice sector is regularly a part of young people's transition plan following custody. Over 70% of young people transition to a school based setting following a period in custody.

While their educational experiences are varied, there are widespread misconceptions that the young people are not suited to return to mainstream schooling. The aim of this presentation is to consider how, with appropriate transition planning and support, all educational environments, mainstream, flexible learning, TAFE and others can be supported to enable the successful transition of a young person following a period in custody.

The presentation draws on our research conducted with mainstream and flexible learning environments, as well as Regional and Central office support staff in the Victorian Department of Education and Training. Working with Parkville College's transition team and the new transition framework the aim of this presentation is to explore collectively how all educational environments can be the right place for a young person to re-engage, and to make their reconnection with education following custody work.

Top End School of Flexible Learning- The journey thus for a multi campus school - Bernie Davies Carmel Le Lay

During 2018 the Top End School of Flexible Learning (TESoFL) was formed from a previous re-engagement centre and included the existing Malak campus a newly established Palmerston campus and Tivendale campus located within the youth detention centre.

The school provides an alternative education pathway for young people who have not experienced success in a mainstream setting for a variety of reasons ranging from mental health issues through to matters relating to youth justice. The school has the capacity to provide flexible learning options.

This presentation will highlight the journey so far- the successes, the challenges and the future. There will be a specific focus on the campus situated inside the youth detention centre and the innovation that is used to deliver engaging educational programs in this setting.

Yarning opportunity and First Nations truth telling in a dedicated space throughout the conference
 

Using Shared Decision Making to Overcome Rural Disadvantage - Alice Herbert

Since the 20th century, Australia has practised an industrial ‘one-size fits all’ model of education for students. This model ensures millions of students achieve specified annual learning outcomes that meet national curriculum, assessment and teaching standards. However, rigidity of curriculum delivery, reporting and assessment benchmarks and performance based progress reports fail to comprehensively understand students’ individual learning needs. Within Regional, Rural and Remote (RRR) Australia, this industrial model of education decontextualises schooling from its broader socio-economic, political and cultural context. As a consequence, social and spatial injustices occur: research proves that RRR students are consistently underperforming in comparison to their metropolitan counterparts. To improve this achievement gap, this presentation recommends using shared decision making (SDM) in RRR schools. SDM aims to harness the knowledge, skills and capacity of multiple stakeholders to maximise school success. In comparison with current bureaucratic school governance, SDM is more democratic, poses more relevant local solutions to local problems, affords schools greater responsibility, and allows for greater mobilisation of resources. This presentation will provide recommendations for effective SDM enactment based on research in RRR schools.

Teaching in flexible and non-traditional schools - Dr. Aspa Baroutsis and Professor Martin Mills 

To date, little is known about the teaching workforce in the flexible and non-traditional sector in Australia, despite catering to around 70,000 young people, across 400 schools. This paper presents data from a national survey* of close to 150 participants, ranging from principals, teachers, teacher aides, youth workers, and social workers, who comprise the teaching workforce in the flexible and non-traditional sector. We provide a visual snapshot of those who teach in the sector including, workforce characteristics, job satisfaction, and external collaborations. Participants in this session will have the opportunity to add their voices to our findings and share their experiences of teaching in flexible and non-traditional schools. 

*ARC Linkage project: Supporting teachers and teaching in flexible and non-traditional schools (Glenda McGregor, Aspa Baroutsis, Martin Mills, Dale Murray)

Key points: 

• The findings from a national survey of those who teach in the flexible and non-traditional school sector
• An understanding of the experiences of those who teach in the sector
• An opportunity to add their voice to the national survey (voluntary)

Raising expectations to improve the educational and career outcomes of Children and Young People

Research has established that there is an increased risk for Children and Young People living in out of home care for poorer educational, social and health outcomes which may manifest throughout their lives. It is also well known that Carers, Teachers, Youth Workers and other support staff play vital roles in the support they provide to Young People in both developing the skills and knowledge they require for educational success and as importantly in having high educational expectations and aspirations with and for the Young People. 

This session will explore how we can create and provide access to events which promote educational aspiration particularly for students who may not perceive themselves as some-one who goes on to further learning or career opportunities. It will also discuss the complex challenges faced by Young People when accessing University and Post school options and strategies to assist Young People in overcoming them. 

Practical information and resource ideas will be shared which Participants will be able to utilise in their own work with Children and Young People who have experienced complex trauma, assisting in improving their educational outcomes and career pathways.  Insights from a Young Person’s perspective in what works and where are the challenges will be explored either as co-presenter or on video. 

The Pathways Program, an enterprising, future ready school-based, community connected project that will lead to a successful increase in youth transitions into employment, and/or further education or training - Sarah Berry

Statement: The United Nations Education 2030 Agenda encourages all countries to develop well-articulated education systems that offer Flexible Learning Pathways for their students. Providing multiple entry points to and progression routes between institutions, courses, employment opportunities and/or educational levels brings many benefits for young people, local community, and society, particularly in terms of equity, employability, and efficiency in the management of resources.

As Flexible Learning Centres operate on a common ground basis where young people are empowered to determine their own pathways, the Eastern Flexi Schools Network recognised that we needed to embody this further and thus in 2019 sought funding to develop a Pathways Project across our NSW schools and employ a Project Pathways Officer to coordinate it. "Whether students are entering, moving through, leaving, or returning to higher education, the more flexible the learning pathways, the more likely it is that systems will be able to adapt to change and new challenges". - Michaela Martin, IIEP Researcher Purpose:

The purpose of our presentation is to highlight our Pathways Project within our Flexi Learning Centres in NSW, which incorporates strategic and innovative goals to explore progressive approaches that will engage families and communities to bring about cultural transformation in our schools. This includes how our young people are achieving opportunities to fulfil their potential and how we engage families and communities to improve student learning outcomes. Context: We will outline how our Flexi Learning Centres provide an opportunity for young people to re-engage with learning and community.

We will also include the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, who aspires a stronger and brighter future for people and places experiencing disadvantage, who funded our Pathways Project and our ongoing relationship with Australian Schools Plus; a national charity that delivers high-impact philanthropic support for schools in disadvantaged communities. We will also incorporate how our Pathways Project is making connections and integrating community resources to support our schools, students and their families, and the impact of our "Friends of Flexi" who support our staff and young people with future pathways.

We also share how the latest research, best practice and emerging trends assist our Transitional Support Officers to develop strategies and pathways for identified young people. Outcomes: We will not only demonstrate our positive success stories but will also delineate how our Pathways Project has the capacity and motivation to generate new understandings of how families and communities can be engaged to improve student learning outcomes and future opportunities, which also embraces and promotes collaboration to improve families' and communities' willingness, capacity, and support towards our student's learning within and beyond our Flexi Learning Centres.

Future Focused Learning

Jackie will present her experiences of establishing a brand new school with Future Focused Learning as the core pedagogy.

CCCares - Young  Parent Program

Formally established in 2005, CCCares is an alternate education and support program for pregnant and parenting students from the ACT and surrounding districts. We provide flexible delivery of learning and content, towards achievement of an ACT Senior Secondary Certificate and certified competency-based training. Students are aged 14 to 25 and come from diverse backgrounds. CCCares provides a supportive non-judgemental environment with individual learning plans, provision of adjunct childcare and transport to facilitate student participation. As well as providing access to health and education services, we also collaborate with a range of community and training organisations.  Our aim is to provide a safe warm and stimulating environment for students and their children. We recognise that each child is unique, and that they will grow and develop at their own pace. 

“Proactively supporting positive behaviour in FLO: Re-imagining student behaviour intervention through a systems-informed perspective”.

Managing complex behaviours of our young people within flexible learning classrooms requires a whole-school approach.  Managing emergencies in our campuses often exhausts our time and attention.  However, our new longitudinal research suggests that positively supporting young people requires a shift in staff mindset to focus on proactive, consistent structures which bolster the systems surrounding and including students.  Learn strategies that help staff maintain a proactive lens for understanding behaviour and strategies that increase students’ capacities to set higher expectations for themselves.

Mind, Body and Soul: Education beyond curriculum -Learn Engage Connect VCAL Young Parents Program in Victoria

The Young Parents VCAL program is modelled on a holistic approach to education by allowing young parents to complete their secondary schooling, while having their children with them in the classroom. A qualified childcare worker is present to provide learning and play experiences for the children, allowing the parents to focus on the educational work requirements. Students in the YPVCAL program can gain their Intermediate and Senior (Year 11 and 12 equivalent) VCAL over a period of 2 years. In addition students are also supported throughout their studies by a maternal and child health nurse, Centrelink and strong links to other community organisations. The program has been running at Chisholm for 8 years and continues to pathway students into further education, employment or higher education.

 A Virtual Learning  Centre - supporting continuity of  learning during COVID and future opportunities.

Learning from home during COVID-19 provided education systems with both a challenge and an opportunity to do things differently. 

Research on learning during COVID highlights the need for educators to be supported to develop their skills and incorporate a blended learning approach into practice, including ways to bring connectivity, relationality and humanity into a distance learning model.[1]

In Term 1 2022 the Tasmanian Department of Education developed the Virtual Learning Centre (VLC) to support students learning from home from Kindergarten to Year 12. 

The VLC provided government school students with access to quality online learning programs, and online support from a registered teacher.

Feedback from staff, parents and students of the VLC in Term 1 reflects the value of providing quality, accessible and engaging virtual learning options for students who are unable to be learning onsite. 

The future development of the VLC will focus on engaging our learners anytime, anyplace.

Re-engaging the disengaged: self-paced, personal learning plans lead to 100% retention – Eddie Blass

Re-engaging the disengaged: self-paced, personal learning plans lead to 100% retention

This presentation tells the story of the Inventorium, from its inception and evidence based design through its first year evaluation to how it is being used now. In its first year of operation, the Inventorium achieved 100% retention amongst its cohort of home-schoolers who were all traditional school refusers. Given this, some schools are now utilising the Inventorium in school as an early intervention option to reduce the number of students falling out the system altogether. Key success factors are the teacher being tech-happy, the school being confident with flexible assessment design, and catching the students at the point where they disengage from the school system but before they disengage from learning. Two levels of curriculum are available, years 7-9 and 10-12.

A validated assessment tool for disenfranchised youth – Katherine Dix & Emanuela Simos

In 2018, YouthPlus, now known as EREAFSN Central West Network commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to validate the then YouthPlus Young Person Wellbeing Rubric. It was established that there was little corporate knowledge about how or if the tool was being used and no formal processes in place to ensure that data were captured and managed in a consistent, meaningful and valid way across sites. For example, some sites were using the tool when a new student was enrolled, while others were using it once the student was better known by the then YouthPlus staff. The various domains within the tool were scored as raw data and did not have weighting or validation.

By turning to the research literature and sourcing valid and reliable scales and items that map to the Domains and Aspects covered in the Rubric, revisions, and improvements were made to the Rubric to ascertain its face-validity.

Moreover, to better understand the context in which the Rubric was being used, ACER conducted a focus group with staff from FAME (Flexible and Meaningful Engagement) to ensure that the resulting revised tool was fit-for-purpose and met the needs of the then, YouthPlus staff.

Along with the revised Rubric, an interactive scoring spreadsheet was developed to better support data management and reporting needs. Accordingly, the presentation would outline the theoretical basis of validating the then, YouthPlus Young Person Wellbeing Rubric, showcase the interactive scoring spreadsheet and its application (for example, how this data can better inform our responses to young people's wellbeing needs) and the next steps required to achieve statistical validity.

All participants will have access to the tool and ACER report following the conference

Open Arms and Lines in the Sand: Reconciling Unconditional Positive Regard with High Expectations- Sam Grieger

Unconditional positive regard refers to the 'complete acceptance' of an individual and could be considered the price of entry for practitioners within flexible education. However, are we obliged to accept the student behaviour, beliefs, violence and language that perpetuate the hardships they so often face? And if not, how do we maintain caring relationships while challenging potentially volatile and sensitive individuals?

This session explores how we position ourselves as professionals and individuals when supporting our profoundly complex students. It draws upon psychological and educational writers including Carl Rogers, Scott Peck, Parker Palmer and Jordan Peterson to present a model of interaction allowing students to be accepted, without harming them through low expectations.

The session champions personal and professional integrity as key to authentic education and hopes to provide a framework for relationships that are simultaneously safe, constructive and empowering.

The Australian Blanket Exercise

Raises Awareness and understanding of the truth of Australian History

Developed in collaboration with First Nations Elders, Knowledge Keepers and educators, the Australian Blanket Exercise is an interactive and experiential teaching tool that explores the historic and contemporary relationship between First Nations and non-First Nations peoples in Australia. During this 1- 2 hour workshop, participants step on blankets representing the land and into the role of First Nations Peoples. They are guided by trained facilitators, including First Nations Traditional Owners, Elders and Knowledge Keepers, who work from a script that covers the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius, Colonisation, the Frontier Wars, Missions, Reserves and Stations, the Stolen Generation, Assimilation, as well as Acts of Resistance and Change. Participants read scrolls and respond to cues in the script. The Australian Blanket Exercise concludes with a yarning circle, during which participants discuss the learning experience, process their feelings, ask questions, share insights, and deepen their understanding. By engaging participants on both emotional and intellectual levels, the Australian Blanket Exercise both educates and creates empathy and understanding. The Australian Blanket Exercise has endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart and we invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future

Reframing Learning and Teaching Environments: from adversity to achievement – Ben Sacco

Research tells us that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can have an impact on the developing body and brain of a child, with lasting impacts into adulthood. This means the ability for a child or young person to engage in the learning process in a positive way may be compromised due to the negative impacts of stress and complex trauma.

Schools are a critical service provider that could better respond to children with complex needs. This interactive workshop will engage the learning process by enabling the audience to learn about building collaborative communities that shift attitudes, beliefs and behaviours about childhood adversity and hear about why schools are a critical system for delivering evidence-based interventions. Secondly, reflect on current practice in schools and how to create safe and predictable learning environments, reframing our approaches.

We will then deepen participants understanding of how to create the preconditions for improved teaching, learning and wellbeing and the application of research into daily practice. A combination of video, participant involvement and activities will be engaged.

Operation By Principle: an inclusive behaviour management program for the most vulnerable young people in Australia 

Operation By Principle (0BP) is a behaviour management system which aims to provide the most vulnerable young people in the community with the opportunity to attend school. Such vulnerable young typically have been excluded from school because of violent behaviour or elect not to attend schools because of mental health issues. In broad terms OBP incorporates the theoretical approaches of positive behaviour programs, trauma informed programs and collaborative problem-solving approaches developed by US researchers Ross W Green and J.Stuart Albon. This presentation will provide an overview of OBP some videos demonstrations of OBP in practice.

Engaging young people one-minute at a time: STAMINA for engagement in flexible learning classrooms 

We aim to support students to set developmentally-informed goals—and to exceed their own goals. Young people who have experienced rejection in their prior schools are far more likely to be disengaged academically and therefore struggle and give up in the learning aims. Learn strategies to build stamina for engagement that have arisen from the research and practice of Maddie Witter, internationally recognised author of Reading Without Limits and co-author of the Berry Street Education Model, on how trauma-aware schools can simultaneously build self-regulation, stamina and hope whilst advancing significant academic gains for all students.

Doing Professional Learning Differently: Implications for preservice education –  Andrew Bills

Staff in alternative learning sites are involved in a continuous cycle of experimentation and adaptation as they seek to wrap education and care around a continually changing cohort of young people. In this workshop, we ask the question: How do we support teachers through ongoing professional learning and what are the implications for preservice education? In 2018 and 19 we began working with two flexible education sites: a small independent start up and a proposed flexible education pilot under the banner of Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) to develop appropriately tailored professional learning to support the development of robust and engaging curriculum and pedagogical practices for teachers working with mainstream schooling's disenfranchised young people. We are negotiating to have this program accredited at a Master's level. The professional learning for teachers starts from capturing the voices and ideas of young people and what they can tell us about schooling, engagement, pedagogy and schooling design. From this standpoint, we work with teachers to develop action research projects to capture and add to the continuous cycle of experimentation and adaptation, placed within a curriculum framework that will lead to accredited outcomes. With the expansion of the flexible education sector nationally, we need to grow the teachers that will work with our students on these sites to better support their ongoing learning. The aim of this interactive session is to share ideas, practice and develop a picture of the capabilities that preservice and experienced teachers need to support students in meaningful education in non-mainstream sites.

Strategies in Action 5 first steps to enact trauma informed strengths-based strategies in every classroom

This workshop will address two frequent concerns of many educators: (1) Where do I start? And (2) How can I get some quick wins with my students towards durable engagement for learning?. This session will focus upon two learning aims:

• Implementing priority strategies for classroom routines
• Introducing priority strategies to increase student self-regulation of their own escalated behaviours

Aboriginal Education Futures

Schooling in settler colonial societies like Australia continue to produce unequal outcomes and as a mass system it is far from democratic. The United Nations General Assembly has declared the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to draw attention to the importance of Indigenous epistemologies, cultures and languages across the world and encourage action by governments and schools for their promotion and enactment.

This session seeks to rethink education and shape the future in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and precarity.

Cash bar available.