Transcript Identifying Young People 'At Risk' by Deb Hull

Identifying Young People ‘At Risk’
Deb Hull
Workshop
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Research project
Current models
2006 trial
Evaluation
Processes to support a ‘whole school’
model for MIPs
Research
‘At Risk’ of what?
• Not completing school?
• Becoming totally disengaged from education,
training and work?
• Youth offending?
• Harm?
Does everyone in your school agree on the
‘what’?
School-based indicators/behaviours
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Truancy
Behavioural issues
Low literacy level
Low numeracy level
Significant change in demeanour, behaviour or
performance
Attitude to schooling
Does not value school completion
Articulated intention of early school leaving
Negative peer influence
Aggression/violence
Community and family risk factors
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Poverty
Low income household
Parental unemployment
Australian-born parents,
English-speaking background
Aboriginal or Islander
Refugee
Fragmented/reconstituted
family structures
Separation from family
• Low parental education
attainment
• Poor family management
practices
• Poor parent-child relationships
• Abuse
• High crime neighbourhood
• Incarcerated parent
• Frequent change of
location/school
• High number of people in
neighbourhood with vocational
qualifications
Personal Risk Factors
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Poor health
Low birth weight
Ill health or disability
Disruptive behaviours
Passivity
Low self esteem
Low motivation
Self-harming
High level of
aggression/violence
• Pregnancy/motherhood
• Offending
• Substance misuse
• Association with anti-social
peers/adults
• Sex work
• Social isolation
• Male
• Non-metropolitan
• Working more than 5 hours of
paid employment per week,
especially for males
• Primary carer for parent or
guardian with illness or mental
illness
School-based risk factors
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Unsupportive school culture
Repressive discipline
Large class sizes
Unstimulating content
Competitive exam-dominated
assessment
Negative student-teacher
relationships
Negative peer relationships in
school community
• Absence of school counsellors
• Lack of student participation in
decision-making
• Poor school/home relationships
• Poor teaching quality
• Lack of clear relationships
with the wider community
leading to an absence of
support and referrals
Pitfalls of identifying young people
as ‘at risk’
• Encourages focus on young person rather
than school improvement
• Pigeon-holing does not allow for
resilience
• No process to declare ‘no longer at risk’,
no fresh start
Model 1: common practice
Some combination of:
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Referral from teachers
Referrals from parents
Self referrals from students
Review of literacy and numeracy levels
Review of school reports and assessment
outcomes
• Review of attendance patterns
Model 2: student survey
• Detailed questions designed to elicit
extent to which student has
experienced or exhibited risk factors
• All students complete
• Analysis and reporting
Model 3: school checklist
• Checklist/spreadsheet of risk factors
• Completed by teachers
• Access to complete and accurate
information?
Model 4: staff-student connection
• School structure at centre
• Each student has one staff member who is
responsible for their welfare, and for
communication and maintaining positive
relationship
• Staff member may ‘follow’ the student through
successive years at school
• Staff member is first point of ‘at risk’ referral by
teachers, parents, student
• School processes support action by these staff
members
Model 5: data review
• Developed by Doug Smith –
Brimbank-Melton LLEN
• Draw down data from CASES
• Identify list of ‘at risk’ young people
• Teacher review of list, add and remove
names
2006 Trial of Model 5
• 5 schools in Brimbank-Melton area in
2005
• Up to 50 interested schools from
Western Metropolitan Region and
Grampians Region in 2006
Data review model
• See handout
• Includes capacity to map programs and
services
• Includes capacity to monitor student progress
• Includes capacity to monitor effectiveness of
programs and services
Evaluation
• How do you know if the system your
school is using to identify ‘at risk’
young people is working?
• How can you improve if you don’t
know?
Process
• What are the processes (not the
programs or services) that need to be in
place to support whole-school
approaches to retention/engagement?