Initiatives

Initiative 1 - Youth Transition Support Project

Initiative 2 - Audit of, and Professional Learning Activity for, Transition Teams

Initiative 3 - Out of Schools Program Options

Youth Options Guarantee Initiatives

Initiative 1 - Youth Transition Support Project

In 2007 the State Government established the Youth Transition Support Initiative (YTSI), a program that assists young people to return to or commence Education, Training and or Employment. Within the Grampians Region, a YTSI program operates in the Highlands LLEN area. It provides a holistic case management approach to supporting disengaged young people who have:

• not passed year 12 or equivalent
• are not employed or not attending education or training, and not working more than 15 hours per week,

and who would like sustainable options for the future.

A support worker assists young people develop an action plan to achieve the desired goals and provides ongoing assistance to try to achieve these, such as addressing barriers that may affect their ability to return to school or sustain an employment or training option.

Centacare manages the YTSI contact in the Highlands LLEN region, servicing Ballarat, Hepburn, Pyrenees, Moorabool and Golden Plains LGAs.

The Grampians Education Partnership felt that the support that was available for the young people in the Highlands LLEN area through YTSI, should be available in other areas within the Grampians Region.

A seeding grant from the Youth Transition Division of DEECD and a matching contribution from GEP members enabled the establishment of the Transition Support Project in February, 2008.

The Project operates in the regional centres of Horsham, Nhill, Warracknabeal, Stawell, Ararat and St Arnaud. BGT Youth Services has been contracted to deliver the service.

The initial targets of providing case management support for 30 young people and sustainable placements for at least 50% were met early in the project and have now been exceeded.

The GEP made arrangements to enable the Project to continue and expand in 2009 and excellent outcomes were achieved for the young people assisted through this program. In 2010 the Commonwealth Government's Youth Connections initiative is being implemented across the State. As a result, all parts of the Grampians Region will be serviced by Youth Connections and so will all benefit from the services previously provided by YTSI in the Highlands LLEN and the Youth Transition Support Project in  Horsham, Nhill, Warracknabeal, Stawell, Ararat and St Arnaud.

Initiative 2 - Audit of, and Professional Learning Activity for, Transition Teams

In Term 1, 2008, the Grampians Education Partnership conducted an audit of School and TAFE Transition Teams and their professional learning needs. The audit revealed that members of these teams wanted to access professional learning which would provide the opportunity for them to learn about the approaches being taken Transition Teams and how they were implementing their commitments to the Youth Options Guarantee.

As a result, a professional learning activity was developed for representatives of School and TAFE Transition Teams. Youth Support Agencies were also invited as they have an important role in supporting young people facing challenges which impact on their ability to remain connected to education and training.

The activity was planned around a set of scenarios, with participants asked to explain how, in their settings, they approached the issues raised by the scenarios. The activity was also used to launch the Youth Options Guarantee Resource Manual.

Feedback from the participants confirmed that the use of scenarios was an effective method of engaging all participants in small group discussions about the issues faced in assisting young people who are at risk of early school leaving and those who are making a transition to post school options.

The following resources were used during the professional learning activity:

The Youth Options Guarantee Manual was used in the extended scenario with participants requested to locate the sections of the Manual which were relevant to their small group discussions of the various stages of this scenario.

Initiative 3 - Out of Schools Program Options

LinkUp - Ballarat

LinkUp commenced in 2005 in Ballarat as a learning program for students unwilling or unable to access mainstream education. While LinkUp participants are enrolled in Ballarat Secondary College, the program is run at the Ballarat Learning Exchange, which provides a non-institutional environment which the young people find more appealing.

Each young person enrolled in LinkUp has a Personal Learning Plan to guide the program they are undertaking and this is underpinned by a Student Well-being Plan to ensure the young person receives the support needed to engage in this Learning Program. In addition to undertaking studies in literacy and numeracy, they can choose from a broad range of community-based, elective programs and vocational education and training programs.

One group of LinkUp participants is involved in the Young Mums' Program which is organised around the particular needs of these young women and their children.

LinkUp has received strong community support, including financial support from the City of Ballarat.

From an initial enrolment of 20 students, this has grown to 200 students in 2008.

For more detailed information about LinkUp, read LinkUp: Redesigning School (create a link to .pdf ) This article was first published in Teacher, Australia's national monthly education magazine for educators across all state, Catholic and independent schools. Reproduced with kind permission. Subscribe by visiting teacher.acer.edu.au

LinkUp success leads to development of out of school programs in other parts of the Grampians Region

As a result of the success of LinkUp, combined with the sense of commitment to the Youth Options Guarantee focus of reengaging early school leavers, there was interest in other areas in the Grampians Region to develop out-of-school programs to reengage young people in education and training. This interest led to the development of ConnectEd and Central Connect.

ConnectEd - Horsham

ConnectEd was developed during 2006 in Horsham with the aim of providing opportunities for young people, who have left school, to reengage in a learning process that is specifically designed to cater for their individual needs.

ConnectEd was approved by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in partnership with Horsham College, and is supported by Grampians Community Health Centre Inc, Nexus, Wimmera Uniting Care and the Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN.

ConnectEd started operating at the beginning of the school year in 2007. Individual Learning Programs are designed to cater for individual needs. ConnectEd students go to a community-based centre, where they meet with an adult who assists with their learning.

Young people, enrolled in ConnectEd, can access a range of courses from Distance Education Victoria Centre and other education providers such as TAFE. Assistance is also provided to link the young people in with community agencies and organisations.

In 2008, close to 70 young people are enrolled in the ConnectEd program.

Central Connect - Ararat, Stawell and St Arnaud

Central Connect is an out-of-school program that was offered for the first time in Ararat, Stawell and St Arnaud Secondary College in 2008. It is targeted towards re-engagement of young people who have already left formal schooling, or who are at serious risk of doing so. There had been recognition of the success of both LinkUp in Ballarat and ConnectEd in Horsham in being able to reach many young people, who had left school early, and were not in employment of training and re-engaging them in learning.

While Central Connect is a regional program, due to the geography of the regional area, the program is tailored to suit each of the three communities in which it is offered, and the local resources available to support the programs. The nature of the program structure is, therefore, different in each community.

The learning program for participants, as with LinkUp and ConnectEd, is structured around the needs of each young person. Individual Learning Plans are designed to improve the opportunities of the young person to return to mainstream school or further training or to gain meaningful employment. Literacy and numeracy are key elements in all programs, as are opportunities to increase practical skill levels.

In 2008, over 60 young people are enrolled in Central Connect across the three towns in which it is delivered.