Identifying Young People At Risk

1
Identifying Young People At Risk

• Deb Hull

2
Workshop

• Research project
• Current models
• 2006 trial
• Evaluation
• Processes to support a whole school model for
  MIPs

3
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?

4
School-based indicators/behaviours

• 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

5
Community and family risk factors

• 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

• Poverty
• Low income household
• Parental unemployment
• Australian-born parents, English-speaking
  background
• Aboriginal or Islander
• Refugee
• Fragmented/reconstituted family structures
• Separation from family

6
Personal Risk Factors

• 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

• 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

7
School-based risk factors

• 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

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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

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Model 1 common practice

• Some combination of
• 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

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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

11
Model 3 school checklist

• Checklist/spreadsheet of risk factors
• Completed by teachers
• Access to complete and accurate information?

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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

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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

14
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

15
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

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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 dont know?

17
Process

• What are the processes (not the programs or
  services) that need to be in place to support
  whole-school approaches to retention/engagement?