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39101 Qld Certificate I in Workplace Access delivered at a Brisbane suburban TAFE. ... aging facility, this building served the youthful and often traumatised at risk students' ...... (2003) In Queensland PopulationQueensland Treasury, Brisbane.
Engaging At Risk Adolescents in Literacy Education at Alternative Education Sites in Queensland, Australia

Cheryl Livock - PhD Candidate School of Cultural and Language Studies Queensland University of Technology Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove Brisbane, Australia

Theme 8: Literacy and Basic Education for All

A paper presented at the 12 World Congress of Comparative Education Societies, Havana, Cuba, October 25-29, 2004 th

PO Box 5256, Maroochydore, Qld., 4558, Australia ph.0410 638163

[email protected]

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12 World Congress of Comparative Education Societies, Havana, Cuba, 2004

Cheryl Livock

THEME 8: Literacy and Basic Education for all Engaging At Risk Adolescents in Literacy Education at Alternative Education Sites in Queensland, Australia Cheryl Livock Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia Email: [email protected]

Introduction This paper reports on preliminary findings from an ongoing one year PhD study of literacy programs provided at four alternative education settings in Queensland, Australia. The research question is, “What are the literacy practices utilized for at risk adolescents at several alternative education sites?” The participating alternative sites represent the diversity of current Queensland alternative settings, where a range of at risk adolescents are being engaged in literacy education. This paper will address emerging issues faced by both students and teachers at these sites; the successes and failures; and the way ahead. At risk adolescents are those adolescents aged generally between 15 and 23 who have either been excluded from or have dropped out of high school. However there is currently a growing number of younger students aged 10 to 15 who are also being included in the at risk group. As one teacher said, “There are 10 levels of at risk youth. Those participating in our programs are levels 1 to 3, on a scale where level 10 is the most at risk.” At risk students, for the purpose of this study are those who have disengaged from learning, are often disconnected from other people, and are at risk of failing to attain basic literacy skills needed to function in the current knowledge based society (Falk, 2001, Belanger et al., 1992). In the Australian context functional literacy skills include oral as well as written literacy (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997). Research Context Queensland, covering an area twice the size of Texas has the largest decentralized population in Australia, with a greater number of large cities and towns than any other Australian state. Some 55% of the 3.7 million state population live outside of the capital Brisbane (2003). Because of this decentralized nature of the state, the alternative sites chosen came from areas which were representative of this demographic diversity. The sites chosen were: a Flexi School taking place in a small rural town, population 6,000, on the Great Dividing Range which runs the length of the state; a Language Literacy and Numeracy Program [LLNP] at a Technical and Further Education [TAFE] college in a regional coastal resort area, population 244,000; an Alternative Schooling Centre in a rural city, population 127,000; and a program designed specifically for youth at risk, the 39101 Qld Certificate I in Workplace Access delivered at a Brisbane suburban TAFE. The sites fulfilled the criteria for alternative education sites, firstly by, offering alternatives to mainstream high school curricula, and second by being conducted in a non mainstream high school environment. Some sites were housed in well constructed purpose built buildings, while others had had a nomadic existence; nevertheless all sites irrespective of their physical surroundings were experiencing a growth in the numbers of students attending. One example of a site that has continued for the past four years under considerable duress was the rural flexi school which used distance education curriculum materials and workbooks but adapted them for individual student programming. Since its inception in 1999 the rural flexi has been located at a variety of venues including “a miniature room” underneath the Returned - page 2 -

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Soldiers Leagues Club, the local park, the town library, the Scout Hall, the Country Women’s Association Hall, the Community Hall in the main street, on benches outside the Community Hall, and currently a room approximately 12 meters by 8 meters underneath a building housing governmental offices and agents, in the industrial section of town. Nevertheless, approximately 30 adolescents, 14 to 18 are now enrolled at this school with a core of 10, who for the whole of last year continued to attend daily even when they had to sit on benches in the main street, with teachers working out of the back of a van and distance education link ups conducted by mobile phone. The alternative schooling centre catering for the youngest cohort in the study, those aged 10 to 15, also had had to move locations. It was first situated in a suburban home, and then moved to a section of an 81 year old weatherboard school building, which had previously been used as the regional state education offices, before that a primary school site, and now co-housed a Special School for children with disabilities. Even though an aging facility, this building served the youthful and often traumatised at risk students’ needs. The school rooms were on a second level with a wide covered verandah wrapping round one side of the building. Underneath the school building was concreted, with areas available for painting, sand and water play activities. The section utilized by the alternative school included a separate large well equipped kitchen, a table on the verandah used for morning teas shared by students and staff, and a teaching section with two larger rooms and six smaller adjoining rooms. The multiplicity of smaller rooms allowed students to learn one on one in separate rooms, or share a room with only one or two other students. Other sites such as the two TAFEs were comprised of purpose built classrooms, for example the beachside campus of the regional coastal TAFE, contained relatively new class, staff and interview rooms. However this site still fulfilled the criteria for an alternative learning environment. This was because this learning environment was purpose built for adult education, and consequently lacked the controlling demarcations such as school gates and fences which traditionally surround Australian high schools. The suburban TAFE campus, situated in a parkland setting with tall gum trees with koala bears, likewise qualified as an alternative setting, as it was also an adult learning environment. Here the at risk youth program took place in the language teaching block, one of sixteen separate, teaching buildings. Additionally at risk students could utilize the library, a newer and better equipped computer room and classrooms in other teaching blocks across the campus. However in spite of these favourable physical surroundings, students and staff reported having very similar concerns and issues to their counterparts based in less salubrious venues. Research Methods To elicit participant concerns and build a detailed picture of the literacy practices taking place at these alternative education sites a qualitative case study design was employed. Data was collected from all four case study sites, with several students at each site becoming embedded case studies (Yin, 1994). The theoretical basis of the study is that of critical ethnography, following a structured ethnographic format prescribed by Carspecken’s (1996) Five Stages for Critical Qualitative Research (Table 1). The full descriptions generated by ethnography suit this research subject, because comprehensive descriptions of the cultural settings of all participants - at risk students, their teachers, and administrators - are needed to illuminate their knowledge construction, and the power relations that impact on that knowledge construction. The illumination of these power relations is the “critical” part of the methodology.

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The researcher’s role is that of TABLE 1: CARSPECKEN’S FIVE STAGES FOR CRITICAL QUALITATIVE RESEARCH (adapted from Carspecken, 1996, both insider and outsider, pp. 40-43) uninvolved bystander and STAGE 1: Compiling the Primary Record through the participant observer. Using collection of Monological Data – video taping classrooms these two roles the researcher and resources, collecting artefacts such as workbooks, curriculum documents, student assignments, entry and exit has been able to generate both assessment items, observations with the researcher acting monological data (Table 1: as unobstrusive bystander. STAGE 1), where there is only STAGE 2: Preliminary/Ongoing Reconstructive Analysis one voice, and dialogical data - audio tapes transcribed -low inference codes/raw codes assigned; raw codes grouped; reconstructive meaning where the communicative analysis (meaning fields assigned & set within a pragmatic interaction of researcher and horizon). participants generates data - validity reconstruction - claims placed in one of three categories: subjective, objective and normative-evaluative (Table 1: STAGE 3) from the - a level of foregrounding or backgrounding assigned interaction. There has also [paradigmatic axis] - foregrounds or backgrounds meaning interpretations been an ongoing analysis of of past and expected future events [temporal axis] data: using raw coding, - validity checks - peer checks; member checks; strip grouping codes, allocating analysis; negative case check meaning fields, delineating the STAGE 3: Dialogical data generation – researcher interacts with participants as a participant observer in type of claim being made, classrooms; through individual interviews and focus group foregrounding or discussions backgrounding the claims as STAGE 4: Describing system relations - Social locales: well as including the impact of education authorities, their products, services organisations or local businesses the meaning of past or future -Social systems: worldwide economic, political and events on the actors’ claims educational systems; national and international bodies & (Table 1: STAGE 2). The products; regionalised social systems & products; statistical information actors claims have then been STAGE 5: System relations as explanations of findings set in the wider context of – where theory and findings come together “social locales” and “social systems” (Table 1: STAGE 4). Finally Carspecken’s STAGE 5 (Table 1) allows the relationship between social systems to be re-interpreted according to power relations: cultural, economic and political power. It is hoped that by following this research “formula”, it will be possible to illuminate the role power relations have in enabling or constricting the effectiveness of literacy education for at risk adolescents. Monological and dialogical data was generated through a Pilot Study at the regional coastal TAFE, and also during Visit 1, the first of five visits over a twelve month period to the remaining three case study sites. During Visit 1 participating students were individually interviewed about their perceptions of their progress and the program they were involved in. The majority of staff members, teachers, tutors, para teachers and teacher’s aides were also interviewed about the general nature of the alternative programs being offered. Interview instruments titled “Embedded Case Study – Student Interview” and “Interview – Program Coordinator” were used respectively for students and all staff. It had been decided to use the latter interview instrument for all staff, after the pilot study. Additionally classes were observed and taped, some work samples and curriculum documents were collected. Although some monological data was collected in this first visit, the main aim of the visit was to build an overall picture of the entire alternative literacy learning experience through dialogical communication. This was in accordance with the epistemological basis of the study, critical symbolic interactionism, where communicative interaction is a core component (Goffman, 1989, Hughes, 1960, Weinberg, 2002, Crotty, 1998). However, while Carspecken reconstructs actors’ communicative meanings by analysing targeted sections of talk and assigning a reconstructed meaning of what was said, termed a “meaning field” – I have reconstructed “meaning fields” from the total talk of all actors interviewed. This paper contains an Initial reconstructive analysis of communicative data resulting from collection of raw codes (words / phrases), which when grouped produced seven primary “meaning fields”. These meaning fields represent the staff and students’ main concerns about the literacy engagement. - page 4 -

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Coding and Meaning Fields PRIMARY MEANING FIELD 1 – HOW THE LITERACY LEARNING EXPERIENCE DIFFERS FROM HIGH SCHOOL

One meaning field that emerged from several questions on both staff and student interview instruments was how the literacy learning experience was Key words (or raw codes) used by students and staff alike describing the learning different to that experienced at high experience at alternative sites were: school. Students and teachers often “different”, “more relaxed”, “friendly”, used the imperative mood when “flexible”, “negotiate”, “understanding”, describing the mainstream high school or “second chance”, “self-discipline”, “easy … national administrative requirements, and easy going … easier work”, ”, “building used the subjunctive mood when bridges”, “building relationships”, building describing the alternative centres. These “self-esteem”, “confidence” to “have a go”, claims about the two provisions of “empowerment”, “love and belonging”, a learning fell into Carspecken’s teacher who “comes over and helps”, a “subjective category”, because they teacher who “sits down with”, “they teach you”, “individual programs”, programs that represented the subjective feelings and offer “choices”, target “student needs”, perspectives of the actors involved. “student interests” and have “immediacy of application”. Terms for high school were: “don’t talk, just listen”, “look at it, read it, do it”, “wouldn’t help”, “didn’t fit in”, “judgemental”, “set programs/curriculums”

From the students’ perspectives, every single student interviewed (12 total) said the big difference at the alternative school was the teacher sat down next to them and explained the work to them (a secondary meaning field). This had not been the case at the high schools, which they had previously attended. One male student, from whom it had been hard to elicit any lengthy response, on the subject of teacher support made the following comment: I like it more here than at the high school. I just think I couldn’t listen in class in high school. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t a good way for me to learn. You just had to sit there and I got bored. The teacher would stand up the front. They don’t make it interesting. All they do is read out of a book [Researcher: And write on the board?] Yeah. You know anyone could be a teacher. All you’ve got to know is how to read and write – that’s about it. And you can be a teacher. [Researcher: Here do they explain things more to you?] Yeah, they explain so you can understand it. … the teacher will explain things better.

The above response and the next two responses were typical of those made by all students: Female Student: The teachers didn’t like me and none of them had the time to sit down and help me with my work … [they] gave a list and wrote it on the board. … I’d ask for help – they would say – look at it, read it, do it. Here they tell us a different way to understand it. Male Student: Here like they teach ya, but in school they just write it on the board and you have got to copy it. Here they actually come round and help you. [Researcher: Don’t the teachers do that at high school – walk round the class?] Yeah – but they don’t – they just stand there and they basically just forget about you. And its like you’re just sitting there. [Researcher: So what if you don’t know what to do – it’s too bad?] Exactly. Unless you put your hand up or something but still they don’t explain like as good as here do. [Researcher: So here they just wait for you to ask or do they…] No they come round and watch what you’re doing and where you’re up to and keep you up with the rest of them like. [Researcher: Do you always have 2 teachers in your literacy class?] Yep, it’s a lot better. [Researcher: In high school you’ve just got the one and more kids?] Yeah. {This youth had 8 students in his class}

From the staff perspective four secondary meaning fields emerged. Building a trusting student/staff relationship, offering a second chance, confidence building, and eventual empowerment were at the heart of providing a successful literacy program that would engage at risk adolescents and increase their literacy skills. The second chance, the relationship, the confidence and empowerment, they said had not taken place at high school for these students. A range of comments gathered from staff at each site reflect these thoughts.

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Female teacher: At the heart of any teaching is the relationship [between students and teacher] … especially when dealing with disadvantaged clients. Male teacher: Everything comes back to the relationship – why they are not learning is because they are disconnected from people in some way, and one or more of their needs are not being met. Female Coordinator: I think the empowerment, self confidence and self esteem we give the clients is very effective and the opportunity to catch up or even learn skills many of these people never ever had opportunity, for whatever reason in their early childhood or in their previous school life. All different kinds of reasons they never ever got the opportunity. And they say to us how grateful they are that they’ve got a second chance. And I think that is really rewarding for us as teachers to know that we are giving people more control over their lives so they’re not dependent on other people. And that they really appreciate it. PRIMARY MEANING FIELDS 2 & 3 – AT RISK STUDENTS SUPPORTIVE OF EACH OTHER’S LEARNING and TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS

Apart from having supportive staff, participants also spoke about the importance of the support at risk adolescents give each other. This second primary meaning field was linked to a third, directly teaching social skills to at risk students. The following anecdote about the importance of peer support for student learning was related by a teacher from the coastal TAFE.

Key words / raw codes used in connection with these two meaning fields, firstly by students were: “not mean”, “don’t tease”, “you have to come”, “made a lot of friends”, “helpful”, “tell/show what to do”, “other kids ask me”, “not to judge”; and secondly by staff: “not to judge”, “teaching cooperation”, “teaching teamwork”, “modelling social skills”, “thank you speeches”, “counselling”, “personal development skills”, “peer support”, and “conflict resolution”.

This teacher’s class consisted mainly of adolescents. One male student aged 17 was so fearful of speaking that initially he would only answer the teacher’s direct questions in a whisper. As his confidence built he agreed to give an oral presentation. On the day, although he had written out his speech he was still fearful of standing up and delivering it. Other students encouraged him with comments like “Come on mate you know us all now”, “You don’t have to be scared of us”, “You can do it”. The student then stood up and gave his speech holding onto the back of his chair. He grasped the chair so firmly it was constantly rocking back and forth throughout the entire presentation. He didn’t look up at all during the speech, only when others asked questions at the end. His voice was barely audible. When he had finished everyone in the class clapped enthusiastically and gave a lot of positive feedback like “good on you”. Now only some few months later this student is participating more confidently in class discussions, and speaking audibly, not the previous whispered replies to the teacher only. Similar experiences were related to the researcher by students and teachers alike from all alternative centres. At the Brisbane suburban TAFE a 15 year old female student described how her classmates encouraged her continued participation: [Other students tell her] ‘You have to be here tomorrow. You have to come. You have to come.’ They say this at the end of class. At school this never happened. My friends would say ‘Bye, see you next week’. All my friends wouldn’t go either [that is they regularly truanted from school].

To build a rapport and supportiveness between students alternative centres have either included a “personal development” course in their program or have intentionally included the modelling of social skills as a component of their programs. Two students commented at length on the importance to them and their classmates of the personal development course and its teacher: 17 year old male student: Personal Development is personal skills, like working together. At the start of the year a few people didn’t like each other in the class and now we’re all mates and stuff. Yeah, so that’s taught us all that stuff. … Well [student 1] and [student 2] were having fights and weren’t friends and that and they made a deal not to call each other anything, not to bash each other, like just to be good to each other and it worked.

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16 year old female student: Yeah if I was doing this interview right now and I didn’t have this class [the Personal Development class] I would be sitting back and I wouldn’t be so – I’d be going like this [shaking] because I used to be really shy around people I didn’t know, but I’m talking away now. And it’s all thanks to that teacher. He helped me a lot to get to know people. I used to just judge people by looking at them. ‘I don’t like them. Look what they are wearing.’ But now … he said don’t judge a book by its cover and that’s what’s got me like. I don’t judge people by their hair now; what they wear or what they look like. I get to know them and if they are really nice like I’ll be their friend. And that’s like - I’ve made a lot of friends here. PRIMARY MEANING FIELDS 4 & 5 – NATURE OF THE LITERACY EVENT and PATTERNS OF ATTENDANCE

Two more primary meaning fields that emerged were the nature of the literacy event itself and patterns of attendance. I have linked these two fields as the number of students attending the sites was reported as directly affecting the type of literacy teaching provided. The rural alternative schooling centre with approximately 20 students enrolled provided alternative programs for the youngest cohort of at risk adolescents, those aged 10 to 15. The literacy practices at this centre exemplified how flexible attendance patterns enabled an individually tailored literacy learning event for all students.

Key words (raw codes) allocated to the literacy event from staff perspectives were: “workbooks”, “worksheets”, “individual programs”, “student needs”, “student interests”, “reading to students”, “intensive”, “hatred of writing”, “real life activities”, “newspapers”, “videos”, “cable TV”, “core English”, “vocational literacy”, “workplace literacy”, “talk”, “oral presentation”, “verbal scripting”, “freedom to talk”, “practice speaking”, “unofficial literacy”, “interpreting the literature”, “computer literacies”, “digital camera – digital literacies”, “certificate”, “piece of paper”, “outcomes”. Key words for literacy learning from students’ perspectives: “punctuation”, “grammar”, “joining words”, “paragraphs”, “assignments”, “research”, “bibliography”, “write things”, “comprehension”, “spelling”, “reading out loud”, “rough drafts”, “notepads”, “computer”, and “talk to customers”. Students used more concrete terms when speaking about their literacy experience, while staff used more descriptive terms.

At this centre there were a variety of attendance patterns and programs. Some students came every day from 9am to 1pm. Others have unique attendance requirements: one attends 2 to 2 ½ days and the rest of the time is at a mainstream primary school; one student attends the alternative school in the morning and takes one subject at the high school in the afternoon; and one student could “only last till noon” but had just increased attendance from three to four days a week. These flexible attendance patterns are necessitated by the type of at risk students attending. “Of all the kids we get – they’re unhappy, some are really angry or sad. Some have severe bullying, harassment at school” reported their teacher. One of the students participating in the study from this site had been so traumatised when he first arrived at age 9, he was non verbal and could not be in a room with other students. Now at age 14 he was able to speak about his learning experiences with the researcher for 34 minutes. He joins in morning tea with all the staff and students “a key time for learning language” and a daily event; he is beginning to read and write short stories; and he has joined the army cadets. The teachers and this student’s grandmother are now in the process of finding a work experience placement. The teachers at this centre view literacy holistically, as a daily life skill, for example students are taught to read while cooking; literacy worksheets and activities have been constructed for a car trip to Sydney; and a cadet handbook has been the basis of vocabulary building. At this site literacy is also built around the students “attentional lead” (Warren and Yoder, 1994, Harris and Graham, 1994) and “seizing the moment”. Teacher: For the literacy it’s starting where the kids are at and picking on their interests and what they’re going to feel is the most useful. So if they’re intent on getting a job it’s filling in a form. … It’s a case of the teacher seizing the moment.

For example, one student who hated writing, had poor fine motor skills and had difficulty holding his pen, one day was sitting at the computer “pretending to type with all fingers and said ‘this is how real people type’”. The teacher then “seized the moment” and encouraged him to practice the typing program, which would in turn help him to improve his literacy skills. The very individualized programming at this centre is made possible - page 7 -

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because of the physical layout of the centre and the flexible attendance patterns, which allows teachers to have only a small number of students attending at any one time. The male teacher commented: If we took everyone we’d have ten to eleven at a time. It wouldn’t work. It would be a whole tense environment. 14 to 15 year olds don’t like others to know they can’t read. They wouldn’t have the confidence to read with another kid there. Some even shut the door [to the smaller rooms when they are reading one-on-one with teacher or tutor].

In the LLNP program (Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program) at the regional coastal TAFE, flexible intake allows Raw codes allocated to patterns of students to be individually assessed and attendance by staff: “enrolled”, “rolls”, “flexible placed into a literacy program matching hours”, “flexible intake”, “one-on-one”, “separate them”, “night classes”, “day classes”, their skills levels. This is done on a “adult and adolescent cohorts”, “too young”, student by student basis throughout the “difficult to be here”, “commitment”, “hours per year. In the lowest skills class, Level 1 week”, “days per week”. literacy the curriculum includes teaching Coding words used by students regarding attendance: “I never went”, “left school”, “come simple sentence structure, word recognition, every day”, “more breaks”, “start”, “finish”, and spelling, vocabulary building, oral reading, “arrive”. informal class debates and everyday tasks such as filling out forms and writing simple instructions. One male student aged 15 from this class linked the support he received from adult and adolescent classmates alike to the fact that they were all at the same skills level: I usually didn’t read out loud at high school. And I’m more confident now to read out loud. … in high school some kids are mean to you, because they recon they are better than the other. In TAFE they’re just at, they’re at the same level as you. They don’t tease you or anything like that.

The Level 2 literacy class at this centre teaches more about complex sentence structure and writing connected paragraphs, as well as a more formal type of oral presentation. Because of the flexible intake and exits, as soon as they are assessed as competent in the level 2 literacy skills, students are able to immediately move across to a year 10 class, join an apprenticeship course or have sufficient literacy skills to be employable. For the Youth At Risk Access Program, flexibility of attendance is more related to the way the program is conducted, than flexible intake and exit patterns. The flexibility of attendance patterns in this program emanates from the fact that, although students are required to attend five days a week, built into that week are a variety of on and off campus activities, such as a day out in industry placements, a day in workshops at TAFE, personal development classes with periodic off campus activities, TAFE certificated courses, tutoring or catch up classes where teachers are present to assist students with assignments with computers available, and literacy and numeracy classes. Literacy and numeracy are core components of the program. Of the five at risk groups participating in this program, four commenced in February at the beginning of the Australian school year. A fifth group came in as a mid year intake in April but like the other groups will finish at the end of the school year on 26 November. Three of the groups are composed mainly of boys, while two classes are mainly girls. All groups were given choices on the structuring and content matter of their literacy learning. The curriculum framework, the Certificate in General Education for Adults [CGEA] was imported from the adult literacy environment. The three boys’ classes chose to do theme work and after brainstorming and a majority vote, music became the first theme. Assessment items being, “First, write and explain about a band, style or artist; and second, read about a band answer comprehension questions”. The boys then chose a second theme “drugs and diseases”. The two girls’ classes chose to raise funds for two different charities. Their entire literacy classes took the format of a committee meeting, with each student having a turn at being the chairperson and the minute taker. Oral, written and technological literacies were taught in this context. Students each wrote letters to local companies to ask for donations of prizes for raffles or sale of goods, like chocolates. They also learnt how to write and send a fax. When the companies wrote - page 8 -

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back, each student would be encouraged to read out their received letter. Students also went around the entire TAFE campus talking to other students and staff, persuading them to buy raffle tickets or goods for their fundraiser. When interviewed their teacher repeatedly stressed the importance of literacy taking place in a real life context, especially for at risk adolescents. Responding to the researcher’s question, “What is the most effective part of the literacy program?” the teacher stated the following: Everything is centred round what they’ll need in the next year to succeed and an awareness of what things will happen in the work place, like the team meetings. . . . The fact that it relates to what they’ll be going to do in the workplace; it’s interesting to them; most of them get – they see how it’s relevant in the workplace through the real life activities that we do.

All students interviewed in this program reported improvements in their spelling, paragraph writing and speaking/reading aloud in front of others. Some mentioned grammar improvement. For example a 15 year old female student who had constantly truanted from high school, related how she was … More confident to read out loud and to write paragraphs – not just paragraphs with one sentence in it but five or six sentences in it. … writing proper sentences with good words not just ‘is’. … Has helped a lot with spelling. Some words I couldn’t say and the teacher has sat us down and helped. She has sat there many times and written them out.

A second female student, who had dropped out of school for two years, described the exuberance and supportiveness of a successful literacy learning experience: I’m learning more like paragraphs and stuff. I never knew how to do it. No like I couldn’t break it up. I wasn’t very good at that but I’m kinda learning more about that now. [The teacher] She goes over it a few times. We have like sheets and they’ll have no full stops no commas or anything and you have to go through and do it. And you get more idea of why you put that there, and you don’t put that there. The first couple of times we’d do it, we’d all go through it together and you’d kinda yell out the answer. And the other time you go through and do it yourself. And you can get help off your friends. And then [the teacher’s name] will correct it. So that’s how I learnt.

These students’ comments reflected reported improvements in literacy, especially a newly acquired ability to write in several connected paragraphs with complex sentences employing a wider vocabulary. PRIMARY MEANING FIELD 6 – REASONS FOR CONTINUED DISENGAGEMENT and SOLUTIONS

The problem of having attendance patterns disrupted so students are no longer engaged in learning was another issue that arose. Students and staff at all sites recounted instances of continued disconnection from literacy engagement. For example at the Youth at Risk Program each group had begun the year with approximately 16 students which by September had reduced to 10. The coordinator and a student contributed their perspectives on the reasons affecting student attendance. Reoccurring terms regarding continued disengagement used by teachers were: “difficult to be here”, “not interested in a commitment”, “not right for them”, “got work”, “levels of disengaged students”, “chaos in their lives”. Key words used by students: “lost interest” “got out of the habit”, “not motivated”, “no computer at home”, “not strict enough” and students also referred to unclear written information in workbooks. Terms providing solutions from both student and staff perspectives were: “take responsibility”, “ask for help”, “separate home and school life”, “flexibility”, “supportive stable staff”, “freedom to choose”, “love and belonging”, “meet student needs”.

Coordinator’s perspective: We do lose some along with way. They find out it’s not right for them. Some of them actually have gone to work. … These students have a lot of chaos in their lives and they need the support of each other. They need the support of a stable staff too, which is hugely important. A friendly but firm nurturing staff Student [had been homeless; dropped out of school in grade 9; hadn’t been doing anything for past two years]: [Researcher: have you continued coming at the same time since the beginning of the course or has that varied?] It’s varied a lot like - I missed out on quite a lot for a bit. And, yeah I’m trying to attend more now. At the beginning it was pretty good but then I found that after we had two

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weeks holidays I got out of that habit of coming. So, yeah, I think that’s what stuffed me up for a little bit. [Researcher: so you’ve got back into it after a while?] Yeah, I’ve found that I have. I’m trying.

This same student also reported she had difficulty staying motivated: [Researcher: What are the things you don’t like about the program?] With literacy probably getting my assignments and stuff done. I just can’t get motivated enough. Like everyone’s nearly finished this one and I haven’t even started. I only just got some information on what I was doing soo. And I don’t have or computer or nothing where I’m at so that makes it harder. [Researcher: Do other kids have a computer at home?] I think a few of them do. I just find it hard to get motivated. I’ve always been like that.

Her teacher had later told how this student had at one time been sleeping in her car and that “It is a credit to her that she has got herself to TAFE”. The teacher also said although she had missed quite a lot of work she will nevertheless pass and get a Certificate I. This was because of the flexibility of course components allowed within the Work Access Program, and also because the student had improved her literacy skills from a level 2 to a level 3, as well as completing 200 hours of work experience in a work placement outside of TAFE. From the rural flexi school another student also reported accommodation issues had negatively affected her learning engagement. I’ve moved about 7 or 8 times in the last year, the last six or seven months. So I don’t have many of my school books left. [Researcher: Do you lose them?] Yeah, hmph. So it’s really crap. And I think I might be moving again, so [Researcher: Well that’s upsetting] Well it was but I’m starting to get used to it. I’m starting to be able to handle it a bit better. I’ve just got to … I think it’s a lesson I’ve got to teach myself, that, to stick to what I’m doing. Just to concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing. Like home life is different to school life. Cause at the start of the year I didn’t know how much I’d be moving, and took all my books home. And that’s when I lost them. And these guys [flexi staff] said, ‘You’d probably shouldn’t do that’.

For this student having a more flexible end date helped overcome the problem of homelessness and lost workbooks. With the extra time allowable, she felt confident of gaining her year 10 certificate early in the coming year. Also she expressed confidence in the flexi staff being able to procure for her replacement workbooks. Staff reported giving their own time to help the students remain engaged. For example staff had in their own time taken students to recreational activities or work placements, assisted with accommodation, or come into the centres on to provide extra tuition, so learning outcomes could be achieved. PRIMARY MEANING FIELD 7 – INCREASING ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS

A final meaning field to be included in this discussion Key words (raw codes) from is about administrative requirements. At all of the four all sites were: “clash”, sites there was a significant amount of discussion, “different”, “reason for being”, both on tape and informally by staff, about “targets”, “reporting”, administrative requirements that were being “competency”, “accountability”, “outcomes” “paperwork” “rolls” increasingly placed on alternative programmes in “legal requirements”, “don’t general. Two sites were being affected directly. Staff trust”, and “funding”. expressed concerns in recorded interviews and during observations, some vehemently, that these increasing administrative requirements were detrimentally affecting the alternative program focus. One Teacher: The work side is important but it’s not everything. It’s part of it but it’s not everything. … What they are actually doing, is they’re putting their things on us. We’re different [to mainstream high schooling]. Their standards, their criteria on us. That’s not us. We’re not part of it. We’re different. We’re different. And it’s important we’re different. That’s our reason for being – that we are different. More student centred. I think we are. The needs of the student. Another Teacher: This particular contract that we have is very top heavy with administration and paperwork. It seems to be that we are doing more administration than actual teaching. It is a bit of a nightmare in that respect. - page 10 -

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Discussion and Findings From the foregoing perspectives of both teaching staff and students, alternative education by its very nature is different from mainstream schooling. Flexibility is a key concept, flexibility of attendance patterns, flexibility of teaching staff in their approach to students, in their design of learning programs, and flexibility of all participants to adjust to a range of learning environments. Another key concept is individualizing, one on one teaching that individualizes students’ learning, that enables them to grasp hitherto unlearnt basic skills and knowledge. Also individualized programs specifically tailored for each student’s needs and interests allow them to learn at their own ability level and pace. This in turn provides opportunities of learning success, which builds confidence to attempt more difficult tasks. The student/teacher relationship was another key criteria for success in learning. Building a trusting, nurturing relationship was seen by all teachers as crucial in keeping at risk adolescents engaged. Many teachers had counselling qualifications. They found this beneficial, because it was the teachers to whom the at risk adolescents went for help with personal as well as academic problems. So the meaning fields that emerged: How the literacy learning experience differs from high school; At risk students supportive of each other’s learning; Teaching social skills; Patterns of attendance; Nature of the literacy event, all these fields included the need for flexibility, individualizing, and a strong student / teacher relationship. The meaning field Reasons for continued disengagement and solutions also indicated the need for alternative centres to remain flexible and have a willingness to reconnect with students who for some reason might drop out. As one coordinator said these students “have a lot of chaos in their lives … they need the support of a stable staff”. What was of concern for many staff was the last meaning field: Increasing administrative requirements. The issue of government requirements, both state and national, was reported as becoming an onerous burden for staff. Many staff reported it was contrary to the whole purpose of alternative education, and if continued unchecked would turn alternative centres back into the same inflexible regulated learning environments at risk students had disengaged from. All students interviewed made strong emotive statements about being unable to learn in the regulated school environment. All students also reported gains in the alternative environment, in writing ability, particularly spelling, sentence construction and paragraph writing. Many students reported having the confidence to read aloud in class for the first time. This had not happened during their 10 year stay in mainstream education. Students reported for the first time being able to read and understand newspaper articles. However, the individualized, flexible teaching methods that made these gains possible, many teaching staff believe could now be at risk. Applying Carspecken’s model for critical ethnographic analysis to this scenario, it becomes evident that wider social systems are impacting sometimes favourably and sometimes unfavourably on individual adolescents attending alternative education sites. In Australia the wider system of government funding and legislation (Coates, Fitzpatrick, McKenna & Makin, 1996; Queensland Government, 2002) is enabling alternative centres to engage an increasing number of at risk youth in education. Many adolescents are increasing their skills, bringing them out of the at risk category for literacy. However, the same systems’ demands for increased accountability endangers the very nature of the alternative education centres that makes them so successful, that makes at risk adolescents want to attend, even when physical accommodations are less than desirable. Perhaps as Carspecken says it is up to staff and administrators and even the students themselves to become proactive in positively modifying systems’ negative directions. Actors are always free, in principle, to act against such conditions – to challenge them or transform them. This is why the concept of social system must not be thought of as something existing outside of human activity (Carspecken, 1996, p.38).

Reference List - page 11 -

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Cheryl Livock

(2003) In Queensland PopulationQueensland Treasury, Brisbane. Australian Bureau of Statistics (1997) In Aspects of Literacy: Assessed Literacy Skills. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. Belanger, P., Winter, C. and Sutton, A. (Eds.) (1992) Literacy and Basic Education in Europe on the Eve of the 21st Century, The Council of Europe, UNESCO, The UNESCO Institute for Education, Swets & Zeitlinger B.V., Strasbourg, Hamburg, Amsterdam/Lisse. Carspecken, P. F. (1996) Critical Ethnography in Educational Research, Routledge, New York and London. Crotty, M. (1998) The Foundations of Social Research, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, Sydbet. Falk, I., and Millar, P. (2001) Review of Research - Literacy and Numeracy in Vocational Education and Training, Australian National Training Authority, Leabrook, SA, Australia. Goffman, E. (1989) Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 18, 123-32. Harris, K. R. and Graham, S. (1994) The Journal of Special Education, 28, 233-247. Hughes, E. C. (1960) In Field Work: An Introduction to the Social Sciences(Ed, Junker, B. H.) University Press, Chicago, pp. v-xv. Warren, S. F. and Yoder, P. J. (1994) The Journal of Special Education, 28, 248-258. Weinberg, D. (2002) In Qualitative Research Methods(Ed, Weinberg, D.) Blackwell Publishers Inc., Malden, Massachusetts and Oxford, UK, pp. 1-22. Yin, R. K. (1994) Case Study Research - design and methods, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi.

APPENDIX 2 - page 12 -

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12 World Congress of Comparative Education Societies, Havana, Cuba, 2004

TABLE 3: INTERVIEW - PROGRAM COORDINATOR 1.

What is the purpose (goals) of the program?

2.

What background led to its development?

3.

For whom is the program designed? [age/gender/culture/compulsory?]

4.

In what ways does the program meet the needs of the individual participants?

5.

Where is the program conducted?

6.

Describe the program organization. [weekly/daily schedule]

7.

How many students attend?

8.

Outline the content of the program

9.

What teaching-learning strategies are used? (eg teacher demonstration through modelling)

10. What resources are used? Human, material, technological? (provide specific details of material and technological resources – names, publishers, teachermade) 11. What effect has the program had? How do you know? 12. Has there been any attempt to formally evaluate the program? If so describe the evaluation procedures used and outcomes. 13. What is the most effective part of the program? Why? 14. What do you see as the most significant outcome of the program as far as literacy teaching goes [authentic and critical literacy outcomes]? 15. What things would you change in the program? 16. What direction do you think the program will take in the future? 17. Is this program linked into other programs? Explain. 18. Describe how you liaise with other literacy/numeracy staff? How often and for what duration. 19. What further skills do you think would be beneficial for you and your staff to develop to better assist the at-risk students? 20. Does your organisation encourage and give opportunity for staff attendance at Professional Development sessions? Describe. 21.

What Professional Development programs have you attended that were particularly beneficial / that weren't beneficial?

22. For other sites who may wish to initiate such a program what advice would you give? Identify any features of the program that you regard as essential to successful delivery? 23. Other comments?

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Cheryl Livock