Funding boost for South Australian youth leadership program

The state government has committed to an additional $600,000 over the next three years to the Youth Opportunities Association SA to run their Personal Leadership Training Program that assists identifying and fulfilling the personal and learning potential of students facing complex challenges in their lives.

The program delivers 60 hours of wellbeing and life skills training for selected year 10 students with ongoing phone-based coaching for the following two years until the end of Year 12. Students learn skills to build confidence, self-worth, optimism, and resilience with the aim they continue to develop these skills for the rest of their lives.

In addition to personal development, a range of topics that focus on improving learning outcomes are covered in the program including motivation for school or study, goal planning and finding career pathways, and leadership.

It also focuses on delivering SACE outcomes to participants through Integrated Learning subjects and the Personal Learning Plan and will track the progress of students after completing the program to monitor their wellbeing and progress toward successfully completing their SACE.

Over the past year Youth Opportunities delivered 46 programs across 27 state government schools, reaching more than 750 year 10 students. The Department for Education has been supporting the Youth Opportunities Program since 2013.

Chief Executive Youth Opportunities Association SA, Erin Faehrmann said, “The additional funds, and a three-year commitment, will not only enable Youth Opportunities to reach more young South Australians experiencing adversity, but will also allow for the organisation to further measure the longitudinal outcomes of the program through a robust measurement framework.

“With the needs of young people across our State becoming more complex and challenging, the demand for our programs and services continues to grow. The commitment shown by the Department for Education, through its continued investment in Youth Opportunities, is testament to the successful outcomes that have already been achieved through this partnership during the past six years.”