Refusers Back in School with Flexible Program

Rates of school refusal are jumping, for a number of reasons, a large cohort of students and their education simply aren’t clicking.

The danger is that as the rest of their peers progress, these students fall further and further behind, compounding their situation.

And the worst-case scenario is that they fall completely by the wayside and set themselves on a very difficult pathway. Interventions are needed and BlendED, a relatively new program based on flexibility and support, is helping marginalised kids to re-engage with school.

The goal is to get every young person back to school, but until they are ready to do that, BlendED looks to keep them in the education system and learning.

St Joseph’s in Melbourne was one of the early adopters of BlendED and is reporting good results with the program’s combination of attentiveness to students’ individual needs and a flexibility that appeals to many who find the pressures and requirements of mainstream school to be overwhelming.

Chloe Hand, Director Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) Flexible Learning Schools Victoria, has helmed the creation and implementation of BlendED.

“Mainstream school is doing a tremendous job of providing rich, engaging and rewarding education for young people at large. St Joseph’s and the BlendED program work with mainstream schools to provide an education that is different to what typical onsite schools can offer,” she says.

“Many of the young people we work with have experienced a level of trauma from the ‘harder’ signals often experienced in large traditional schools. The BlendED program has no requirement for young people to wear uniforms, attend large assemblies, participate in exams and work through a challenging curriculum in a relatively tight timeframe.

“We have a structured program that is predictable and also flexible. Our students engage in their learning, their way and in their time. Often, our students work through the Australian curriculum and the Victorian Certificate of Education, Vocational Major in a longer timeframe and negotiate their educational goals with both their teachers and their youth workers.”

The structure of the program came about through the learnings from the extended COVID lockdowns that were endured in Victoria.

“We’ve captured the ‘silver lining’ of those experiences and launched BlendED to work with the students that found this way of engaging in learning amenable to their educational needs. The program ‘evolved’ from our work with students at our North Melbourne site and is now being expanded in Geelong and other parts of Victoria.”

All Victorian students experienced at-home remote learning during the lockdowns and St Joseph’s is embedding this dual-engagement model as a permanent part of the school’s offering.

The youth workers regularly visit young people in person at home and will also encourage them to leave home to attend excursions, play sports and other social gatherings.

“We know that school won’t be the reason many of these young people want to leave the safety of their home. But if we can encourage them to take that first important step outside the home to socialise with others face to face in a fun environment, we can then encourage them to return to school.”

Students have an individual program created for them which takes their particular situation and needs into account.

Students can participate in learning in the safe environment of their home, eliminate the need to commute and they are able to engage in group lessons and work one on one with their teacher. Recorded lessons mean that they can listen in their own time and can re-watch lessons and instructions to ensure they can remain on top of their school work.

“Many of the young people we work with also work parttime jobs or are young parents, so learning in this flexible way is highly desirable for them,” says Hand.

“We have an enthusiastic team of youth workers that induct the students into the program and consistently work with them, from that point on. The induction involves providing each young person a laptop, internet connection and instruction around navigating our online learning platforms including CANVAS. Our team of youth workers routinely provide an outreach service where they work with the individual wellbeing needs of each student. This often involves the coordination of other local professional services and regular monitoring and review of the student’s wellbeing progress. Similarly, our teachers work in tandem with the youth workers to ensure sound and meaningful educational goals are achieved.

“BlendED attracts and retains staff because the work we do with young people is deeply rewarding. The team at BlendED are passionate about making real differences in the lives of young people in the immediate term, and at the great potential for making positive lifelong change in the lives of young people. The innovative and contemporary approaches that we are adopting are exciting for us and we are looking forward to realising the future possibilities of the program.”

Kye Davies, a 16-year-old student in the program says, “I was falling behind in a mainstream school. I didn’t have a laptop which made school difficult and I was suspended a few times, so I kept missing classes and it became harder and harder to catch up and keep up. I just couldn’t make schoolwork for me. I’m so glad I tried the BlendED program - I’m getting exactly what I need from it. I’m enjoying learning again and I can do it in my own time. I feel really supported by my teachers and my youth worker and feel pretty good about the future.”

St Joseph’s is part of Edmund Rice Education Australia, an organisation that works with mainstream colleges, traditional special assistance schools and Flexible Learning schools throughout Australia. St Joseph’s in North Melbourne was the first flexible leaning site in Victoria and has been working with young people since 2012.

St Joseph’s three campuses are all developed to meet a recognised need in the community and have actively sought to consult and collaborate with local communities to ensure the best outcomes for young people. St Joseph’s will continue to expand to identified areas to continue to work with young people in a flexible and innovative way.

Head to https://stjosephs.vic.edu.au/ or call 03 9269 6900 for more. Interested Teachers and youth workers are also encouraged to make contact with the school.