School: Canberra College
Partner: Child Youth and Women’s Health Program, ACT Department of Health
2009 ACT Territory Impact Award winner and National Impact Award winner
Canberra College is an urban twin campus Year 11/12 co-educational government college. There are approximately 800 students on the larger campus. The second campus supports 95 students – primarily pregnant and parenting students, but includes some young carers and students not achieving in the mainstream setting. Of the 75 young mothers and five young fathers at the school in 2009, 95 per cent bring their children to school with them.
The challenge faced by Canberra College was to meet the wide range of needs of this group of students. Unless the diverse health and welfare needs of these students were met, they would be more likely to leave school early which, in turn, would increase the likelihood that they would face lives of poverty and hardship. To minimise the risk of these negative outcomes, it was seen as important to support young pregnant women and young mothers and fathers to stay connected to schooling.
The College recognised that in order to meet the needs of this group, it would be important to bring together education and health professionals on campus, and to work in close cooperation with health professionals in order to provide a supportive, holistic program for its students.
In 2004, a steering committee was established involving the College, the ACT Department of Education and Training and established community health and welfare partners to devise the kind of program that was clearly needed. The major partner was the Child, Youth and Women’s Health Program (ACT Department of Health) but other significant local authorities and organisations were involved, including women’s refuges, hospitals, service clubs, the Salvation Army and various crisis services.
Staff from the Child, Youth and Women’s Health Program committed to providing weekly onsite clinics, which was later increased to twice weekly. This enabled nursing staff to provide advice and care to young pregnant women and parents and their children who may otherwise have had little contact with relevant health services. They also provided referrals for individuals to off-campus health professionals, maintained individual health records of students and their children, and advised teaching staff on a range of health and welfare issues. The college in turn provided space, resources and logistic support for the on-campus clinic. The school prepared personalised learning programs for students which took into account the circumstances and history of the individual student as well as the curriculum requirements of the regional educational authority. Teaching staff also consulted the community health partners on health and nutritional issues which in some cases needed to be taken into account in the preparation of individual learning plans.
A range of other services are provided by the school and health partners. For example, the school has organised on-campus adjunct care for the children of students. This has involved establishing a roster of parents and the engagement of a childcare support worker. Many of the students would not have been able to attend school without this facility. Transport is provided to and from school. This also enables students to attend consultations with off-campus health and welfare professionals. Guest speakers are organised on such topics as speech therapy, SIDS awareness, sleep and settling interventions, sexual health, and female genital mutilation. The health partner identified and provided a specialist nutritionist, who was employed courtesy of a grant won by teaching staff. Health staff ensured that the program conformed to the community standard primary health care principles of early recognition of issues, and the provision of early intervention and referral, to prevent disease and to achieve optimal health outcomes. A feature of this partnership has been the close consultation between the partners to achieve the best possible outcomes for this group of disadvantaged students.
The program has grown, from 10 young parents in 2004 to 75 in 2009, and increasing numbers are graduating successfully from Year 12.
There has been a significant increase in the numbers of young pregnant and parenting young people who are seriously engaging with community health and welfare services for themselves and their children. There has been an improvement in the quality of interaction between health workers and young people, and an increase in students connecting with external health and welfare agencies beyond school. An unexpected and significant outcome of the program was the opportunity for nursing staff to gain experience and confidence in working with vulnerable young people. This particular clientele would not ordinarily approach health workers for assistance.
The Steering Committee has continued to meet and coordinate the program, and formal Memoranda of Understanding are now being implemented. One College staff member is now explicitly employed to facilitate partnerships between the College and community organisations. The program has gained wide recognition, and, in August 2009, two teaching staff helped to establish a new national network for educators and health providers to support young pregnant and parenting students across Australia.
CCCares proposes to use its Impact Award to fund an onsite employment and post school consultant to alleviate existing concerns about transition outcomes for graduating students. The school also intends to establish an onsite Young Parents Group in partnership with ACT Health and to support the establishment of the newly initiated Australian Young Pregnant and Parenting Network.
The funding will also help to further develop a partnership with the local TAFE organisation to facilitate joint curriculum development using an e-learning platform that will enable competencies from national training packages to be incorporated in students’ personalised learning plans. This will enable students to complete certification requirements for competencies within vocational courses. This material will be aligned with the Quality Teaching Framework. It will undergo quality assurance processes by the Quality Teaching experts from the University of Newcastle and then made available as a resource via the Australian Young Pregnant and Parenting Network.
The College and its community partners have developed a one-stop-shop combining a range of health and education specialists on campus to enhance the personal development, wellbeing and growth of the young people and their children, transforming the lives of individual students.
An important by-product of this partnership is that the children of these young parents and carers – that is, the next generation - are being given a better chance in life than they would have had if their parents had not been able to access this program.
The College is to be congratulated on its readiness to support the establishment of a national steering committee, so that the model can be used to support this disadvantaged cohort of young people across Australia.
