…an education in a style that suits them…
In 2004 the Dusseldorp skills forum held the first get together of flexible and alternative sites in Australia. In his keynote Eric Sidoti talked about the idea that as we went into the 21st Century even the hardest to reach student should be able to find a place where they could “receive an education in a style that suits them, with the personal support they might need and the prospect of being equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to exercise genuine options in their adult lives.” (Sidoti 2004).
Most secondary students find this place in the school in which they enrolled. All schools work for some students, most schools work for most students, but for some young people the senior year of schooling is a hiding to nowhere. Students may be bored at times, things may not work out all the time, they may disengage from learning and misbehave but for the most part schools serve students well and students are accepting. Despite this there is a significant number of students for whom school does not work. Our research centred on those students who had left school and had enrolled in alternative education sites overwhelmingly the response when asked why they left was because “they didn’t fit in. There are several dimensions to this; students may have not fitted in academically, socially or emotionally or their behaviour or attendance may have caused the school to tell them they didn’t fit in.
Accurate data on retention and achievement is crucial for addressing issues of educational equity. While the publicly available data lacks transparency, existing patterns suggest a widening gap in educational outcomes based on socioeconomic status and school sector. The apparent retention rate from Year 7/8 to Year 12 across all sectors fell from 92.7% in 2020 to 86.3% in 2023. The decline is even steeper for Indigenous students, with retention dropping from 74.5% in 2020 to 67.3% in 2023. Moreover, the higher retention rates in Catholic and Independent schools, alongside a rise in enrolments in Specialised Assistance Schools, indicate significant movement away from government schools in the senior years. This shift suggests that while overall retention may not appear drastically affected, government schools are bearing the brunt of the decline. (ACARA - National Report on Schooling Data Portal, accessed 28/08/2024). Government schools in South Australia lose some 7,000 students from the end of year 11 to the end of year 12. The great majority of those students are lost to schools and education some look for another place where could, “receive an education in a style that suits them, with the personal support they might need.” , , either in the education departments FLO program (Tailored Learning from 2025) or the growing number of Specialised Assistance Schools in the Independent and Catholic Sectors.
Andrew and I have been involved with the young people on the edge of school for all our careers. For the last six years we have been advocating for changes in the way young people on the edge of school have been treated. Our initial work was, and continues to be, on retention and achievement for young people in poverty. Our main message remains that connectedness to schooling is the most protective factor for young people negotiating troubled times and that young people have aright to have their learning recognised in way that allows them to exercise genuine options in their adult lives.”
If we are to cater to all students and support them “receive an education in a style that suits them, with the personal support they might need and the prospect of being equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to (Sidoti 2004) We need to dive deeply into schooling and policy to understand why young people leave school before completing year 12 despite the indicators that overwhelmingly students report wanting to finish year 12 and get their SACE ( A Smith Family (2022) study found that 82% of students who began Year 11 but did not complete school had originally intended to finish Year 12. Similarly, 83.9% of students in South Australian FLO programs aspired to complete Year 12 (Mission Australia, 2018). Why is it that nearly 1 in 4 students do not find in mainstream school that they can receive an education in a style that suits them, with the personal support they might need…
Second to this is to examine the rise of flexible and alternative sites where students do report that they feel supported and that they fit in but where their prospect of being equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to exercise genuine options in their adult lives. Is not clear or guaranteed. Because what is clear that despite the rapid growth of these schools and alternative programs the formal outcomes through SACE and VET for students in these flexible sites are negligible.
This not just an issue for mainstream schools and the flexible and alternative sites but must also be dealt with at a policy level by the Education Department, SACE and the Catholic and Independent Sector. Next post will look out how schools and SACE shape each other and the inequities that arise.