| The
Year 8 Transition Program
Principal,
Steve Foster.
In the background is a painting of Athe ('Grandfather')
Walter Nona.
More about Steve…
Taking
notice of the community
Badu Island State School is embedded in its community and
takes its relationships with the community very seriously.
It works closely with the Community Council and community
involvement in school decision making is actively encouraged
and supported through a variety of committees, through regular
newsletters, through personal contact with principal and staff
and, importantly, through the efforts of community Elder,
Athe (Grandfather) Walter Nona.
Read
more about Athe Walter and his role in the school…
In 1999, Steve Foster arranged for a trained facilitator to
visit Badu Island to work with both staff and community to
identify things that were working well in the school and things
that needed improvement. The community consultation revealed
that although they were quite happy with the education provided
at the school, there was a concern about secondary-aged students
who were remaining in the community and not undertaking any
formal secondary education program. In 1999, their numbers
seemed to be increasing right across the Torres Strait and
many were getting into trouble or considered to be 'at risk'.
Some had been to secondary schools on the mainland for some
time but had not lasted a whole year.
Community
members identified a range of reasons for this situation.
Read
about the issues identified…
They
wanted to know what could be done, so a community meeting
was held in June 1999 and attended by the District Director
and other Education Queensland personnel. The meeting developed
a proposal to trial a Year 8 program at the school. A community
survey then identified about 20 potential students for such
a program. As a group they were having difficulty with literacy,
numeracy and general readiness for secondary school and, as
well, their parents preferred that they stay on Badu Island.
The
proposal was then taken to the Torres Strait Islander Regional
Education Committee (TSIREC), which endorsed it as a trial.
The proposal then went formally to Education Queensland and
it was agreed that the Year 8 Transition Program would begin
in January 2000. The program is a 'trial' and a 'transition'
program only: if it was a fully fledged Year 8 there would
be implications for those students who choose to go away to
secondary school.
Making
the proposal work
Further community consultation resulted in parents saying
that they wanted the students to be immersed in literacy,
numeracy and technology so that they would be better prepared
if and when they get to high school. All the other learning
areas were to be integrated into literacy, numeracy and technology.
But it still remained to find a suitable building for the
class to use. No money was available to build a new one and
the proposal could have come to nothing for just that reason,
at that stage. But it didn't.
Steve
Foster:
 We sat down and said how
are we going to do it?
Read
on…
In
fact, apart from the cost of one additional teacher which
was justified by the numbers enrolled, the program operates
at no extra cost to Education Queensland. Steve knew that
it was vital to get a teacher who the kids would warm to and
who could build up constructive relationships with them and
their parents. After some research, a teacher was recruited
from Gladstone. He had secondary school training in English
and Science and a strong background in Technology.
Talks were then held with Thursday Island State High School
and Bamaga High School to ensure that the program would be
suitable for students who might later go on to those schools.
With
20 students enrolled, the Year 8 Transition Program was ready
to begin.
The
program in action
The
Community Council offered a CDEP worker to act as a teachers'
aide in the classroom. As well, parents got together and timetabled
themselves so that a particular parent was also present in
the classroom every day. Thus, in addition to the non-Indigenous
teacher, there were two Indigenous adults in the classroom
most of the time. Parents joined in when they felt comfortable
and also felt that they could monitor the program to see that
it was meeting the needs of their children.
The
school was keen to encourage mature behaviour in students.
To this end, students were given opportunities to take various
responsibilities within the school and take leadership roles.
They designed their own school uniform, using the school colours
but with 'Year 8' clearly written under the pocket. In ways
such as this, Year 8 students were defined, and defined themselves,
as high school students. This lifted their self-esteem and
improved their motivation. Whereas they had not wanted
to go to high school elsewhere, they wanted to go to
their Year 8 classes at Badu Island and they worked well when
they were there.
Increasing
maturity was assumed about students when they did the wrong
thing or misbehaved. Rather than 'rouse' them, school staff
and people such as Athe Walter offered counselling
and encouraged an understanding of the reasons such
behaviour was detrimental to the individual, school and community. |
