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Working
systematically: Port Augusta Secondary School, South Australia
The
context
Port
Augusta is an industrial and service city, 310 kilometres
north of Adelaide, 75 kilometres from Whyalla and 98 kilometres
from Port Pirie. The Flinders Ranges provide a picturesque
backdrop to the town. The total population is about 14,000
with an increasing number of transient and mobile families.
Over 3,000 Aboriginal people live in the town or the Davenport
Aboriginal Community.
The
two main employers are the Electricity Trust of South Australia
(Flinders Power) and Australian National but both have reduced
staff in recent years and employment prospects are a cause
for concern. Port Augusta is well serviced by shops, community
facilities, sporting and recreational clubs and venues.
Port
Augusta Secondary School is an amalgamation of Augusta Park
High School and Port Augusta High School which occurred in
January 1995. As a result, there are now separate Year 8/9
and Year 10/11/12 campuses, approximately two kilometres apart
and with a total student population of well over 500.
The
school has a vibrant middle campus with two sub-schools. These
small learning communities provide programs and structures
to promote educational outcomes for young adolescent students.
Staff teach across curriculum areas and in teams, with an
emphasis on developing relationships.
The
senior campus provides a range of South Australian Certificate
of Education academic and vocational programs designed to
meet the diverse needs of the student population.
The
teaching staff is characterised by a large number of beginning
teachers in either permanent or contract positions. As a result
there is a regular turnover of staff.
Port
Augusta SS has the largest number of Aboriginal students in
any secondary school in South Australia, and about 30% of
the school population is Aboriginal.
More
details about the school...
Go
to the school's website...
A
'Social Vision and Action Plan' was completed for Port Augusta
in 2000 and a major initiative is under way to implement the
plan. This initiative involves the Port Augusta City Council,
the State government and the community. The education sector
is intimately involved. The Port Augusta City Council website
has more details.
Go
to the Port Augusta City Council website... |
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Indigenous
Education: A major priority
| Principal,
Darryl Ashby, had this to say about the priority accorded
to Aboriginal Education at Port Augusta SS:
 I
have genuine concerns about the lack of equitable
outcomes, which is well documented across this State
and across Australia generally. I think schools can
implement programs and put in place structures which
can, to come degree, address that, and that's what
we're trying to do here in Port Augusta.
There's
an Aboriginal Education team that works across both
campuses to support the work of Aboriginal students.
It consists of the Aboriginal Education Coordinator,
three Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs), an Aboriginal
mentor, the Indigenous School to Work Project coordinator
and a representative of the school administration.
We
want to be methodical and start with individuals.
So it's talking to kids about future directions, getting
mentoring programs going, putting in place tracking
processes to make sure nobody gets lost in the system,
getting real about attendance.
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And
then there's the Aboriginal perspective across the school.
We've got seven Aboriginal staff members at the moment and
we employ others as needed. The other side is that we've
made Aboriginal Cultural Studies compulsory in Years 8 and
9. Every kid does it and as part of that they go out and
do cultural field days where local Elders and respected
people in the community come along and work with them, telling
stories, cooking roo tail, digging for bush foods, showing
bush medicines.
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Case
management and the South Australian Certificate of Education
(SACE)
| Sally-Ann
Geddes is Aboriginal Education and Special Needs Coordinator.
She talks about how an individual-focused approach was
developed.
Having
worked in the primary sector since 1987 (and particularly
in Port Augusta since 1994) I had seen number of our
Aboriginal students move into high school, but not
go on to complete Year 12. I couldn't understand why
they weren't making it through when they left with
so much promise from the primary school. So when the
opportunity came up for the Aboriginal Education position
at Port Augusta SS, I hoped the climate would be right
to come over see what could be done.
In
the past there had been a culture which accepted that
we would only get a maximum of one Aboriginal student
completing their SACE [South Australian Certificate
of Education] every year. I thought that meant that
either the curriculum wasn't matching their needs
or that the way it was being delivered wasn't working.
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Attendance
had been shocking and there seemed to be an acceptance that
a low standard of attendance, participation and achievement
went with being an Aboriginal student. Some people said
that SACE isn't relevant for Aboriginal kids. That was a
red rag to me because I knew there were SACE arrangements
that could be relevant.
We
had to look at what we were offering. Why on earth should
an Aboriginal student not find SACE relevant? Anything else
is just an acceptance of being a victim within the school.
Our
students had to be case managed in such a way as to make
sure that they did have the chance to complete their SACE.
Over
a period we've changed things so that the SACE has become
more of a focus and we're now offering more diversity within
the SACE offerings. A big push has been the mainstreaming
of Aboriginal learners. They're not separate from our school,
they are part of our school and we provide a service that
meets their needs within the context of our whole school.
But Aboriginal culture and events are mainstream too. Crocfest,
for instance… in 2001, 34 students and two teachers
participated. In 2002 the whole of Port Augusta Secondary
School went to the crocfest. That's what I mean about mainstreaming
Aboriginal education and Aboriginal students' learning needs.
In
the past, most Aboriginal students had a pattern of subjects
that wouldn't allow them to complete the SACE. We've changed
that. This year, seven students have a pattern which will
allow them to achieve their SACE, but only one of them has
the same pattern they had at the beginning of the year.
That's because of case management.
So
part of the push is setting up a vision about where we're
going, what our core business is and how that is embedded
in the work of the whole school. We sat down with the Aboriginal
Education team and the Principal and other stakeholders
and put the [SA] Aboriginal Education Plan into our school
context. Then we set out clear benchmarks and targets about
where we wanted to get to.
For
instance, we looked at attendance data, and we said, right,
what should it be? And we case managed individuals and we
case managed issues, and we're monitoring them as we go.
Another example is just the Year 12 Aboriginal students.
We had 20 enrolled at the beginning of this year and we
know where each of those want to be at the end of the year.
The AEWs [Aboriginal Education Workers] are great . If I
go to the Year 12 AEW, she'll be able to tell me exactly
where every one of those students should be in their timetable,
know exactly what their attendance record is for the term
and for the week.
We're
interested in evidence. I believe that for too long in this
country, people have ignored the evidence. And I want to
show that something is happening and I want the evidence
to support it. We're not doing things because it makes us
feel good. The Aboriginal community deserves more than that
and we have a responsibility to provide more than that.
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The
Indigenous School to Work Project
| Another
aspect of case management is the School to Work Transition
Project. This is a DEST-funded initiative under the
Vocational and Educational Guidance for Aboriginals
Scheme (VEGAS). Stephen Carter has been the coordinator
of the project for about a year, working initially with
predominantly Year 12 students, but now Year 10 and
11 as well.
The
first step was that I thought I had to develop a relationship
of mutual respect and trust with the Aboriginal students,
and that relationship has to extend out to the wider
Aboriginal community as well. So a fair bit of work
went into just getting to know them and getting to
a stage where Aboriginal kids felt they could just
walk into my office and say, 'look I want to be a
brain scientist' or whatever the case may be and we
could develop that idea and take it from there. We've
also gone through a process of home visits, talking
to parents, letting them know what we're about. You
can't over-emphasise the importance of getting the
relationship right.
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You
can then start talking about what they would need to undertake
to achieve their career goals. Some Aboriginal students
do have a defined idea of where they're going and what they
want to do. But in some instances they don't fully appreciate
the processes that they've got to do to get to where they
want to go. And then others of course just don't have any
idea of what they want to do.
So
then we started going out to industries, part of the focus
was to show these students specific tasks - 'this is what
a person does, these are the conditions that they work in'.
I wanted that rather than the general industry tour that
a lot of students do. This approach is very specifically
orientated towards observing what people do in those places.
Industry visits would then conclude with the opportunity
to talk with Aboriginal employees in those workplaces. They
would talk about stories and how they got there. I remember
one 55 year old employee who spoke at great length about
how he got here into the workforce, what he did, how he
dealt with racism issues in the workforce and how he worked
within that. So from that experience a lot of students have
certainly got a much bigger picture.
The
other thing that I was able to do is to become virtually
the job-matcher for them. I'd search for job vacancies,
by going through the process of matching a student's goals
and abilities with jobs that are out there. Then I assist
them through the application process, resumes and so on,
even at that stage involving the family again. And we start
building their actual interview skills. I put great emphasis
on that. It's a key.
So
we take them through a process. What is the interview? What
is going to happen within that interview environment? What
are the types of interviews that they will face? What are
the types of questions that they will face? Behavioural
aspects. Interview techniques that have been used. Psychological
assessments. All of that. And how to fully prepare. How
to present themselves. How to sell themselves at that interview.
And this is for government traineeships as well as other
jobs.
But
I think the students need to go through a process of continually
revising those things. You can teach them the fundamentals
in their first mock interview, but you need to come back
and keep going through that process of re-mock-interviewing
them to see the improvements and to see whether they've
grasped the concepts.
And
in a lot of instances we actually take those kids to the
interview and sit with them. After they come out of the
interview we can debrief them. Because I've worked on that
side of the fence I know what employers are looking for.
But I often go to the extent of seeking some feedback from
the employer on the student's behalf.
Now
most Year 12 students might be focused on their SACE until
November, and that's fine. They'll be doing little things
with me along the way but after November we can work intensively
with them, looking at their career options and so on.
The
most fundamental thing about a project like this is that
you've got to put the resources into it. Aboriginal people
are disadvantaged and they deserve the resource allocation.
That's first and foremost.
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Other
initiatives
Port
Augusta SS has a range of other initiatives in Aboriginal
Education.
Here
are some brief descriptions... |
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