Dalmar Education Program Victoria Drew ACWA 2012

What do we know about educational outcomes for OOHC children? Create Foundation Report Card into Education 2006 <50% of children in OOHC received Year 10 school certificate <1% made it to university “We need a stable environment. We need to know how to access things like tutoring, resources, and the library. We need as much encouragement from you as you can give.“ BJ, 16 Michelle Townsend PhD “Are We Making the Grade?” More recent data, some improvements but similar recommendations to the report card. 40% gained a Higher School Certificate compared to 68% in general student population. “Children in OOHC fare far worse than their peers compared to all other DET equity groups except Aboriginal students.”

Impact of trauma on academic performance Reduced cognitive capacity Sleep disturbance (poor regulation) Causing poor concentration Difficulties with memory Making learning harder Language delays Reducing capacity for listening, understanding, & expressing Calmer Classrooms: Victorian Govt. publication

Need for control Causing conflict with teachers & other students Attachment difficulties Making attachment to school difficult Poor peer relationships Making school an unpleasant experience Unstable living situation Reducing learning, & capacity to engage with new school Impact of trauma on social functioning Calmer Classrooms: Victorian Govt. publication

Why is engagement and success in education so important? For children in care, each step up the “educational ladder” leads to improvements in quality of adult life lifelong learning resilience self-efficacy mental and physical health family and parenting civic engagement respect for law absence of addiction Evidence from British Birth Cohort Studies, By Degrees Project, Sonia Jackson, University of London, 2006.

Dalmar Education Program Objectives Break the cycle of disadvantage for children and young people coming into the care system. Improve the educational achievement of children and young people in our care. Enable children and young people to develop a capacity to envisage healthy and productive futures.

Program History: Beginnings: CREATE Foundation report card on education, Burnside: Opening the Door DVD and resource book. Tenuous funding: year pilot program, 1 education officer supporting residential programs and some foster care students. Corporate sponsorship: Beginning of educational mentoring. Hely Trust donation: Growth of educational mentoring. Dalmar funded: 2010 to present: 4 Education Consultants (qualified, experienced, passionate teachers) working within our 3 generalist foster care programs, specialist foster care and residential programs

Education Consultant Model: 1.Resourcing and supporting academic success 2.Building a positive education culture 3.Engaging with stakeholders 4. Advocating

Education Consultants: Qualified, experienced teachers working within foster care and residential programs providing targeted resources and skilled support when and where it is needed. Provide “on call” education advice to case managers and carers. Give expert educational recommendations at case conferences.. Carer Training: Initial and ongoing Take referrals from case managers for “at risk” students Provide Educational Mentoring to those students in most need. Develop Education Plans with schools. Provide specific educational resources to carers. Fund extra teacher’s aide support for students in school Provide extra support at times of transition. Eg High School Manual Provide supervision/mentoring during suspensions

Educational Mentors Experienced teachers attuned to the needs of students in care are engaged to work with a child or young person for 1 hour per week. They provide holistic educational support rather than traditional tutoring. This occurs in school or in the home. Motivate and encourage students, nurturing an enjoyment of learning Address gaps in learning and set learning goals Establish good work habits and organisational skills Assist with homework and support current school program. Develop independent learning skills “The educational achievement of our children has become a more positive focus and with the inclusion of mentors for many clients, their educational outcomes and experiences at school have improved.” Case Manager

Dalmar education program and educational mentoring Foster care Program Education Consultant Educational Mentor Educational Mentor Educational Mentor Educational Mentor student Educational Mentoring cost for per student per year = $ student

What else does the Education Team offer? Access to curriculum based online resources What if you could get the teacher to go over things again, in a friendly and easy to understand way?

Raising expectations of academic achievement. Encouraging high career aspirations. Influencing casework decisions to consider educational impact. eg. school continuity and when contacts are organised, when placements change, when restoration occurs. Promoting a culture of learning in carer homes. Monitoring of school reports and Naplan results. Supporting the transition to Kindergarten, High School and tertiary. Celebrating success! Education Consultants: Building a culture within OOHC that prioritises education

Education Consultants: building relationships, building bridges Education Consultants universities carers case managers educational mentors schools Dept ed. OOHC teachers tutors clinicians classroom teachers teachers’ aides Students year advisors PJ Foundation

Education Consultants: Advocacy Making sure students are receiving all additional funding they are entitled to from DET. Helping schools and teachers to understand the student’s particular needs. Negotiating at suspension resolution meetings. “Having a qualified teacher (Educational Consultant) means that the position of Wesley Dalmar and advocating for the child is better represented and respected by DET.” “It’s been great having someone who knows the jargon as sometimes I feel the teachers are talking another language! There is also an added respect for the agency when taking a teacher along to the school meetings.” “The specific knowledge brought by our Education Consultants has assisted us to advocate more effectively for our kids within the school environment and to access as much support as is available to them.” Case Managers

Feedback from Dalmar Fostercare Program Manager “Having an experienced qualified teacher in our program has given us someone who knows and understands the school structure and systems and has been able to build positive relationships with the schools. For our children, it has meant access to a great resource to assist with homework, mentoring, discipline issues and some one on one attention to help kids who are struggling to fit in to the school structure. Frankly, how did we ever cope without them?”

Education Consultant: Residential Care “Just about all of our kids arrive at Gateway (Residential Unit) with quite disjointed school lives so having an education consultant really helps get them back on track. As our workers can be so busy and so stretched, knowing that there is an education consultant for this specific need is ever so helpful and the results start to show in their school work and reports.” Case Manager Residential

Summary and conclusions: The Dalmar Education Program has made a direct contribution to improving educational outcomes for children and young people in care and more broadly has contributed to changing the culture of OOHC to emphasise the importance of success in education in the lives of these children. The key feature of the program is having experienced qualified teachers within our foster care and residential programs working directly with students, carers, case managers, schools and other stakeholders to support children and young people in a flexible, adaptive, individually tailored way. I do hope that in the context of the transfer of NSW OOHC to Non- Government agencies this program model has relevance to other OOHC providers who hope to improve the academic performance of the children they care for as well as meet industry standard obligations in the education domain.

Nigel Lindsay, Dalmar Exec. Manager Dalmar Senior Managers and the Education Team Kerrie Murphy Celeste Musgrave Melanie Wilkes Anneal Goodier Diane Nixon, Burnside Michelle Townshend CREATE Foundation Thanks and acknowledgments