Reconnecting Disaffected Young People to School and Community at Mt Druitt Learning Ground Dr. Brenda Dobia, Western Sydney University (School of Education) Asia-Pacific Regional RCE Meeting 2018 25-27 September, 2018, Parramatta (Sydney), Australia

1. Dr Brenda Dobia
School of Education
b.dobia@westernsydney.edu.au
WITH GREAT RESPECT
AND WITH GREAT
AFFECTION:
Reconnecting disaffected young people to
school and community at Mt Druitt Learning
Ground

2. Acknowledgements
Please join me in
paying respects to
the traditional
custodians of the
lands on which we
stand today, the
Burramatagul clan
of the Darug
nation.

3. SDG focus
4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and
quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective
learning outcomes
4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal
access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable,
including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in
vulnerable situations
4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both
men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed
to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through
education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human
rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence,
global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s
contribution to sustainable development
10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political
inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin,
religion or economic or other status
10.3 Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including
by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting
appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard

4. National ‘Closing the Gap’ targets
Statement of intent to ‘work together to achieve equality in health status and life
expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous
Australians by the year 2030‘ signed by Australian government in 2008. Aims to:
• Close the life expectancy gap within a generation (by 2030)
• Halve the gap in mortality rates for Indigenous children within a
decade (by 2018)
• Ensure that all Indigenous 4 year olds in remote communities have
access to early childhood education within 5 years (by 2013)
• Halve the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and
numeracy within a decade (by 2018)
• Halve the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 attainment (by 2020)
• Halve the gap in employment levels within a decade (by 2018)
• Close the gap in school attendance (by 2018)

5. Self-report card
Australian Government Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (2018). Closing The Gap Prime Minister’s Report
2018 https://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/

7. School suspension data for NSW
Long Suspensions, NSW 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Total students suspended 10,878
12,27
3
12,05
4
12,92
2
12,28
1
12,11
8
12,38
8
12,20
3
Total as percentage of all
students
1.5 2.3 2.3 2.4 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6
Aboriginal students suspended 2,286 2,480 2,590 2,974 3,054 3,168 3,399 3,391
Aboriginal students as
percentage of all suspensions
22 21 23 24.4 24.9 26.1 27.4 27.8
Aboriginal students as
percentage of Aboriginal
students
5.6 5.8 5.7 6.3 6.2 6.1 6.3 6.0
In 2016 Aboriginal students in New South Wales comprised 7.2% of total
enrolments.

8. Locating the community

9. Young people in crisis
Watch Saving young lives documentary at
https://vimeo.com/267926611/a29f130509

10. Learning Ground Community
Learning Ground aims to
• Offer a ‘safe haven’ for those who are dealing with multiple
difficulties
• Provide behavioural change management for young people
• Re-engage people with learning and with work
• Promote inter-cultural understanding
• Emphasise respect for Aboriginal culture
and worldviews
• Build community resilience.
A unique community education model: “Each one teach one”
 Enablers  Mentors
 Adolescents & youth  Family Skills

11. Evaluation approach
Research team: Dr Roberto Parada, Dr Brenda Dobia, Mr Kon
Kalos
1. We conducted a detailed review of the content and materials
provided in all current Learning Ground programs in relation to
the stated goals of being practical, socially relevant, culturally
sensitive, ethical and theoretically based.
2. We investigated program impacts for service users, including
program participants and community agencies that interact with
Learning Ground, using both quantitative and qualitative
methods.
• Participant surveys
• Surveys of stakeholder agencies
• Focus groups with current and previous participants
• Focus groups with mentors
• Site observations

12. Program review conclusions
• Social and Emotional Literacy, enabled by
creating a safe place to discuss emotions
and learn about them;
• Metacognitive skills that allow participants to
understand and reflect on the influences on
their own behaviour (or the behaviour of
their children), and in turn the influence of
their behaviour on others;
• Skills for cognitive and affective reflexivity in
relation to individuals’ effects on the world
and the world’s effects on individuals, thus
enabling re-evaluation of self-in-environment
and culture; and
• Skills for self-awareness that enable re-
evaluation of personal strengths and
capacities with the goal of creating a more
complete positive self-image.

13. Learning Ground’s Impact
Figure 2. Mean scores (n=47) for Life Effectiveness Questions for S1(How ‘true’ individuals felt the
comments were for them) and S2 (How much they had felt Learning Ground had helped in
developing this skill). Scores range from 0 to 3, higher scores indicating a higher level of agreement.
Q1: I am ok with asking for help when I need it; Q2: I can cope with difficult people most of the time;
Q3: I do well in social situations; Q4: What I do and how I do it will determine my successes in life; Q5:
I try to get the best possible results when I do things; Q6: When I work hard on something I am
confident I will succeed; Q7: When things around me change I cope well; Q8: I am good at
cooperating with others; Q9: I can handle negative things most of the time; Q10: If I succeed in life it
will be because of my efforts; Q11: I am calm when things go wrong; Q12: I can manage day to day
problems most of the time; Q13: I try and listen to other people’s views on things.

14. Learning Ground’s Impact (Cont’d)
Figure 3. Percentage of participants who felt that Learning Ground Programs either helped ‘A Little’,
obtained by combining ‘Not at all’ with ‘Very Little’ results; or; ‘Much’, obtained by combining ‘Much’
and ‘A Lot’ results for participant survey results in S2 (How much they had felt Learning Ground had
helped in developing this skill). Q1: I am ok with asking for help when I need it; Q2: I can cope with
difficult people most of the time; Q3: I do well in social situations; Q4: What I do and how I do it will
determine my successes in life; Q5: I try to get the best possible results when I do things; Q6: When I
work hard on something I am confident I will succeed; Q7: When things around me change I cope well;
Q8: I am good at cooperating with others; Q9: I can handle negative things most of the time; Q10: If I
succeed in life it will be because of my efforts; Q11: I am calm when things go wrong; Q12: I can
manage day to day problems most of the time; Q13: I try and listen to other people’s views on things.
n=47.

15. Growing respect
I feel that the kids have more respect for the
people here at Learning Ground than I feel that
they do at the schools. But it is helping them
improve their respect for the teachers and the
heads of school that they have, because here
there's more patience and there is more one
on one time with the child. ... No child is the
same and knowing that and knowing the
temperament of the child helps them and helps
the mentors and the facilitators be more
compassionate, open and more - being able
to confide in someone. You don’t have that at
school…

16. Less drama
• It's less drama than school is, always
fighting, girls bitching all the time. I'd
rather come here so I don't have to listen
to all that and get away from it.
• They teach us how to control our
anger… Like, on Wednesdays the other -
the younger groups come here, the
primary school people come here and
some of the people in our group go to
teach the primary school… If you're at
school and someone is being naughty or
something, or someone's picking on them,
you teach them what you can do different

17. Positive change
• For me, it made me change my whole
perspective of life. The way that I was living
was like organised chaos and I wasn't
happy in my work and I was ready to just
punch somebody and happy to spend
some time in jail…. With getting involved
with the Enablers program, it helps you
think beyond that and you want to give
back.
• After doing the Family Skills program and
learning the skills from the program and
introducing that into my home life,
everything just turned to be more positive.

18. Each one teach one
Our words of wisdom that we follow is each
one, teach one and I really do believe that we
get as much out of this as the participants
do and we are learning from each other.
I think that's what is so key about the
relationship that it does go both ways. We're
not their friends but we are - we're their
mentors…
So the whole program is based around
behavioural change so we are assisting them
in that area.
Where we see good behaviour we encourage
it through positive description, through
emotion coaching and we follow the program
that Margaret has so beautifully done.

19. Recommendations
• Work with schools to develop a supportive re-entry program at the
school for students who are transitioning between attending Learning
Ground and school.
• Investigate how the effective mentoring approach used at Learning
Ground might be incorporated into schools.
• Offer teacher professional development workshops in emotion
coaching and descriptive praise.
• Investigate the possibility of having teachers from local schools
complete the Enablers Program.
• Seek ways to provide Aboriginal youth with opportunities to
explore their cultural heritage.
• Consider further opportunities to develop the
Aboriginal-specific content of Learning Ground programs
in light of recent developments in Aboriginal education.
https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws%3A37226

20. Working with young people at risk
• Learning Ground’s approach is a strong exemplar of a
‘wraparound’ intervention model, which is particularly
indicated for young people experiencing complex
difficulties.
• To provide adequate support for these students, schools
need to develop effective partnerships with community
agencies involved in the provision of mental health,
welfare and specialist education services.
• Consistent with a multi-tiered whole school health
promotion model, Learning Ground should be recognised
as a tertiary service provider with an identified role for
working with young people at risk.

21. Ongoing partnership
• Despite these outstanding successes, Learning Ground has
met with considerable challenge in gaining recognition from the
NSW Department of Education, and some schools have had to
defy departmental directives when referring young people to
Learning Ground.
• To counter this problem we initiated higher level engagement
with the Department and participated in a documentary that
highlights Learning Ground’s unique approach.
• The research team continues to build on the partnership,
identifying the unique contribution of Learning Ground’s SEL
approach to trauma-informed practice.
• We are also advising on further development of programs and
research initiatives.