Summer 2006

Innovation in education

Anything is possible

The NETschool Bendigo project uses information and communication technology (ICT) to intensively re-engage young people with formal education. Amanda Hubber and Lisa Hayman report.

NETschool Bendigo was established in 2005 as a project of Bendigo Senior Secondary College (BSSC), a years 11 and 12 college located in Bendigo, Victoria.

NETschool students are post-compulsory school-aged students (aged 15–20) who have not completed secondary schooling, are no longer enrolled at a school (students may not have been enrolled in formal schooling for some considerable time) and who believe they cannot return to a formal school setting. The NETschool project involves two learning settings for the re-engagement process.

1. Home-based students (currently 30) study from home and are provided with a computer, computer peripherals and an Internet connection. They are largely enrolled in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) with the curriculum supplied online by teachers from BSSC. Students are supported in their learning by a mentor-teacher who is a staff member at NETschool. Mentors oversee student progress, resolve communication issues, visit homes to install and check equipment and monitor student progress, facilitate visits to BSSC and NETschool for learning and assessment opportunities and assist students to develop viable pathway plans.

2. Centre-based students (currently 20) attend the NETschool facility, which operates from the premises of Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE (BRIT). Students are supported in developing a negotiated curriculum program that suits their needs. Mentor-teachers provide daily organisation strategies, learning skills and specialist literacy and numeracy support. Students at the centre are enrolled in the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), Vocational Education and Training (VET), VCE and community-based courses. Some students attend some classes at BSSC and BRIT; this strategy promotes reintegration to school for students where appropriate.

Students generally present with multiple issues. However they can be categorised under the headings in the table. Low income levels is a feature that is shared by students.

The home-based student program is not generally implemented in the Victorian or Australian education systems. It is a local adaptation of the United Kingdom-based Notschool model. The home-based program is not a pure online provision model; students are connected to their mentor-teachers and each other through the online community using Interact software. Mentor-teachers visit students at home and facilitate contact with teachers providing online curriculum. The program attempts to reconnect young people with their community through providing the opportunity to visit BSSC for practical activities such as science subject experiments, subject coaching or physical activities using the College’s gymnasium. Home-based students attend the NETschool centre for VCE assessment tasks and other program opportunities and engage with community providers to access targeted services such as careers and pathways planning advice.

The centre-based program is unique in its provision of individual curriculum which is negotiated by students. This consists of individual projects that are designed by the students in consultation with their mentor. These projects can be mapped to the VCAL competencies as required by individual student needs. Providing a mentor-teacher for each student is vital in assisting students to work through multiple learning, personal and social issues so that they can engage with learning. The involvement of community agency partners such as St Luke’s Anglicare in this part of the program is essential to its success. The NETschool model promotes a team-based approach to working with young people; the NETschool mentor is often just one person in a team of community-based workers supporting the young person.

The NETschool innovation has the potential to recast education thinking around the issue of student disengagement. Lack of flexibility in education provision and genuine sustained attention to young people’s real and multiple needs causes them to recognise that traditional school settings cannot meet their needs. However flexible provision with a focus on the needs of the whole person has the potential to re-engage a significant cohort of young people who cannot access traditional schooling. NETschool will contribute further understanding of factors which contribute to student disengagement from education, particularly issues relating to poverty and of the successful use of technology to engage young learners.

All students in the program have experienced success through re-engagement with education. After one year of operation the project had sustained 68 per cent of young people in education. In 2005, eight young women who were pregnant or young mothers were involved in the program, three students achieved completion of VCE, four students completed at least one VCAL unit and 19 students with physical or mental health issues were re-engaged with education through NETschool when previously their issues had prevented attendance at a school.

The NETschool program uses flexible strategies that are responsive to the values, needs and interests of individual students. The online community software was used to create a ‘Mum’s World’ space for the young mothers in the program to communicate, share experiences and debate parenting issues such as child care. With NETschool’s intensive focus on using technologies to connect young people with education and their community, the project promotes the technology skills of a previously ‘technology impoverished’ group of learners. The involvement of Community Telco Bendigo (who sponsor Internet connection to student homes and data provision) means that the students have exposure to current commercial technology practice.

As the program moves into its third year of operation in 2007, a professional learning program is being developed to enhance the delivery of online learning and teaching materials for both centre-based and home-based students. The intent of this program is to support teaching staff with the development of appropriate learning and materials that effectively integrate a range of ICT skills to meet the needs of online students.

Areas for development include Podcasting, green screen technology, video conferencing plus webpage development. Collaborative tools such as blogs and wikis will also be considered to enhance student reflection.

As we move into the final year of Department of Education and Training funding for the project, we are pursuing ongoing funding through Department of Communities Victoria and the Department of Education and Training as a priority.

This project has the potential to be replicated in other communities across Australia. It has proved effective in re-engaging young people with education who did not previously have this opportunity in Bendigo.

Recommended websites:

NETschool Bendigo: www.netschoolbendigo.vic.edu.au

Bendigo Senior Secondary College: www.bssc.edu.au

Notschool UK: http://www.notschool.net/ns/template.php

Amanda Hubber is the assistant principal at Bendigo Senior Secondary College.

Lisa Hayman is the innovations and excellence educator at Bendigo Senior Secondary College.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au