Victorian students have No Regrets

Ten schools took part in two No Regrets workshops last week, held in Ballarat and Melbourne. Students and teachers came together to meet local organisations dealing with violence and prevention in the community, and heard from the experiences of other youth-led groups.

Groups of six students from each school, after a 90-minute introduction workshop at their school earlier in the year, were selected to participate in one of the two full-day workshops last week. The workshops revisited the ideas of violence and prevention, and culminated in each group formulating a plan for a social action project. The students’ ideas will be put into effect in the remaining part of the semester, with the aim of having a large impact, and becoming sustainable.

A big thank you to all of the schools and organisations who took part to make the workshops a huge success!

Sam Chaltain visits FYA

This week, FYA had the pleasure of hosting a renowned expert in the international education sector - Sam Chaltain. Mr Chaltain was invited to Australia by FYA to discuss education reform in Australia with leading education experts and government representatives.

Sam is the co-director of the First Amendment Schools program,  the National Director of the Forum for Education and Democracy, and the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project. His latest campaign, Rethink Learning Now, shares powerful learning stories from around America, and promotes the three pillars of education; teaching, learning and fairness.

Chaltain’s writing has appeared in several publications, including Education Week and USA Today. He is the author or co-author of three books: The First Amendment in Schools (ASCD, 2003), First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America (Oxford University Press, 2006), and American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009). His next book, with Ron Collins, is We Must Not Be Afraid to be Free: A Narrative History of Free Speech in America (Oxford, 2010).

Mr Chaltain advocates using five broad and universal categories to measure school achievement, which are aligned with FYA’s goals for the Tell Us campaign. The five categories would capture everything from a school’s overall culture and learning environment to how they promote democratic principals.

Mr Chaltain said, “The Tell Us student survey and new framework are not radical proposals for our education systems. Rather, they are a logical extension of Government policy, and represent a progressive movement towards a more balanced scorecard of achievement, one that incorporates the views and aspirations of students for the first time.”

Amplifying the voices of young refugees

During the past two years, FYA supported the Refugee Council of Australia to undertake a national youth consultation project to engage young refugees and have their needs and concerns addressed, and their ideas recognised, at a national level. The consultation found that education and training, housing and homelessness, employment and money problems, family issues and the accessibility of services are the biggest concerns for these young people.

Read the full report, Amplifying the Voices of Young Refugees, here.

WOW 2010 launches at Signal, Melbourne

The Worlds of Work program kicked off in Melbourne on Monday 8 February, the first of 18 week-long programs, and will continue from now until November. The program will involve students visiting three different workplaces around the CBD, networking and gaining valuable, first-hand experience in what it takes to succeed in the global world of life and work.

This year, WOW week programs in Melbourne have moved from our 2009 City Centre location in Melbourne Central, and will now run from Signal, the new youth arts and culture space developed by the City of Melbourne.

After the WOW program last year

• 86% of students felt the program expanded their sense of what is possible in terms of work and career
• 82% of students felt they gained a stronger sense of themselves
• 81% of students believed they had developed a better understanding of their strengths and skills
• Nearly 90% of students felt they better understood what it takes to succeed in the world of work as a result of the program
• 85% of students felt more confident approaching and talking with successful people
• 83% of students believed themselves more likely to use their strengths and skills to help achieve their goals

WOW will be expanding to Brisbane this year, with a pilot program running during the weeks of 19-23 April and 24-28 May.

School’s First inaugural conference

The inaugural School’s First National Conference will take place Friday 19th March 2010 at 8.30am in Melbourne. The conference will give anyone interested a chance to explore the potential of school and community partnerships. Read more

Is success at school just about your marks?

Young Australians are now having their say by logging on to www.tellus.org.au and joining a huge campaign called Tell Us: Are you more than your marks? For the first time, secondary school students are being asked what success at school really means. The results of the national survey will be presented to Government, giving young people the chance to speak up and change the way ‘success’ is measured at school. The project is an initiative of The Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) in partnership with the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD).

At www.tellus.org.au, students across Australia get the opportunity to complete a short survey, win prizes and speak up creatively using video, text and photography. Following the recent launch of the Federal Government’s My School website, Tell Us aims to add thousands of student voices to the debate on success in school.

Adam Smith, CEO at FYA, says, “We commend those Governments across Australia who are working to develop a broader understanding of students’ success at school. FYA will contribute to this debate by asking young people what they think.”

“Success in school should mean more than simplistic test scores on numeracy or literacy. It should mean creativity, confidence, community involvement, caring for others, and developing a love of learning,” he says. “We think that by amplifying the voice of young people, Tell Us can broaden perceptions about the meaning of school success.”

The national survey is underpinned by an independent survey of 1,000 Victorian students. The Victorian findings will inform the Victorian Government’s school improvement agenda.

Victorian Education Minister Hon. Bronwyn Pike says, “Success at school is not just about getting top marks. Young people often juggle academic studies with sport, casual work and family commitments with great success. This project is about listening to how young people define success to ensure their voice is heard.”

WYPIN honoured by Premier

Earlier this month, FYA grant partner WYPIN (Western Young People’s Independent Network) was honoured at the inaugural Premier’s Community Volunteering Awards. Read more

Step Up students make an impact

Over the week of 30 November to 4 December, 30 students from secondary colleges around Victoria came together to ‘step up’. Inspired by their experiences at Cityscape with their classmates, these individuals applied for the opportunity to take their knowledge to the next level, and discover their potential for impact.

The week long camp involved a series of interactive discovery sessions, in which students challenged themselves and each other to step out of their comfort zones, and learn about the impact they have on themselves, others, and the world.  The result was an emotional week that led the students, mentors and facilitators to a better understanding of their abilities and responsibilities.

Workshops included a hip-hop dance class, African drumming circle, community conversations with some of Melbourne’s most interesting and influential people, and many other creative and educational events.

The culmination of the week saw each of six mentor groups presenting their most influential moments and activities, teaching their new knowledge, and reliving the journey that took them from strangers to friends in five short days, in a final ‘Step Up Celebaloo’ for over 100 family members and friends.

Watch this space for some upcoming honest and personal responses recorded by students throughout the week.

2009 HEYWIRE Winners Announced

The 2009 winners of ABC Radio’s regional youth initiative Heywire were announced today.

Now in its twelfth year, Heywire is an online platform for creative young leaders from rural, regional and remote Australia to create, blog and share their stories. Read more

Support FYA’s Opportunity Scholarships

The Opportunity Scholarships and Opportunity Grants programs are initiatives of Education Foundation, a division of FYA, and articulate its central vision of a public education system that inspires and enables all young people in Australian “to achieve their best”.

Opportunity Scholarships have been awarded bi-annually since 2003 as a means of assisting public school students to “pursue their talents and aspirations”. Sums of up to $1000 enable talented individual students, defined as “facing disadvantage” and currently in receipt of an educational allowance, to undertake curriculum-based programs and activities in a range of areas and disciplines (arts, performing arts, maths/sciences, sport, communications, etc). Where Opportunity Scholarships target individual students, Opportunity Grants, initiated and piloted by Education Foundation in 2007, provide funding of up to $4000 to enable schools to address collective programming needs of groups of students.

You can support students in need by donating to FYA online

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