Abstract
Securing effective transitions for students who are ‘at risk’ requires a range of factors to be effectively addressed and occurs best when the school, the community and parents work together. The case study presented here indicates how positive outcomes can be achieved through such partnerships, yet equally are imperilled when one element of the partnership (e.g. parental support) falters. The case here is of a school-to-employment transition program being conducted within a private coeducational school in southeast Queensland. St Jude’s College, unlike many other private schools, focuses its curriculum on assisting at-risk students to transition productively from school to work or further education and training programs. This chapter first discusses conventional definitions of at risk before considering approaches from elsewhere on preventing young people from leaving school early. It then describes the systemic approach of the college and the methodology used to analyse accounts from students, the vocational education coordinator, parents and employers and the school principal. In contrast to practices in other private schools, this cohort of students who are considered at risk by the school are reportedly engaged in the school curriculum and are satisfied with the resources afforded by the school to assist them to complete school and transition into a workplace. However, as is the case in many other schools, there is dissatisfaction at the school with the low level of parental engagement in the school’s transition program. Such disengagement imperils its effectiveness and sustainability. The case study affirms the potential long-term benefits of school leaders and teachers, students and parents working collaboratively to share in the conduct of a school-to-work transitions program.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anlezark, A. (2011). At risk youth: A transitory state? (Briefing Paper No. 24). Adelaide, SA: LSAY Publications, NCVER. ISBN: 978 1 921809 69 9.
Bauman, Z. (2001). Community. Seeking safety in an insecure world. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Bedson, L., & Perkins, D. (2006). A positive influence: Equipping parents to support young people’s career transitions. Evaluation of the PACTS program. Fitzroy, Australia: Brotherhood of St Lawrence.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. (M. Ritter, Trans.). New Delhi, India: Sage. (Original work published 1986)
Beck, U. (2000). The cosmopolitan perspective: Sociology of the second age of modernity. The British Journal of Sociology, 51(1), 79–105.
Billett, S. (2006). Work, change and workers. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Bond, S. (2009). Learning support programs: Education reform beyond the school. Fitzroy, Australia: Brotherhood of St Lawrence.
Bull, A., Brooking, K., & Campbell, R. (2008). Successful home–school partnerships (Report prepared for the Ministry of Education). Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
Clandinin, J., Pushor, D., & Murray Orr, A. (2007). Navigating sites for narrative inquiry. Journal of Teacher Education, 58(1), 21–35.
Crozier, G. (2000). Parents and schools: Partners or protagonists? Stroke on Trent, Staffordshire: Trentham Books.
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). (2008). Family–school partnerships framework: A guide for schools and families. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.
de Roeper, J., & Savelsberg, H. J. (2009). Challenging the youth policy imperative: Engaging young people through the arts. Journal of Youth Studies, 12(2), 209–225.
Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Sheldon, S. B., Simon, B. B., Salinas, K. C., Jansorn, N. R., et al. (2009). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Fouad, N. A., & Bynner, J. (2008). Work transitions. American Psychologist, 63, 241–251.
Furlong, A., & Cartmel, F. (2007). Young people and social change: New perspectives (2nd ed.). Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity. Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Hanafin, J., & Lynch, A. (2002). Peripheral voices: Parental involvement, social class, and educational disadvantage. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 23(1), 35–49.
Harris, A., & Goodall, J. (2007) Engaging parents in raising achievement—Do parents know they matter? (DCSF Research Report RW004). London: Department for Children, Schools and Families. Available at: www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RW004.pdf. Accessed 27 Oct 2009.
Jeynes, W. H. (2005). A meta-analysis of the relation of parental involvement to urban elementary school academic achievement. Urban Education, 40(3), 237–269.
Johnson, G. (2009). Narrative inquiry and school leadership identities. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 12(3), 269–282.
Johnson, G., & Jervis Tracey, P. (2011). Re-Imagining disadvantaged community and family leadership for learning. In T. Townsend & J. MacBeath (Eds.), International Handbook of Leadership for Learning (Part 2) (pp. 1215–1234). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Karmel, P. (1973). Schools in Australia (Report of the Interim Committee for the Australian Schools Commission). Canberra, Australia: AGPS.
Klarer, M. (1998). An introduction to literary studies. London: Routledge.
Kress, G. (1985). Linguistic processes in sociocultural practice. Geelong, Australia: Deakin University Press.
McBrier, D. B., & Wilson, G. (2004). Going down? Race and downward occupational mobility for white collar workers in the 1990s. Work and Occupations, 31(3), 283–322.
MacBeath, J., Gray, J. M., Cullen, J., Frost, D., Steward, S., & Swaffield, S. (2007). Schools on the edge: Responding to challenging circumstances. London: Paul Chapman.
Mills, C., & Gale, T. (2004). Parent participation in disadvantaged schools: Moving beyond attributions of blame. Australian Journal of Education, 48(3), 268–281.
OECD. (2008). Ten steps to equity in education. Retrieved February 10, 2010, from http://www.oecd.org/publications/Policybriefs
Piper, H., & Piper, J. (2000). Disaffected young people as the problem. Mentoring as the solution. Education and work as the goal. Journal of Education and Work, 13(1), 77–94.
Queensland Government Department of Premier and Cabinet. (2002). Education and training reforms for the future. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Government.
Ryan, C. (2011). Year 12 completion and youth transitions (LSAY Research Report no. 56). Adelaide, SA: NCVER.
Saulwick Muller Social Research. (2006). Family–school partnership project: A quantitative and qualitative study. Canberra, Australia: Author.
Sennett, R. (1998). The corrosion of character. New York: WW Norton.
Smyth, J. (2010). Speaking back to educational policy: Why social inclusion will not work for disadvantaged families. Critical Studies in Education, 51(2), 113–128.
Smyth, J., & Hattam, R. (2001). ‘Voiced’ research as a sociology for understanding ‘dropping out’ of school. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22(3), 401–415.
Spergel, I. (1995). Youth gang problem: A community approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
Spillane, J. P., Halverson, R., & Diamond, J. B. (2001). Investigating school leadership practice: A distributed perspective. Educational Researcher, 30(3), 23–28.
Spry, G., & Graham, J. (2009). Leading genuine parent-school partnerships. In N. Cranston & L. Erlich (Eds.), Australian educational leadership today: Issues and trends (pp. 123–140). Bowen Hills, Australia: Australian Academic Press.
Acknowledgements
The research reported in this chapter was undertaken as part of the Australian Research Council Discovery Project ‘Towards a transformative model: re-shaping transitions between school and post-school life’ (2008–2010). The authors also acknowledge the contributions of the members of St Jude’s College community and the support of their research colleagues in the project.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Johnson, G., Billett, S. (2012). A Critical Focus on Family-School-Community Partnerships: St Jude’s Secondary College Transition Program for ‘At-Risk’ Students. In: Billett, S., Johnson, G., Thomas, S., Sim, C., Hay, S., Ryan, J. (eds) Experience of School Transitions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4198-0_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4198-0_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4197-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4198-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)