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
Impact of trauma on social
functioning
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
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
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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:
2007 - 1 year pilot program, 1 education officer
supporting residential programs and some foster care students.
Corporate sponsorship:
Hely Trust donation:
2008 - Beginning of educational mentoring.
2009 - 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
student
student
student
Educational
Mentor
Education
Consultant
Educational
Mentor
student
student
Educational
Mentor
Educational
Mentor
student
student
student
student
student
Educational Mentoring cost for per student per year = $2000.00
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?
Education Consultants:
Building a culture within
OOHC that prioritises
education
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
relationships, building bridges
classroom
teachers
Education Consultants
case managers
carers
educational mentors
Students
teachers’
aides
PJ Foundation
Dept ed. OOHC
teachers
clinicians
schools
universities
year advisors
tutors
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 NonGovernment 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.
Thanks and acknowledgments
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