Learning support for all disadvantaged students
On 12 November Melbourne Citymission together with the Brotherhood of St. Laurence hosted the forum, ‘Partnering to learn: the role of community organisations in supporting disadvantaged students’.
The purpose of the event was to advocate for the provision of learning support programs in all disadvantaged communities. In Melbourne Citymission’s and the Brotherhood’s view, education is an important route out of disadvantage and exclusion. However, many children and young people face significant disadvantage within the education system. This can mean they fall behind, lose confidence and motivation, and do not see school as a place where they can succeed.
Learning support (e.g. homework, tutoring) programs provide a fresh venue where students can make friends, reconnect with learning, get help from tutors and catch up on work. They also offer a quiet study space with books and equipment (like printing and Internet access) that can be lacking at home.
Programs are often run by community organisations in partnership with schools and while numbers have grown exponentially, their success is threatened by lack of funding. In Victoria, a small number of refugee-focussed programs receive funding from the Victorian government. While this is a great start, Australia’s policy lags behind places like the United Kingdom whose extended schools program will offer free study support in all disadvantaged communities in 2012.
At the forum these issues were taken up in the keynote address by Rosalyn Black of The Foundation for Young Australians and by representatives of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the Learning Beyond the Bell program, Melbourne Citymission and the Brotherhood of St Laurence.
Overwhelmed by interest from government, schools, the community sector and parents, organisers had to double the size of the venue. Well over 100 people attended the morning whose take-home message was that learning support programs are a practical response to the 10–15 per cent of Australian children who have disengaged from learning. A promising example of school-community partnerships at the local level, learning support programs need to be more fully taken up into government policy to ensure they are provided in all disadvantaged communities.
Learn more
Click here to view the Discussion Paper for the Forum
Click here to view the Melbourne Citymission reports on Learning Support Programs: Pate, Anne, Learning Support Programs – ‘A chance to experience success’: An evaluation of four Melbourne Citymission Learning Support Programs for children and young people, Melbourne Citymission, September 2008
Horn, Michael & Fewster, Deborah A Profile of Learning Support Programs in North-West Melbourne, Melbourne Citymission, April 2007
Click here to view the presentations from the Partnering to learn forum.
Link to BSL website for BSL reports www.bsl.org.au
Melbourne Citymission
For 155 years, Melbourne Citymission has worked with disadvantaged people across Melbourne and Victoria. Every week we help thousands of people build a clear pathway out of disadvantage, economic exclusion and social isolation.
Our services support:
- people to find a pathway out of homelessness
- disabled people to get the resources and support they need to live the life they want
- people to break the cycle of poverty and abuse
- people to find jobs, or enter into education and training.
