In Their Own Words: Pathways to Disengagement Among Our Diverse Youth

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In Their Own Words Pathways to Disengagement
Among Our Diverse Youth

• Joanna Anneke Rummens
• Community Health Systems Resource Group
• The Hospital for Sick Children
• Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
• Joint Centre of Excellence for
  Research on
  Immigration and Settlement
• CERIS The Ontario Metropolis Centre

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• Large proportion leave school at a young age and
  thus at low levels of education
• approx. 1/3 have Grade Nine or less
• almost 2/3 with Grade Ten or less
• 4 out of 10 have left school by age 16 (HRDC
  2000)
• In Ontario, recent cohort study shows
  substantially decreased secondary school
  graduation rates such that up to one quarter
  of students may not graduate (King 2004)

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Costs and Consequences

• Students who leave school prematurely
• more likely to be unemployed
• more likely to earn less over their working life
• Not adequately prepared for attaining well-paying
  employment or accessing higher education for
  a highly skilled labour market
• experience higher levels of early pregnancy
  substance abuse
• more likely to require social services of various
  types (Woods 1995)
• at the
  individual and societal level

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Key Questions

• 1) Why do young people leave secondary school
  before graduation?
• 2) What helps them to stay in school or return
  to complete their diploma?
• 
  
  
  
  
• 3) Do these risk and protective factors vary in
  nature and/or relative
• importance across different populations of
  young people?
• 4) What are the implications for policy and
  practice?

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• Who are these youth?
• What is happening in their lives?
• What can they themselves tell us about
• how, when and why they leave school?

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EARLY SCHOOL LEAVERS PROJECT Bruce Ferguson,
Kate Tilleczek, Katherine BoydellJoanna Anneke
Rummens
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Study Objectives

• 1) To examine disengagement from school and
  early school leaving from the perspective of
  young people
• 193 in-depth interviews with youth across Ontario
  
• diverse youth sub-populations
• diverse ethno-cultural communities
• 2) To examine disengagement from school and early
  school leaving from the perspective of other key
  stakeholders
• 13 focus group interviews with parents/guardians,
  
• teachers, and administrators

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Sampling Design

• Key youth sub-populations
• Aboriginal
• Francophone
• Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgendered/Two-Spirited
• Visible versus Non-Visible
• Newcomer versus Established
• 1st generation immigrants and
  refugees
• 2nd generation ethno-cultural
  Canadians
• 3rd generation Canadians
• Optimal cell size of 12 for each population
  category
• 8 Early School Leavers (5 males 3 females)
• 2 Still in School (1 male 1 female)
• 2 Returned to Graduate (1 male and 1 female)

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Interview Schedule

• 1) Tell me what was going on in your life at the
  time you left school
• at home
• in the community
• neighbourhood
• at work
• with friends/alone
• out of school activities (alone or with friends)
• at school
• academic
• social
• with you (ie. personally)

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• 2) What was/were the main reason(s) that you left
  school?
• Tell me about whether you feel that you
  made a decision to leave or where forced to
  leave school.
• 3) What could your school have done differently
  to help you graduate? Was anything done at
  school to try to convince you to stay in school?
• 4) What were your plans when you left school?
  How did you expect to make them happen? What are
  your plans now? How do you expect to make them
  happen?
• 5) What advice would you give to other students
  to help them through high school?
• 6) What advice would you give to schools as to
  how to provide an education that is relevant or
  useful to each student?

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OverallResearch Findings
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Profile of Study Participants

• average age was 18-19
• 59 male 38 female 1 other
• 85 born in Canada 15 born elsewhere
• 91 heterosexual 9 LGBT
• close to 50 of those who answered socio-economic
  question indicated family income levels under
  30K 60
  under 40K cut-off point
• 59 had a job while in high school
• 12 had jail experience

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Shared Risk-Factors (School Related)

• Macro
• flawed school cultures
• (lack of referral, counselling or outreach
  lack of assessments for disabilities ineffective
  discipline negative school culture)
• Meso
• negative relations with school personnel
• irrelevant curriculum
• passive instruction disregard for learning
  styles
• lack of support or outreach
• Micro
• issues with attendance and school failure
  suspensions/retentions
• low levels of engagement

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• Examples of some school-related risk factors
• counterproductive school policies upheld by
  teachers and principals
• Maybe if they actually tried to help me.
• They never did, they just kicked me out or gave
  me detentions or
• expelled me. Nobody actually lifted a finger.
• indirect and direct messages
• I was never disrespectful to teachers or
  anything, but a lot of teachers
• were disrespectful towards students
• I went to my guidance counsellorshe told me,
  you know, the best thing for you since I have so
  much trouble with school ... is to probably drop
  out of school now, cause now is the time for you
  to do it.
• And when she told me this I was shocked because
  she is the guidance counsellor. They are the
  people who are supposed to encourage you to
  stay in school, not to drop out.

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Shared Risk-Factors (Non-School Related)

• Macro
• low socio-economic status
• minority status
• place and culture
• Meso
• need to take on adult roles while in school
• family
• Micro
• disabilities
• moves/interruptions
• social isolation identity issues
• risk-taking activities

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Shared Protective Factors (School Related)

• Macro
• positive school climates that were caring,
  flexible, proactive
• school and class size
• tutors and support
• alternative education
• Meso
• teaching style and care
• counsellors -gt outreach
• interesting and relevant curriculum
• Micro
• friends/peers
• classmates

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Shared Protective Factors (Non-School Related)

• Macro
• place
• supportive others in the community (eg. child
  welfare)
• Meso
• supportive families
• school-home link
• moderate employment
• Micro
• educational advantage
• friends/partners
• healthy lives and lifestyles
• insight, reflection, motivation,
  self-determination

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• Many youth experienced
• multiple
• school and non-school related
• risk and protective factors
• along
• diverse
• pathways to disengagement

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Disengagement

• a long term process and/or pathway (often
  non-linear) toward adult status
• inter-relational rather than individual
• contingent on promises (kept or broken) between
  people
• multi-dimensional across micro, meso and macro
  levels
• Described by youth as entailing
• a complex, often emotional, decision to leave
  school

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Key/Unique Protective Factors

• familial involvement in school and in general
  life of youth often
  extends to older siblings, uncles, aunts, and
  grandparents
• determination to succeed parental desire to
  ensure a better future for
• their children
• for some communities, religious faith and/or
  social support
• supportive teachers/principals/vice-principals/cou
  nsellors/school staff
• school flexibility in terms of balancing
  family/work/home/school responsibilities
• positive school ethos/climate sensitivity to
  national/global events (i.e. school
  assembly, grief counselling)
• reflection of diversity in curriculum

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Recommendationsfrom Immigrant/Refugee Youth

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• To schools
• seek to understand the challenges and experiences
  of newcomers
• dont label youth
• encourage and facilitate youth integration within
  the school
• treat everyone the same, regardless of colour
• remember that that one size does not fit all
• provide bus tickets/transportation for those
  needing financial support
• make more effort / accommodations to link with
  parents

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Research Findings Visible Minority Youth

• 43 sets transcripts,survey data, fieldnotes
• 25 1rst, 16 2nd gen, and 2 3rd gen youth
• 19 female 24 male

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Key/Unique Risk Factors

• negative school climate structural barriers
  within the school that alienate minority
  students ideological conditions within the
  school climate such as racism, classism,
  discrimination, Eurocentrism negative
  stereotypes
• The students of the school are mostly Black
  right now
• the teachers mostly White.
• Teachers they seen the skin colour, they
  want to pick on you.
• I think the main issue those people pick on me
  is because of my skin.
• We had like 45 cameras in the school we had
  a little police station there too probably
  because there was a lot of Black people there.
• I dont know (laughs)

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Key/Unique Protective Factors

• strong family involvement and support (in school
  and in general life of youth) this includes
  parental sibling support, grandparents
• supportive principals, vice-principals, teachers,
  counsellors, and school staff
• positive school ethos/climate inclusiveness
• schools and communities with anti-discrimination
  awareness and strategies
• curriculum relevant to lived experiences and
  reflective of diversity

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Within the School System

• Ensure strong and secure English-as-a-Second
  Language programming
• Implement in such a way as to facilitate
  linguistic and social integration with native
  speakers (to enhance language learning, inclusive
  networking and to inhibit related labelling and
  formation of cliques)
• Improve assessment and recognition of previous
  academic accomplishments in country of origin to
  ensure best academic fit to Canadian
  levels assessment of international curricula and
  education
• Provide administrator, teacher staff training
  re resettlement challenges faced by newcomer
  youth (ie. key issues support systems)
• Support linkages to relevant services and
  supports
  (eg. Settlement Workers in the
  Schools programme)
• Outreach to parents / communities to facilitate
  involvement in childrens schooling (eg.
  translated info. materials, designated contact
  person)
• Take acquisition of cultural competence seriously

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• 1) Be more understanding!
• Listen to what youth have to say
• Understand the complex youth culture in which
  they live
• Recognize the impact of various forms of
  discrimination,
• racism and bullying
• Operate under principles of respect and
  fairness
• Accept different lifestyles and life plans
• Take acquisition of cultural competence
  seriously
• Youth should feel welcome, respected,
  encouraged,
• as well as psychologically and
  physically safe

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• 2) Be more flexible!
• Take into account the adult roles of youth
• Develop relevant curriculum/programming
• Develop innovative, interactive and
  personalized strategies
• Include a broad offering of extra-curricular
  activities
• Consider fit between school structure
  adolescent development
• Build links within the community
• Expand alternative approaches to schools
  structure
• Develop disciplinary alternatives to
  suspension/expulsion
• Create improved inter-provincial coordination
  and international
• assessment of curricula and education
  standards

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• 3) Be more proactive!
• Be proactive when youth start to disengage from
  school
• Provide sufficient and appropriate resources for
  assessment, counselling, and needed interventions
• Develop better communication with parents and
  seek ways to increase parent involvement in
  schools
• Improve teachers skills at monitoring student
  understanding and progress
• Create inter-sectoral partnerships to support
  poor and troubled youth to stay in school
• Find ways to use school facilities for homework
  help mentoring
• Encourage a culture in which youth feel they
  belong in schools
• Build upon youths own hopes and aspirations

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http//www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/parents/schoolleavers
.pdf
anneke.rummens_at_sickkids.ca
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IMPACT AT VSS

• Moving along our path to discovering engagement
• Abe Ickowicz
• Bruce Ferguson
• Continue to focus on our instructional strategies
  
• Marzano, The Art and Science of Teaching
• Social Emotional Learning
• we need to talk to our students