Advocacy: a voice for a student

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ADVOCACY a Voice for a Student
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CONTEXT The Nature of the Beast? How much is just
about the stage of development and how much is a
difference in experience that creates another
culture?
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CONTEXT the students community its views and
values
Saundry Hidden Rules- relationships and
results http//www.det.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/pub
lic/publ/research/publ/Hidden_Rules-Leonie_Saundr
y-prs.pdf sl 4
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CONTEXT the school culture
Your organisations culture is not the espoused
list of values . (These) may be different from
the values, beliefs and norms expressed in your
actual practices and behaviour.
Hagberg and Heifetz
where does your school sit on a continuum of
inclusive values as expressed in its practices?
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Cultural continuum
Fairness recognising difference
Fairness treat all the same
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Rights/ needs of the individual
continuum contd
Rights/ needs of the collective
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Focus on Learning
continuum contd
Focus on Compliance
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Relaxed relationships
continuum contd
Rigid roles
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Students need understanding
continuum contd
Students need correcting
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Students developing
continuum contd
Students complete moral agents
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A possible later individual or team activity

• Consider the spectrum (in your booklet).
• Think about your school

• Where is your staff generally along each of
  these? are there significant subgroups which
  differ from this?
• Where would you like them to be?
• You might like to put on other groups too eg
  leadership team, governing council, parent
  community as a whole or some major
  sub-communities

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Culture clash?
A possible later team activity

• Think about the staff and students at your
  school.
• (Generalising furiously) consider the cultures
  at play here. What values/ideas of each party
  may need to be made explicit to the other?
• Some discussion starters are in the handout.

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CONTEXT the advocates views values
What unconscious assumptions do you make, drawn
from your experience, background,
personality? What judgments or adverse reactions
do you find yourself making/ having despite
your inclusive conscious values?
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Students At Risk
Populations Individuals
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ADVOCACY

• Advocacy seeks to redress the inequality that is
  inherent in the social interactions of
  disadvantaged individuals due to fundamental
  power imbalances.
• Carmela
• Qualities include a philosophy that
  clients/students experience problems and that
  clients/students are not problematic, (and)
  recognition of the need for prevention and
  intervention .
  Field and Baker
• Advocacy is modelling empowerment.
• Nat.Center for transforming School Counseling
  Newsletter

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ADVOCACY
enabling StARs to pass barriers

• taking and working for a particular sides
  interests in a conflict.
• advocacy role - representation of the best
  interest of a client.
• use of influence within an organization to create
  change

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ADVOCACY
Two broad strands

• Individual advocacy on a one-to-one basis, with
  individuals

• Systemic advocacy addresses wider social and
  structural issues causing or perpetuating
  disadvantage

after Carmela
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When and wherean advocate?
At your table brainstorm the kinds of situations
where you might usefully advocate for a student.
To whom would you be advocating?
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ADVOCACYPrinciples of being an advocate

• Inclusion and respect values everyone equally
• Equity focuses on the vulnerable/ less powerful
• Empowerment supporting developing
  self-confidence, self direction
• Independence - minimises conflict of interest
• Partisan represents someone elses views,
  needs, wishes and/or entitlements
• Information well informed of context and
  available options

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Advocacy Competencies after Carey, citing Trusty
Brown (2005)

• Dispositions
• Advocacy Disposition
• Embraces advocacy role, altruistic motivation,
  risk taking,
• Empowerment Disposition
• Empower student/family input into decisions
• Social Advocacy Disposition
• Equity orientation
• Ethical Disposition
• Ethic of care and personal ethical standards

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Advocacy Competencies (contd)

• Knowledge
• Knowledge of Resources
• within and outside schools
• Knowledge of Parameters
• School policies and procedures legal framework
• Scope of Practice
• Knowledge of Dispute Resolution Advocacy Models
  and Mechanisms
• Knowledge of Individual Development Models
• Knowledge of Systemic Change Models

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Advocacy Competencies (contd)

• Skills
• Communication Skills
• Collaboration Skills
• Problem Assessment Skills (systemic and
  individual)
• Problem Solving Skills
• Skills in Organizing and Presenting Information
  and Data
• Self-care Skills

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Factors Affecting Advocacy after Carey 2005

• Legitimate Authority

does the school community recognise the role of
advocate?

• Credibility

• expertness do the advocates skills inspire
  confidence does the advocate seem to know what
  you are talking about?
• congeniality does the advocate have warm
  working relationships with all parties?
• trustworthiness do all parties have confidence
  in the integrity and appropriate discretion of
  the advocate?

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Factors Affecting Advocacy contd

• Power of the Argument

• evidence
• persuasiveness

Does the advocate help others see things
differently presenting information that changes
their views and assisting them to a perspective
that allows them to feel differently about the
issue ie cognitive and affective change?

• School's orientation to change and innovation
  is the management philosophy about ongoing
  improvement or maintenance?

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Factors Affecting Advocacy, contd

• Leaders leadership style beliefs (level of
  distributed leadership)

Is leadership seen as vision and influence or
position? Is the culture hierarchical and
authoritarian, or democratic and meritocratic?

• Advocates relationships with key opinion-makers

Will the key opinion-makers respect the
advocates role and views, or will they undermine
the advocacy process or its credibility?
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Factors Affecting Advocacy, contd

• Advocates emotional intelligence and human
  relations skills

• The ability to
• read others responses
• monitor the emotional climate of a meeting
• ensure others feel safe and valued
• negotiate and mediate

ensures that the advocate can sensitively
represent their client, be the lubricant in
complex interactions, and support the development
of outcomes which leave all parties with dignity
intact.
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Factors Affecting Advocacy, contd

• Support for change among staff school
  community is the culture open to or resistant
  to new ways of seeing and doing things?

• Advocates passion persistence

Does the advocate care about the principles of
voice and openness, regardless of the specific
parties? Is the advocate able to keep going
despite resistance and setbacks? Is the advocate
able to maintain their commitment and their
wellbeing?
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Advocating ready or not?
A possible later individual activity
In your folder there are tables of the
competencies and factors affecting advocacy. Take
a few minutes to reflect on how well you are
situated to advocate for a student . This will
assist you to identify barriers and enablers in
your context, and strengths and areas for future
development in your own skills
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INDIVIDUAL ADVOCACY
Instructed advocacy - acting as the mouthpiece,
conveying the students perceptions, beliefs,
wants
Representative advocacy - making representations
to advance the needs of the student as you see
them professionally
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Instructed advocacy - acting as the mouthpiece,
conveying the students perceptions, beliefs,
wants.

• This means that you are
• simply the voice of the student
• suspending your professional judgement.
• only a conduit for the student, conveying what
  s/he wants.

Your role is to provide that information clearly
and convincingly. You are like an interpreter,
ensuring that the students statements are
communicated in ways that the other party
understands. Your language may be different than
the student's but the core meaning is not.
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Representative advocacy - making representations
to advance the needs of the student as you see
them professionally
You consider the students views but also take
into account your observations and perhaps other
material you have sought out. You exercise
professional judgment to assess the students
needs. You then advocate for those needs with
the key personnel. Be clear to what degree you
are acting with the students knowledge and
support. In general, advocacy is about
empowerment and so openness is preferred. There
may be situations though where that is not
effective.
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Potentialities Dilemmas?
At your table using the Potentialities/ Dilemmas
poster as a frame and record, discuss what
potential dilemmas or risks might arise with
individual advocacy and what gains it might
produce. There may be some specific to Instructed
or Representative. Be prepared to share one
significant point from your table.
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INDIVIDUAL ADVOCACY - Dilemmas

• What were the significant potential
  dilemmas/problems identified at the tables?

• Reading highlights

• role confusion
• desensitisation
• time and energy cost
• taking over/ letting go
• empowering/ dependency

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In your handout there is one model of
establishing individual advocacy. Also there
is a step by step process for advocacy through
SEE processes. Both are on the web at SSOnetgt
Student Wellbeing gt Behaviour Management gt
Individuals
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ADVOCACY supporting children at risk

• Safeguards
• social justice
• effective systems
• sound understanding of what threatens and
  undermines childrens wellbeing
• knowledge of what works best
• willingness to listen to act on what children
  say

Pam Simmons, Guardian of Children and Young
People Counsellors Child Protection Training
Phase 1 May 2005
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ADVOCATE
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