School to Work Transitions for Coastal Youth

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School to Work Transitions for Coastal Youth

• E. Anne Marshall, PhD
• University of Victoria
• Its Not Too Late Conference
• April 2, 2009 Victoria, BC

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Transitions after high school

• Transition from secondary school is a time of
  opportunity and angst choices for education,
  work, relationships, family, community, and
  lifestyle
• In recent times, social and economic changes have
  highlighted this time as one of increasing
  importance due to the potential impact of the
  choices made

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Social Constructivist Theoretical Framework

• Young people are active agents in life
• Development is contextual in nature
• Multidimensional relations exist among youth in
  their multiple worlds (social, school, family,
  peers, work, etc.)
• Selves are socially constructed and maintained
  in narrative and in context
• Culture is broadly defined

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Emerging Adulthood

• A term first introduced by Jeffrey Arnett (2004)
  as a new and historically unprecedented period
  of the life course
• Five essential qualities
• Identity Exploration
• Instability
• Self-Focused
• Feeling In-Between, In Transition
• Possibilities
• Source Arnett, J.J. (2004). Emerging adulthood
  The winding road from the late teens through the
  twenties. New York Oxford University Press.

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Coasts Under Stress

• This multidisciplinary bi-coastal project
  examined the impact of social and economic
  restructuring in coastal communities
  (www.coastsunderstress.ca)
• Our team focused on the experiences of youth,
  and of professionals who work with youth, as they
  adapt to the changes in their communities.

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What are some of the Problems Related to
Restructuring?

• Unemployment
• High rates of social assistance
• Poverty
• Lower rates of school completion
• Poor nutrition and health
• Substance abuse
• Depression
• Family stress

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Research Study and Area

• Coasts Under Stress The Impact of Social and
  Environmental Restructuring on Environmental and
  Human Health in Canada.
• 65 Researchers
• East and West Coasts
• Multidisciplinary
• Social Natural Sciences
• www.coastsunderstress.ca

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Our Research Sites

• 5 Communities
• Prince Rupert
• Port Hardy
• Port McNeil
• Hartley Bay
• Alert Bay

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Research Questions

• What are the life and work issues, supports,
  challenges, and barriers for youth in small
  coastal communities?
• What has helped and will help youth access the
  supports and address the challenges and barriers?

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Research Methodology

• Participatory approach
• Engagement with communities
• Multiple data sources
• Individual and group interviews
• Possible Selves Life-space Mapping, Photos
• Survey
• Community consultations
• School and community workshops

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It is critically important to develop contextual
familiarity and build relationships with
community partners to foster mutually respectful
and beneficial partnerships.
Community Partnerships
Students at Hartley Bay School, SD 58 Prince
Rupert
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Partnering with a community-based youth group

• Being an effective community partner means going
  beyond data gathering alone. We make our
  expertise available to community partners to meet
  their needs
• This is a group possible selves activity to help
  youth and leaders brainstorm their hopes, fears,
  and expectations for an upcoming youth day

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Partnering means presence and collaboration
through all stages of the research process.
Graduate student Anita Charleson, Andrea Sanborn
Anne at Umista
Anne Marshall and Andrea Sanborn, Executive
Director, Umista Cultural Centre
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North Vancouver Island

• School District 85 Port Hardy - PHSS NISS
• Namgis First Nation Band (Alert Bay)
• Umista Cultural Society
• Community Futures
• KSM Skateboad Park

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Possible Selves

• Markus Nurius, 1986
• Possible selves are future-oriented and
  personalized aspects of the self that link
  self-concept and motivation

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Possible Selves Mapping

• Generates hopes and fears for the future
• Develops understanding of personal values
• Connects current activities with future goals
• Identifies factors that affect sense of self and
  personal potential
• Influences motivation

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Seven steps in the Possible Selves Mapping Process

• 1. Creating a Possible Selves Brainstorm Map.
  Brainstorming hoped for and feared possible
  selves (on a brainstorm map or paper)
• 2. Grouping and naming hoped for feared selves
• 3. Debriefing the brainstorm map
• 4. Identifying most likely, least likely and most
  wanted hoped for selves and feared selves
• 5. Transferring brainstorm information to
  overview map
• 6. Things to do right now. Exploring how to
  achieve or avoid various hopes and fears
• 7. Overall impressions, thoughts feedback

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Community Mapping

• A group session with youth who were planning a
  community event in Port Hardy

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Phase 1In-depth Narrative Interviews

• 40 individual interviews,
• 2 group interviews (N12)
• Youth, ages 15-23 in five communities
• Adults Counsellors, teachers, parents, First
  Nations Elders, community key informants
• With poor economic outlook, the youth of our
  communities will, generally leave shortly after
  high school. If the city administration would
  work harder to develop both industrial and
  commercial economies, the city would begin to
  prosper again in the future.
• Young man, Prince Rupert, age 16

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Phase 1 - Interview Data Themes

• Impacts of Restructuring
• Limited Resources
• Internal and External Barriers
• Multiple Transitions
• Life-Career Decision Process

• Cultural Influences
• Possible Selves
• Community Attachment
• Role of Adult Mentors
• Need for Education and Training
• Hope for the Future

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There isnt enough things for the youth to do.
In the future I can see the population here being
low, and what population there is would be that
of seniors. The youth get bored here easily and
turn to things like drugs and alcohol. We need
better things to do here and more job
opportunities. Young woman, Port McNeill, age 16
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Phase 2 - Youth Survey

• 93 items addressing the following topics
• Tell Us About Yourself (Demographics), Family,
  Work, School, Behaviour Activities, Youth
  Issues, Neighbourhood and Community
• Participants
• 942 youth aged 13-19 in grades 8 12
• 45 male and 55 female
• 30 were Aboriginal
• Attending school in Port Hardy, Port McNeill,
  Prince Rupert or Hartley Bay

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1) What are the issues, challenges and supports
facing youth and their families?

• The majority of youth do not report family
  difficulties with finances, employment,
  transportation or housing. Issues include
  substance use, employment, teen pregnancy, family
  conflict lack of leisure activities
• 74 state that there is a problem with young
  people feeling angry
• 51 think their community has a problem with
  youth poverty
• 60 think youth depression is a problem
• Assets include family connection, community
  identity, resilient spirit and supportive adults
  such as teachers
• 61 feel there is good parental connection with
  youth
• 60 feel that their contributions to the
  community are valued

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• 2) How do youth view their school experience and
  school connections?
• One quarter to one third of youth dont have
  strong opinions about
• their experiences in school
• 49 were satisfied with school 19 were
  dissatisfied
• 56 agree that teachers care about how they are
  doing
• 3) How and to what extent are youth involved in
  the work force?
• Typical work included service, sales,
  babysitting and paper routes
• 66 have worked in the past year
• 24 have worked 6 months or more
• 36 work more 10 or more hours per week
• 13 work more than 20 hours/week

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4) How do youth living in coastal communities
appraise their coping self-efficacy in their
current life situation and in thinking about
their future?

• Most youth have a high level of personal
  self-efficacy but are not optimistic about future
  opportunities in their communities generally
• 68 believe they can usually solve the problems
  they have
• 70 indicated they can do anything they set
  their mind to
• 73 believe that what happens in the future
  depends on them
• 75 are looking forward to the years ahead
• However, only
• 47 believe their community economic outlook is
  bright
• 44 satisfied with employment opportunities
• 34 believe there are enough opportunities to
  stay in the area
• 39 said they would encourage their children to
  stay

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• 5) How do youth view the quality of life in their
  neighbourhood and community?
• Overall, youth are feeling positive about the
  quality of life in their communities but many
  indicated that there is a lack of activities and
  youth-friendly spaces.
• 80 feel safe living in their community
• 73 believe there is acceptance of different
  ethnic groups
• 70 stated pollution is low
• However,
• 86 indicated there is a need for a wider
  variety of recreational activities
• 56 believe there is a problem with juvenile
  crime

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• 6) How do youth regard substance use in their
  communities?
• There was a high level of concern for substance
  use in these communities and many commented on
  how youth are beginning consumption at younger
  ages
• 88 believe there is a problem with youth using
  tobacco and drugs
• High substance use levels was often attributed
  to lack of recreational alternatives

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7) What are the response differences with respect
to gender, Aboriginal status, age and community?

• 52 of males never felt hopeless compared to 36
  of females
• 40 of females experience weekly or monthly
  family conflict compared to 24 of males
• More females (73) work compared to males (65)
• 68 of Aboriginal youth feel their contributions
  to their community are valued compared to 57 of
  non-Aboriginals
• 20 Aboriginals rated reading skills above
  average compared to 43 non-Aboriginals

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Phase 3 - Ongoing Transitions for Coastal Youth

• This research is a longitudinal follow-up study
  with the original Coasts Under Stress youth and
  adult participants, designed to gain further
  insight into their transitions into adulthood
• New youth and adult participants have also been
  recruited

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Transitions Project

• A particular focus of this research is to
  articulate the role that parents, teachers, and
  other community adults play in the development
  and support of youth in their school-to-work
  planning process
• In BC, only 40 of Aboriginal youth are
  graduating from secondary school. Aboriginal
  students represent only about 1 of
  post-secondary enrollment.

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Data Categories

• Family Strong focus on family and community
  support. Goal Provide a healthy
  cultural foundation for youth.
  Challenges Lack of inspirational and
  motivational initiatives related to youth
  development, substance use, and employment
  issues.
• Education Need to celebrate youth successes and
  achievements. Promote mentoring opportunities and
  identify role models. Increased focus on native
  language learning. Initiatives .
  Goal Mentoring by
  adults elders to provide support
  Challenges Having to travel far to school,
  needing to work
• Economic development Communities have a strong
  desire to have youth trained for new jobs that
  have been and will be created under the treaty
  negotiations and self-government. Challenges
  Education transitions at all levels, need to
  travel for post-secondary

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Participant Comments

• They felt hadnt taken high school more
  seriously, they had wasted valuable time, some
  worked long hours lost educational
  opportunities
• They hadnt understood that issues seen as
  important while in high school really werent
  that important i.e. peer pressure,
  hanging out with a certain crowd
• They didnt know where to go or how to access
  important information about future educational
  and work choices
• They hadnt realized high school was a very
  sheltered environment compared to the world of
  working and caring for oneself
• They didnt understand how to manage money most
  fell into debt almost right out of high school
• They regretted not pursuing education or travel
  right after high school 3 participants
  mentioned that leaving the income of a full time
  job now would be difficult

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Resilience and Empowerment The KSM Skate Park
Story

• Plans for a skate park in Port Hardy began in
  the early 1990s when a group of youth and adults
  began fundraising efforts. Due to resistance from
  some members of the community, the park did not
  come into being until a decade later. Young
  people worked to change the image of skaters in
  the community by developing respectful ties with
  adults. Stephen Ralph was voted skate park club
  president and presented a successful proposal for
  the park to town council in 2006. The park was
  named the Kyle Scow Memorial Skate Park in honor
  of Kyle Scow, a talented skater who passed away
  in a car accident.

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A Skater on Town Council

• His experiences as president of the skate
  park club and in petitioning town council
  inspired Stephen Ralph to run for town
  councillor. A record number of young people
  participated in the election the year Stephen ran
  and was elected. Having a young skater on town
  council has made a strong statement to the young
  people of Port Hardy.

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Today

• The KSM park provides the youth of Port Hardy
  a way to engage with the community and elicit
  positive change. The skate park holds regular
  safety oriented competitions, partners with local
  drop-in centers, participates in garbage
  collection efforts and members continue to strive
  to present a positive image of young people to
  the community. Members of the KSM park club vary
  in ages from 10 to 25 years, and the older
  generations of skaters serve as role models to
  the younger skaters

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Ongoing Challenges in PH

• Despite the success of the KSM skate park, many
  youth in Port Hardy still face challenges
• Drugs, violence, unplanned teenage pregnancy
• Discrimination from local businesses and
  authorities
• Fewer courses being offered in high school
• Difficulties accessing post-secondary education
• Difficulties securing meaningful jobs
• Economic struggles

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Youth Engagement

• Youth are increasingly being seen as potential
  community assets rather than potential problems
  (Zeldin, 2004)
• Youth are both agents and products of the
  settings in which they engage (Brandstader, 1999
  Lerner, 1982).
• Young people are very aware of not only their own
  needs, but also the needs of their communities
  (Sipe Ma, 1998)

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Youth Engagement (cont)

• Young people engage with their community when
  they have opportunities to
• Be with peers
• Meet the needs of self and others
• Change environments
• Gain emotional support from adults, and
• Feel included in the community
• (Fredricks et al., 2002 Osterman, 2000, National
  Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002
  Yates Youniss, 1996)

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Youth Engagement (cont)

• Mohammed (2001) maintains that disengaged,
  disadvantaged or marginalized youth might have
  the most to gain from community engagement
• They may have valuable insights into situations
• But they are least likely to become involved in
  their community

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Engagement through music

• The straight edge (sXe) movement is an adaptation
  of the punk rock scene that encourages youth to
  become creators rather than consumers of music
  and to question dominant cultural narratives. It
  is another example of youth engaging within their
  own communities on their own terms and holds many
  parallels with the KSM skaters (Haenfler, 2004)

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Research Implications

• Community-based interventions to address the low
  level
• of youth optimism for future opportunities
• Youth as part of the dialogue and decision
  process
• Youth-friendly services for health risks such as
  substance
• use and teen pregnancy
• Employers and schools working together to create
  
• opportunities for career training
• Recognize cultural and community identity and
  values
• Early and on-going attention to career planning
• Relationships and mentoring are critical for
  success
• Parents and youth need to be actively involved
  together in community planning
• Connect school and training to the community

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Resilient Communities

• Have supports and challenges for youth
• Identify values and experiences (context)
• Promote educational and work awareness
• Accept different worldviews
• Honour specific cultural influences and practices
• Support families
• Build community capacity
• Integrate body, mind, feelings spirit
• Collaborate with and within communities

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Thanks to

• Participants and residents
• Research assistants
• Funders