EDMUND Rice Education Australia (EREA) will establish a nationwide program to deliver education to marginalised young people.
The initiative will be known as Youth +, a central component of the mission of EREA into the future.
It is expected to work in four key areas of accredited flexible education services, non-accredited initiatives, youth transitions and research, and advocacy and partnerships.
Details of Youth + were announced during the opening of the $3.5 million Flexible Learning Centre (FLC) at Deception Bay, north of Brisbane. The centre is funded by EREA, government grants and Catholic Education.
In a letter to EREA principals several weeks ago executive director Dr Wayne Tinsey said the establishment of Youth + followed 18 months of research into flexible educational models aimed at supporting young people who had become disenfranchised from mainstream education.
“The culmination of this research was a recommendation to the EREA board that a co-ordinated national approach be adopted for the delivery of services aimed at enhancing learning outcomes for young Australians, especially those who are marginalised,” Dr Tinsey said.
He said EREA would employ a national manager of Youth + to lead the initiative in its formative stage in 2010 and beyond.
“By having a co-ordinated national approach for the education of children not in mainstream school settings, it is my hope that EREA will continue to be a leading player in the education of disenfranchised youth across Australia and provide these young people with the hope of a better future,” Dr Tinsey said.
Co-ordinator of the Deception Bay Flexible Learning Centre Dave Coghlan said what began as a service out of a van in 2006 was now a purpose-built facility with an enrolment of about 85 secondary school-age young people.
“The Christian Brothers are very proud of what is happening with Edmund Rice Education Australia,” Mr Coghlan said.
“Our biggest challenge at the moment is our waiting list (at Deception Bay). We tell the kids when they ask what the rules are that we don’t have rules here. We have four principles of respect, honesty, participation, and safety and legal.
“We put relationships first and are more community focused and more heavily involved in the family situations than mainstream schools can be – more aware of what’s going on in young people’s lives.”
Mr Coghlan said the centre was completed at the beginning of the year and had given the students a stronger sense of community.
“Last year we were teaching out of a house and a unit and when we moved into the new building at the start of the year, the students had to do a lot of things like help put together benches and set up machinery in the manual arts building,” he said. Queensland Education and Training Minister Geoff Wilson opened the new centre and Jesuit Father Chris Gleeson blessed it.
