Something in the Week
In May 2007 UNAP was contacted by a northern
DECS Whole School Change Coordinator about facilitating UniSA’s involvement
in a proposal being developed for working with primary school students at
risk of disengaging from learning and school. The proposal was accepted by
the School of Education Bachelor of Education, Design and Technology
Program.
A successful DECS funding application enabled the Something in the Week
project to be developed and implemented in Terms 1 and 2, 2008. A
collaborative management team (DECS northern primary schools, UniSA School
of Education, Good Beginnings, The Smith Family) developed the
implementation plan, monitored the progress of the project and undertook the
evaluation.
Something in the Week offered 18 students from six northern Adelaide primary
schools ‘something’ they could look forward to at school to encourage
increased attendance at school and increase positive attitudes about
learning. This ‘something’ involved working with 13 UniSA Design and
Technology students for 90 minute sessions over 10 weeks. The UniSA students
designed and delivered a range of activity based/ experiential learning
activities including food technology, robotics and lego technics. The
primary school students worked in small groups with groups of UniSA students
both at UniSA Mawson Lakes and at their school sites.
In parallel, parenting support sessions for parents of targeted students
were provided by the Good Beginnings Australia -Turn Around Program (TAP) to
create links between target students, their families and community based
organisations that may be able to offer on-going support to families.
Evaluation was based on the results from a pre and post-test, feedback from
staff and UniSA students involved in the project. The evaluation indicated
that the Something in the Week program has been very successful in:
-
improving the quality of school life
-
improving general satisfaction at school
-
increasing social integration for the target students
Feedback from UniSA students included:
“Students were very engaged and generally interested in all the learning
activities. There was a vast improvement with the students’ interaction,
communication, interest and confidence; this was evident in all students.”
“… and their energy was great as they were leaving and as they entered the
next week. They were also excited to show their teacher what they had done.”
For further details contact UniSA-Denise
McGregor or DECS- Bill
Hansberry