Session 5.5 Master Classes
Tracks
Track 5
| Saturday, November 2, 2024 |
| 11:05 AM - 12:55 PM |
| Meeting room P9 |
Overview
Meeting room P9
Details
11:05am – 12.00pm Facilitating collaborative relationships with parents and carers of students experiencing “school can’t” (school attendance difficulties) - Louise Rogers & Tiffany Westphal, School Can’t Australia
12:05pm – 1:00pm Cultivating change: Elements for embedding trauma-informed practices in South Australian education systems - Ms Leanne Cornell-March, Ms Jane Harrison, Department for Education South Australia
Speaker
Ms Tiffany Westphal
School Can't Australia
Facilitating collaborative relationships with parents and carers of students experiencing “school can’t” (school attendance difficulties)
11:05 AM - 12:00 PMAbstract
School Can’t Australia (SCA) is a charity that runs a national support group for parents and carers supporting children and young people who are experiencing school can’t’ (school attendance difficulties). SCA’s December 2022 research showed that parents and carers in the group experience significant stress while supporting their children and young people. Rogers and Westphal will discuss the parent carer experience and how schools can support families and facilitate collaborative relationships.
They will discuss proactive strategies to support collaboration between home and school, including:
• Creating shared understandings about the nature and experience of school can’t,
• Recognising the knowledge that parents have about their child and their child’s story,
• Acknowledging and responding with compassion to the lived experience story of the student and their family, and
• Facilitating and establishing communication channels that are accessible and responsive to student and family needs.
They will challenge you to consider:
• The nature of the caring role of those supporting a child/ young person experiencing school can’t,
• The parent experience of navigating service and supports,
• The impact of power differentials on parents and carers,
• The language used to talk and write about attendance difficulties, mental health and disability and the impact this has on the way we understand and try to solve problems,
• Ways to support ‘felt safety’ in meetings with parents and students,
• How we respond to children and young people in distress, and
• How we respond to parental concerns.
More information about School Can’t Australia: www.schoolcantaustralia.com.au
They will discuss proactive strategies to support collaboration between home and school, including:
• Creating shared understandings about the nature and experience of school can’t,
• Recognising the knowledge that parents have about their child and their child’s story,
• Acknowledging and responding with compassion to the lived experience story of the student and their family, and
• Facilitating and establishing communication channels that are accessible and responsive to student and family needs.
They will challenge you to consider:
• The nature of the caring role of those supporting a child/ young person experiencing school can’t,
• The parent experience of navigating service and supports,
• The impact of power differentials on parents and carers,
• The language used to talk and write about attendance difficulties, mental health and disability and the impact this has on the way we understand and try to solve problems,
• Ways to support ‘felt safety’ in meetings with parents and students,
• How we respond to children and young people in distress, and
• How we respond to parental concerns.
More information about School Can’t Australia: www.schoolcantaustralia.com.au
Biography
Tiffany Westphal is a founding board member of School Can’t Australia and has been actively involved as a volunteer in the group for over 5 years. As a social worker Tiffany supports neurodivergent students experiencing school can’t and their families. She has supported a neurodivergent daughter for 10 years through on and off school can’t. For the past year Tiffany has been developing Student Stress Investigation, a resource designed to assist in identifying school-based stressors implicated in school can’t. She is passionate about sharing what she has learned about supporting students, and their parents/ carers and supporting clinicians and educators to understand their needs. She advocates, writes submissions, conducts research, develops resources and provides professional development on this topic.
Mrs Louise Rogers
School Can't Australia
Co-presenter: Facilitating collaborative relationships with parents and carers of students experiencing “school can’t” (school attendance difficulties)
Biography
Louise Rogers is a founding board member of School Can’t Australia and an administrator for their online parent/carer peer support group. A parent of two boys and a qualified teacher, she left her career in education to support and home educate her youngest child who was having difficulty attending school. Louise is a passionate advocate and writer, in support of children and young people with disabilities, their families, and their experience of school. In a former life, Louise was an IT consultant, holding various roles from programmer to business analyst. She loves to sing, listen to audio books, and to go on walks with her golden retriever, Draco.
Ms Leanne Cornell-March
Senior Advisor, Child Safety
Department for Education
Cultivating change: Elements for embedding trauma-informed practices in South Australian education systems
12:05 PM - 1:00 PMAbstract
In 2018 the South Australian Department for Education developed a systems approach to trauma-informed practice in education (TIPiE). Since then, the department has trained thousands of educators and support staff and supported over 250 schools and preschools to implement whole school trauma-informed approaches.
This presentation offers an overview of the Department's journey towards implementing a system-wide approach to trauma-informed practice in South Australian education, building upon the progress made since our last update at the 2022 conference. We will highlight our approach to sustainable change and the importance of building knowledge of trauma-informed approaches, supporting educator practice change and explicit implementation strategies to embed trauma-informed principles into schools and the broader education system.
We will reflect on the work of our schools on successful implementation of these three elements (knowledge, practice and systems) including the role of school implementation teams, site-based contextualization, explicit teaching practices and trauma-informed site documentation. Additionally, we address challenges encountered in leveraging data-based evidence to support these efforts. Drawing upon these lessons learned from schools and preschools over a six-year period, we outline plans for the continued evolution of our approach.
Leanne and Jane lead the department’s statewide support to schools and pre-schools through the Trauma-Aware Schools Initiative; developing packages of training and support with our panel of providers and then supporting schools through whole site implementation. You can also hear from South Australian schools at the conference.
This presentation offers an overview of the Department's journey towards implementing a system-wide approach to trauma-informed practice in South Australian education, building upon the progress made since our last update at the 2022 conference. We will highlight our approach to sustainable change and the importance of building knowledge of trauma-informed approaches, supporting educator practice change and explicit implementation strategies to embed trauma-informed principles into schools and the broader education system.
We will reflect on the work of our schools on successful implementation of these three elements (knowledge, practice and systems) including the role of school implementation teams, site-based contextualization, explicit teaching practices and trauma-informed site documentation. Additionally, we address challenges encountered in leveraging data-based evidence to support these efforts. Drawing upon these lessons learned from schools and preschools over a six-year period, we outline plans for the continued evolution of our approach.
Leanne and Jane lead the department’s statewide support to schools and pre-schools through the Trauma-Aware Schools Initiative; developing packages of training and support with our panel of providers and then supporting schools through whole site implementation. You can also hear from South Australian schools at the conference.
Biography
Leanne leads the Trauma Aware Schools initiative supporting whole-school and system wide, implementation of a trauma-informed approaches.
Leanne and Jane are a part of the Engagement and Wellbeing directorate in the Department for Education, working in the Child safety and trauma-informed practice team. This team has a vision to create safe and inclusive learning environments underpinned by trauma-informed principles, with a focus on children and young people in care. They work within the South Australian public education system and with colleagues across Australia, to
build a national commitment to trauma-informed education.
Ms Jane Harrison
Program Lead, Trauma Aware School Initiative
Department for Education
Co-presenter: Cultivating change: Elements for embedding trauma-informed practices in South Australian education systems
Biography
Jane supports the Trauma Aware Schools initiative providing policy and
implementation support to schools and connects leaders with advanced training.
Session chair
Gabriela Heinz
Allied Health Assistant
Little Movers Physiotherapy
