2.2.4 Jan Tracey
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2.2.4 AWHN Conference 6 2010 Chancellor 1: The Gippsland Model Respectful Relationships Education in Schools (RREIS) across Urban, Rural and Remote settings
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2.2.4 Jan Tracey
- 1. Respectful Relationships Education in Schools (RREIS) across Urban, Rural and Remote settings The Gippsland Model
- 2. Gippsland Demographics Melbourne Swifts Creek Orbost Cann River Sale Bunyip to Mallacoota 438 kms Bunyip Mallacoota
- 3. Model Development 2005 - 06 Findings from survey identified limited knowledge, resources and experience Regional
- 4. Model Development 2005 - 06 Findings from survey identified limited knowledge, resources and experience Regional Urban 2007 Latrobe Valley Teacher capacity building strategy
- 5. Model Development 2005 - 06 Findings from survey identified limited knowledge, resources and experience Regional Urban 2007 Latrobe Valley Teacher capacity building strategy Rural 2007 - 08 ‘Whole of school’ approach in a rural community
- 6. Model Development 2005 - 06 Findings from survey identified limited knowledge, resources and experience Regional Urban Rural 2007 Latrobe Valley Teacher capacity building strategy 2007 - 08 ‘Whole of school’ approach in a rural community Remote 2007 - 10 Orbost Secondary College
- 7. Gippsland Demographics Swifts Creek Cann River Mallacoota Sale Melbourne to Orbost 373 kms Melbourne Orbost
- 9. Collaboration with the school Identifying and addressing potential barriers Working on ‘street cred’ • Understanding processes, culture and needs • Gaining respect of school leadership • Understanding resourcing (or lack of)
- 10. Collaboration with the school Identifying and addressing potential barriers Managing Long Distances 5 hour round trip between GWHS and School Limitation to Teacher Professional Development (PD) Constraints regarding scheduling of staff PD
- 11. Roles, Rights and Responsibilities of Staff • School structure, communication lines, policies etc • Resistance for multiple reasons • School as a workplace! Collaboration with the school Identifying and addressing potential barriers
- 12. Collaboration with local agencies •Developing the link between the school and other agencies •Capacity building within local agencies
- 13. External collaborations required to support RREIS programs Expert Guidance Relevance & currency Knowledge Strategic focus Skill Development Evidence based strategies
- 14. If you would like further information about this project please feel free to contact me: Jan Tracey Health Promotion Project Worker Gippsland Women’s Health Service Phone: 03 51431600
Editor's Notes
- Thank you for the opportunity to present this paper today. In recognition of my commitment to reconciliation I would like to acknowledge and pay my respect to the Traditional Owners and Elders, past and present, on whose land we meet today. I commenced work with Gippsland Women’s Health Service (GWHS) in January 2008 and would like to acknowledge the previous work of my colleagues in this field. The model development has been an evolutionary process and I will step through the background and early stages quickly; then focus on our more recent work, including the collaborative processes, paramount to our model.
- I would like to start by providing you with a picture of Gippsland. It is a large rural area, representing just over 18% of the landmass of Victoria (41,000sq km) and it stretches along the south east coast of Victoria from Melbourne’s Eastern Metropolitan region to the New South Wales border and between the Great Dividing Ranges and the Bass Strait. If you travel along the Princess Highway , the A1, which is the main thoroughfare through Gippsland into New South Wales, it is 438 kms from Bunyip in the west to Mallacoota in the east. It comprises six local councils and for those that understand Primary Care Partnerships or PCP’s, there are four across Gippsland. The population is just over 240.000, which accounts for nearly 5% of the State population. Gippsland is an extremely diverse region and incorporates urban, rural and remote areas according to ABS data.
- It is important to mention that we received several ‘bits’ of external funding which supported different components of the model development. These include a couple of local PCP’s, Women’s Trust Victoria and VicHealth, without which the time and costs in getting the model dveloped would not have occurred. (a) In 2006 GWHS undertook a survey from selected ‘welfare/health’ staff across all registered secondary schools in Gippsland. (33 of 35 schools responded) Questions included information on teaching capacity and understanding of respectful relationships and prevention of family violence. Most schools (80%) indicated limited knowledge, resources and teacher experience in these issues.
- (b) During 2007, the first stage commenced in Latrobe Valley (Central Gippsland), which has over 30% of the regions population from the three main towns which sit along 24 kilometres of the Princes Highway. Professional Development or PD was delivered to selected school staff (from 5 secondary school campuses) on the prevalence and impact of family violence and a Train the Trainer session was delivered for a classroom curriculum that has been chosen to support the model. This became a quick and easy way to establish teacher capacity with the schools all being in close physical proximity. As you will see this is more difficult to manage in more rural and remote areas of Gippsland.
- (c) Coinciding with GWHS extending the model, VicHealth released their report “Preventing Violence before it Occurs (2007), which identified the effectiveness of school based prevention programs and with that project funding. This enabled the model to become much more comprehensive as it commenced in a small, rural community and developed a strong focus on ‘whole of school’ approach. The model (which is now a GWHS ongoing program) has three aims. In very general language these are : increase general knowledge about family violence; increase skills and capacity of educators & develop systemic links (both internal and external of the school).
- (d) The next stage of development was taking our program into East and Far East Gippsland. This is the furthest end of Gippsland and hence the remote classification; it covers over half the landmass (of Gippsland) and has the least population per local government area. Three schools were initially targeted, each with small student enrolments. None of the schools have a discrete ‘welfare’ position, this role is ‘taken on’ by a teacher and only one had a school nurse position. (This position became vacant during our work with the school and only in February this year [2010] the position has again been filled, however it is not a full time position.) Only one of these schools participated across all program aims, and I’m going to discuss how we developed the model to fit the needs of this school. With their permission, we are going to visit Orbost Secondary College (OSC).
- Where is Orbost? Orbost sits on the Princess Highway (A1) (that main thoroughfare through Gippsland into New South Wales). It is 160 kilometres (two hours drive) from the GWHS office in Sale and 373 kilometres (5 hours drive) from Melbourne. The population is 2,100 and the school enrolment is 310. The school does not have a school nurse; the position of welfare coordinator sits with the assistant Principal, who is also a classroom teacher. The appointment of a new Principal in 2008 whom supported the program has resulted in further collaborations between the school and GWHS, beyond just the limits of this program.
- I would like to introduce Heather MacAlister, Peter Seal and Bronwyn Llewellyn, respectively the Principal, assistant Principal and health teacher whom became my key contacts in the school. Without the support from school leadership, I wonder if outcomes such as embedment of a classroom program into curriculum and clarification of school policies and procedures would occur. At the outset of the program, it is vital to meet with the school to determine how the program can be implemented to best meet their specific needs. We have developed an Individual School Plan, which establishes the implementation framework through the selection of a range of identified strategies to support the overall aims of the program.
- In the early stages of the program it is important to have ongoing visits to monitor progress and discuss any issues and potential barriers that may arise during implementation. Due to limited previous contact with the school, GWHS worked hard to obtain our ‘street cred’. This is really about demonstrating our credibility and establishing relevance of the program in the school. GWHS has identified three important elements to earning this ‘street cred’. They are: understanding the school culture, the processes the school uses and specific needs of the school; gaining the respect of the school leadership and understanding resourcing (or lack of) at a school level. EG. - no welfare workers or school counsellors, distance from services, access to support. The school resourcing issues become important in determining what external collaborations are required for sustainability of the program i.e. skills; resources and personnel
- I talked about ongoing visits in the early stages; these don’t come easy when we talk distances. Orbost is a five hour return road trip from GWHS - very time intensive, particularly when the working day is 7.36 hours and the working week is only 3 days! This was addressed by ensuring comprehensive planning was undertaken and confirmed prior to each visit and also by combining multiple activities on each trip as much as possible (eg meeting with assistant Principal on the same day as presenting to class). This style of work practice requires flexible working arrangements and can be costly to the agency; however this was undertaken with a commitment that it would assist with the project’s success. Current arrangements in Victorian state schools have created some constraints regarding delivery of PD. As a result there is limited access to PD during school time and time restrictions for PD to occur during staff meetings. We had obviously got some runs on the board towards our ‘street cred’. The Principal allocated time for us to present a two hour PD at the staff meeting over two consecutive weeks and encouraged all staff to be present. And for those whom have presented to a room of teachers at the end of the day, you will understand that they don’t feign interest. Our goal was to get the information presented quickly in an interesting manner and it was very hard work.
- At one PD session there was significant concern raised by staff regarding teachers’ responsibilities if young people are believed to be witnessing violence at home. More runs on the board towards our ‘street cred’: we were able to discuss the concerns raised by staff with the Principal and assistant Principal who were both present at the PD and related to the concerns. The Principal identified a successful outcome in this case with a review of staff policy and procedures concerning staff responsibilities and line of delegation when issues of ‘things that happen at home’ arise. This information had been implicit previously but was now documented and circulated in teacher information packs (especially important for new staff). I also think an important matter that can’t be missed when working with schools is that of teachers and the school as their workplace. Duty of care when raising the profile around Family Violence issues is paramount. We know that at any time when addressing a large mixed gender group, there can potentially be victims and perpetrators present. It is important to discuss this with the Principal and identify school processes and policies to support staff in their workplace. This is especially important when considering a ‘whole of school’ approach.
- A key approach in our model has been to build capacity around the school as well as within the school. Working with local health and/or welfare agencies facilitates collaboration between all organisations and that is what assures sustainability into the future. In Orbost the regional health service provides a multi purpose program which includes medical, acute, aged and community health and many staff have roles across several of these sectors. This makes it more difficult to gain expertise in a specific area such as family violence. This provided an opportunity for GWHS to deliver local and relevant PD. And again if we return to the three elements of earning ‘street cred’ within the school (understanding processes, gaining respect and understanding resourcing), the same is required when working with any outside agencies whom become relied on, for ongoing collaboration and therefore successful continuance of the program. Orbost Regional Health (ORH) and the school already had a working relationship and simultaneously with our project, they were furthering this collaboration. GWHS was able to support part of a new program that was coordinated by the health service for ‘students at risk’. This was through the delivery of life skills program with a focus on relationships. That helped with our ‘street cred’ for both the health service and school as we were seen to be “doing” collaboration as well. We also provided Respectful Relationships Education PD to the community health staff, which included a social worker and a counsellor. Staff from both the health service and the school attended a combined Train the Trainer PD for delivering the classroom program. The desired outcome of this was to: (a) Build the capacity of health service staff as educators and (b) Facilitate collaboration to enable this program to continue beyond our involvement.
- GWHS recognises the need to continue to ensure the model remains up to date with content and evaluation whilst recognizing and working within the needs of rural communities. It has to be evidence based and relevant. This means adaptable to a range of ‘rural’ situations from regional to urban to rural to remote. Therefore, we continue to participate in a range of networks and working parties and have developed linkages at local, statewide and international levels. It is vital that needs and indeed resources for rural programs such as these are understood at policy level. We can and do good work in the ‘bush’.
- And thank you. I hope I have provided a picture about the way we do it rather than just about what we do.