Evaluation
Of the
Lake Macquarie
Youth Development Survey
December 2010
Compiled by
Community Activities Lake Macquarie Inc
Introduction
Community Activities Lake Macquarie Inc.
Community Activities Lake Macquarie Inc (CALM) is a non government organisation funded by Community Services NSW, situated in the Westlakes area of Lake Macquarie that has served the whole of Lake Macquarie for the past 24 years.
The organisation delivers services to children and families ranging from birth to 25 years. Current services include supported playgroups, toy library, middle childhood activities, youth related support and Out of School Hours and Vacation Care programs.
Lake Macquarie Youth Development Project
The Lake Macquarie Youth Development Officer promotes and addresses the rights and needs of young people in the Lake Macquarie Local Government Area by supporting and resourcing the Lake Macquarie youth sector, community organisations and community members.
This is achieved through researching and identifying the needs of young people, agencies supporting young people and the Lake Macquarie community. The Youth Development Officer assists in the development of programs and services designed to address the needs of young people and will assist agencies with the submission of funding proposals to enable the provision of identified services. The Youth Development Officer also advocates for young people, supporting young people and the community of Lake Macquarie.
Supporting Our Education System
Using the existing knowledge of local high school teaching staff, support staff and supporting organisations with the addition of newly collated data, the Youth Development Officer will provide support to the students and staff of high schools in the Lake Macquarie local government area. Support will be provided to promote awareness and address the issues faced by young people. This will be done by:
- Assisting to identify any school specific issues and their prevalence
- Identifying opportunities for linkages with local service providers to address the needs of young people
- Supporting young people to identify strategies that will assist in overcoming their issues
- Providing information to staff relating to issues faced by young people; professional development; community action; government policy changes
- Engaging the community to assist in supporting the needs of young people and integrating young people into the wider community
- Lobbying for increased welfare support and early intervention strategies from government bodies
The Lake Macquarie Youth Development Survey
Purpose
The main purpose for compiling this report is to explore the issues faced by young people and identify the main issues and needs that are represented by this section of our community. In doing so, we are able to create programs, services and intervention strategies to address the views represented in this report.
Additionally, the statistics represented in this report can be used to apply for funding which is made available to support young people in our community. The statistics required by these funding bodies to identify the needs and issues of young people do not currently exist for the Lake Macquarie Region. This means that support organisations rely on NSW or Hunter region wide statistics when developing funding applications or reporting on the needs of the local community. This has previously resulted in the inability to highlight the specific issues that are faced by local young people and has resulted in these issues being left unaddressed and youth unsupported.
Delivery
This survey is proposed to be rolled out into every High School, both in the State and Catholic Education systems in the Lake Macquarie Region. It will target years 7, 9 and 11 through a randomised selection of 40 students per school year. This will result in a survey encompassing approximately 400 young people providing a picture of the needs of young people in the Lake Macquarie area. The data collected will be collated by the Lake Macquarie Youth Development Officer with support from Hunter TAFE Welfare students. Data will be categorized and reported on by age, gender, geographic location, school year, and school attending. School specific data will only be made available to the individual school and will not be released to the general public or to any other school. The complete set of data will be compiled along with a final report which will be released to any school or community organisation who wishes to utilise this information.
2 / Lake Macquarie Youth Development Survey Evaluation Dec 2010| CALMFigure 1 - Gender Breakdown
376 students across Years 7, 9 and 11 were selected at random to complete the Youth Development Survey. Year 7 totalled 114 students comprising 56 Males and 58 Females. Year 9 totalled 169 students comprising 85 Males and 84 Females. Year 11 totalled 93 students comprising 51 Males and 24 Females. This gave a total of 376 students comprising 192 Males and 184 Females.
The Lake Macquarie Youth Development Survey was originally proposed to be undertaken by up to 1300 students across the region. Due to various reasons this was unable to be completed and is reflected in the small total of students represented in this survey.
Figure 2a - Question 1 - Have you experienced any of the following issues at school?
Figure 2b
Figure 2 shows that the two main issues faced by students across all Year groups is Bullying (70%) and Verbal Abuse (68%). It is worth noting that across all Year groups the issues of Stress & Anxiety (44%), Exclusion (40%), Physical Violence (32%), Cyber Bullying (33%), Anger issues (29%) and Depression and Mental Health issues (25%) are areas of concern.
Between Years 7 and 9 data shows an increase in almost every category with dramatic increases in the incidence of Stress & Anxiety (+23%), Verbal Abuse(+18%) and Alcohol use(+17%) with notable increases in Anger Issues (+12%), Cyber Bullying(+12%), Exclusion(+12%), Bullying (+11%), Lack of Educational Support (+10%), Physical Violence (+9%) and Drug Use(+8%)
Between Years 9 and 11, the trend continues with dramatic increases in Stress and Anxiety(+25%), Suicide(+20%) and Racism(+18%) with notable increases in Lack of Education Support(+10%), Drug Use(+9%), Depression(+5%) whilst decreases are seen in Bullying(-15%), Cyber Bullying(-10%) and Verbal Abuse(-10%).
Also notable are comparisons between Male & Female responses showing 29% to 37% respectively in Cyber Bullying, 43% to 22% in Physical Violence, 20% to 28% in Depression, 35% to 45% in Exclusion, 38% to 50% in Stress and Anxiety and 32% to 26% in Anger issues.
Figure 3a - Question 2 - Indicate if you do not know about the following issues and their impact on your life
Figure 3b
Figure 3 shows a very high ‘No response’ figure which indicates the question may have been two difficult to understand. Remaining data may be too narrow to formulate any reasonable premise. Amongst the responses given, Legal Aid (51%) and Driver Training (41%) were the two highest responses that indicate lack of knowledge in students across all Year groups. Other areas of significant response include Suicide (27%) and Drug Use (25%).
When comparing across Year groups, the issue of Legal Aid is more significantly represented as age increases. We can see an increase from 41% (Year 7) to 52% (Year 9) and finally 68% (Year 11) which indicates that this issue is more prominent as age increases.
Figure 4 – Question 3 - Are you happy with the amount of support you currently receive at school?
Figure 4b
Figure 4 indicates a positive response to the support received at school with 69% across all Year groups showing they are happy with the amount of support received. Across Year groups, a fluctuating result shows positive response in 87% of Year 7, 58% in Year 9 and 67% in Year 11. There is also a dramatic difference in the Male to Female response with Males indicating 75% satisfaction and Females 63%. Students were also given the opportunity to comment on the level of support received. These comments range in issue and should be reflected upon as individual responses rather than from a broader context. Comments received by students across all Year groups include:-
They are always willing to help you / More help with assessments and assignments would be goodI am not happy with my support / More help during study periods for any student, not just indigenous
It is very helpful / We need so much more help with study periods
This School really helps me / We need help to make individual study programs
This school cares lots about bullying / To many people in a class for one teacher to help
The teachers are not supportive / I believe we are well supported educationally
More support for sports / Not supported with bullying and academic help
Figure 5 - Question 4 - Please rate any Health/Welfare workshops that have come to your school
Figure 5b
Figure 5 indicates that there is very little early intervention practice occurring through workshops at a Year 7 level with less than 8% of students attending at least one workshop. For Year 7, 11% attended a Mental Health workshop, 18% Sexual Health, 19% Drug & Alcohol and 28% Bullying. Year 9 has seen an increase in many of these groups, however only 21% have attended a Mental health Awareness workshop. 45% of students in Year have indicated willingness to attend future workshops. In the Year 11 group, a significant coverage of students attending workshops is seen with 87% attending a Drug & Alcohol workshop, 75% Bullying, 74% Sexual Health, 72% Driver Education and 58% Mental Health. 44% are interested in attending additional workshops.
Figure 6 - Question 5 - Would you utilise a Driver Education Program to improve your skills, road safety and assistance to gain your required driver training hours?
Figure 6b
Figure 6 indicates a very high response (84%) suggesting students would be interested in utilising a Driver Education Program. Data collected has indicated that the affirmative response was greatest from the Year 9 group which indicates 87% interest in a Driver Education program.
Figure 7 - Question 6 - What would you like to see increased at your school to improve your school experiences
Figure 7b
Figure 6 indicates that the two main improvements that students wish to have added to their schooling are School Social activities (56%)and Health & Fitness programs (59%) across all Year groups. Amongst individual Year groups, Year 7 have indicated that Health & Fitness programs (63%), School Social activities (45%) and Info Days on welfare issues (22%) are their main needs. Year 9 indicate their priorities are School Social activities (58%), Health & Fitness programs (49%) and Access to classroom support (31%). For the Year 11 group School Social activities (64%), Health & Fitness Programs (52%) and Access to classroom support (32%) are the most important issues for them. The following comments were recorded by students:
Teach us how to be safe on the road / Try to stop the bullyingDance programs / More fitting punishment for physical/mental abuse
More excursions / More subject choices
Better sports programs / Computers that work
School camps / Better learning resources and textbooks
Figure 8 - Question 7 - Have you ever experienced any of the following issues at home or away from school?
Figure 8b
Figure 7 shows what issues students are facing outside of the school environment. The main issues identified by respondents in all Year groups are Verbal Abuse (47%), Alcohol use (44%) and Relationship Issues (39%) Other issues worth noting are Cyber Bullying (37%) and the high levels indicated in Depression/Mental Health issues (32%) which include 36% of Year 9 respondents highlighting a perceived Mental Health issue. Police cautions have totalled 21% across all Year groups, 26% of respondents have experienced a Divorce or separation, 21% experiencing a Domestic Violence issue and 28% experiencing a suicide. Alcohol use is also highly elevated in the Year 9 group (37%) and increases to 62% in the Year 11 group.
The comparison between Male and Female respondents shows much higher instances for Females experiencing Relationship issues (43% to 37%), Depression (39% to 26%) and Cyber bullying (40% to 25%).
Figure 9 - Question 8 - Please indicate your experiences with homelessness
Figure 9b
Figure 9 highlights students’ experiences with youth homelessness. 5% or 13 students surveyed have themselves been homeless at some point in their life whilst 35% of students know someone who has been homeless. The instance of homelessness is higher in Male respondents, indicating 6% homelessness versus 3% for Females.
Figure 10 - Question 9 - What community events or resources have you used in the past 12 months?
Figure 10b
Figure 9 indicates the usage of community facilities by students. The main facilities used by students include Sporting Fields (48%), Swimming Pool (46%) and Skate Parks (31%). Other areas of interest include Libraries (28%) and the low percentages of utilisation of Youth Centres (13%) and Community Health Centres (5%). These figures also show that 4% of students are attending a Youth Week event.
The use of these facilities across different year groups show that the Year 7 groups most prominent usage is Swimming Pools (50%), Sporting Fields (39%) and Libraries (37%). Year 9 students utilise Sporting Fields (57%), Swimming Pools (53%) and Skate Parks (38%) whilst their use of Librarys drops significantly to 18%. They also utilise activities on the lake more than any other group at 22% against 14% and 18% for Years 7 and 11 respectively. The Year 11 group sees a shift back to Libraries (34%) and away from social avenues such as Swimming Pools (32%) and Skate Parks (16%). Sporting Fields remain the most used facility in Year 11 at 42%.
Looking at Gender specific data, Female students utilise Swimming Pools more (55% vs 39%), Churches (20% vs 9%), Community Halls (29% vs 6%) Youth Centres (18% vs 8%) and Libraries (32% vs 24%) whilst Male students show a higher usage of Skate Parks with 33% vs 27%.
Figure 11 - Question 10 - Are there any additions or improvements you would like to see to current community resources?
Figure 11b
In figure 11 students were asked to contribute suggestions for improvement to community resources. 68% of respondents are happy with their community resources whilst 32% feel more resources are needed. Comments made by students relating to additions to community resources centre around skate parks and bike tracks with 15 requests for bike tracks and 12 requests for skate parks.