SACE at Learning Together

SACE at Learning Together

Learning Together is a program which focuses on families with children aged birth to four. Programs are generally located in areas of disadvantage. SACE at Learning Together grew out of requests from parents after they had engaged in informal study groups.

SACE was originally seen as a way of re-engaging young mothers who had disconnected with formal learning at an early age. It was developed in two sites. The first program to do this was at EnfieldLearning Together in conjunction with EnfieldHigh School. This was as a result of expressed interest from the parents. The path taken here was Voc A, Voc B and community studies. A teacher is employed by EnfieldHigh School and students attend once a week. At Christie Downs/ O’Sullivan BeachLearning Together the same structure was adopted with a consultant teacher employed. The students are enrolled through ChristiesBeachHigh School. In consultation with SSABSA however the framework changed to students completing 3 2-unit strands of community studies. This is in order to more explicitly link the work the parents are doing in other Learning Together groups into their SACE studies. The format there became Family Treasures, Learning Dispositions and a project of their own choice to do with families and children.

Both pathways have potential advantages and disadvantages. In the Enfield model students can obtain a TER score, and engage in more formal learning. This equips them to continue studying. In the Christie Downs/O’Sullivan Beach model students are linking their learning and research to aspects of their involvement with their child, themselves and their community. This builds reflectiveness as well as study skills.

It has become clear that parents engaging in formalised, although not necessarily formal, learning change their view of themselves as learners and that this changes their relationship with their children.

The women left school for a variety of reasons, including boredom, pregnancy, and being homeless. The average time they left is about year 10, although the earliest is year 6. The most common age at which they reconnect with study is about 25, the youngest participant was 15 and the oldest is a 66 year old great grandmother who has custody of her great grand child.

Anecdotally it can be seen that many Learning Together parents viewed formal learning as something that was imposed on them, and which they could choose to engage in or not. They often speak of the energy expended in not engaging! In common with many people who return to study, they are far more internally motivated and the process of learning becomes an active one.

This paper will describe the model of SACE used at Christie Downs/ O’Sullivan Beach. Throughout the parents will be referred to as ‘women’ as at this stage it is only women who have taken up this option.

Supporting children: why have adult learning in a program about children’s literacy

Research, especially from the Effective Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) program has shown that the most powerful form of parent involvement with their children’s learning is through the provision of a positive home learning environment. This includes the values of supporting learning and education as well as the provision of time and space for homework. The development of a positive ‘educational self schema’ is seen to override factors such as poverty in children’s outcomes at school. Women who are engaged in study are seeing the value of learning and developing some habits such as work plans, doing drafts, checking their work and so on. These skills also support their children.

Children also respond to the powerful role modelling shown by parents studying. They see them reading, writing and using computers, and refer to ‘Mummy’s school’ and “Mummy working’. They messages that women hope their children will gain include:

• ‘You need to go to school so you can learn how to do things like read and write, so you can have the best in the future.’
• ‘That having an education is the most important thing and if they don’t stay at school it will be their biggest regret… and could limit what they dream to be’
• ‘That if I can do my year 12 while raising five children, they can too!’

By focussing their study on their children and on their roles as parents, the womendevelop skills and understandings about parenting, dispositions for learning and early literacy development, and through this they become more conscious of their role as children’s first and most influential educators.

The learning environment

What makes the learning environment different and more engaging for the women is complex. The space doesn’t look like a classroom. One end of the large room has adult tables and chairs and several computers. The other end of the room is set up as a children’s area. Having the children and adults in the same area is an important factor for many parents who are anxious about leaving their children in care, and is often referred to as a contributing factor in choosing to return to study at Learning Together.

Care is taken by staff to make the environment safe and welcoming for children and adults. For many of the parents, their previous experiences have made them wary of being a student. Building a culture of trust and developing a supportive group environment within which they are encouraged to take personal responsibility for their learning is essential. Negotiating how to develop and maintain social relationships is pivotal to this.

Attachment theory, which is an underpinning theory in Learning Together, is significant for adults as well as children, and is actively enacted in the Learning Together SACE learning environment. Parents need to experience secure attachments in order to be able to develop the same with their children. Staff, and later other parents, provide the secure base, safe haven role for parents. This means they are predictable, trustworthy, and act as appreciative audiences for the group and individuals within the group. They also follow the parent’s lead and take charge as appropriate. In addition to this, having parents and children in the same room enables parents to be available for their children, in an exploration and return cycle, and for parents to watch and discuss their children. Parents have reported that watching early childhood educators interact with their children helps them see possibilities for their own interactions with their children.

One of the important factors in the success of this model is the ability to fit parent’s work as a parent and interests into SACE, so they see the study as a natural extension of their lives, rather than an external imposition. In addition, the very flexible timeframes are important in retaining the women. They don’t have to give up if they haven’t finished work by the designated time, or if they are pregnant or their child has problems. SACE is seen as an underlying and ongoing aspect of their lives.

Encouraging women to study over time, rather than interviewing them or using prior learning to push them quickly through their SACE is important in cementing their learning and study skills.

The content of the learning

As stated earlier, at Christie Downs/ O’Sullivan Beach Learning Together the usual format for SACE is to do three two-unit strands of community studies including Family Treasures, Learning Dispositions and a project of their own choice to do with families and children.

Family Treasures is the name given to a group where parents borrow digital cameras to make books for and about their own children. Throughout this group women learn about using a range of technologies, children’s literacy development, and their own literacy. It also reconnects many with creativity and a sense of play.

Learning Dispositions is a more formal study group where women explore the development of their child’s dispositions for learning, and their role in supporting this. Participants in this group develop skills in noticing and naming their child’s behaviour, reflecting on their own understandings, experiences and relationship with their child, and planning for changes. This group is particularly important in supporting parents to make changes in their relationships and homes, which in turn supports safer environments for children. The attribution of about the causes of their children’s behaviour (such as thinking that their baby is ‘just out to get me’) can be seen as a risk factor for child abuse. (Dadds et al, 2003)Conversely parents who have understandings about how children learn and behave are more likely to have children who are cognitively and emotionally competent.

(Sanders & Morawska, 2005) Additionally, parents who study Learning Dispositions often relate their work to the development of their own dispositions as well as their children. This is important as they reconceptualise their own view of themselves as learners.

The project of their choice is often very personal. Topics explored have included the effects of domestic violence on young Aboriginal children, children’s speech development, community involvement in the environment, managing a young daughter’s pregnancy, being a pregnant teenager, the effects of being raped and having a child, the effects of a mother’s drug and alcohol addiction on her children and nutrition and young families. Some women report that this can be a cathartic experience, although they acknowledge how difficult it is to reflect on these experiences. One woman reported that ‘I am able to survive and grow as a person and people don’t judge me or my child because of what happened.’

Women make choices about the area they want to explore and staff and others in the group will help scope and expand the topic to link it with the broader community, and to include a range of skills such as research, surveys, analysis, etc. There is an ongoing emphasis on reflection, with participants being asked to reflect at many points during their study. This seems to lead to the women becoming more reflective in their daily lives, since their study and the rest of their lives are so strongly intertwined.

The learners learning about learning

In this environment, and based on the work they have already done, such as making books for their children or learning about Learning Dispositions, parents are able to think differently about themselves as learners. They are able to put aside their existing views about the roles teachers take and begin to see them as partners in a learning journey. Inhibitions about their literacy fade away as the SACE teacher works in a very supportive manner with them to improve their spelling, and extend their writing. New skills such as developing surveys and questionnaires, interviewing others, developing work plans, working independently and as part of a group are developed. Notions of passing and failing are diminished and replaced by ideas about making drafts of work and continued improvement.

Comments from parents about what this has meant for them include

• “I now know that I can finish what I start”
• “I can stick to something without getting bored or losing interest, if I put my mind to it.”
• “The most important thing I have learned is that I am not stupid!”

Outcomes for parents

Women who join the Learning Together SACE group report that they now have ambitions to obtain work and especially to continue studying, generally through TAFE. They report feeling very proud of themselves, and many contact their parents to report their successes, and even if they meet a lukewarm response they are able to reflect on this and remain positive about their achievements. They use these responses as a model of what not to do for their own children. Being able to reconceptualise their view of themselves as learners enables them to articulate goals and messages about learning and school for their own children. This links with the findings about home learning environments and the values and beliefs of parents being critical in outcomes for children at school.

The rupturing of cycles of unemployment and poverty is another outcome that arises from the women’s involvement with SACE. Aspirations change, and with the development of skills these goals are more achievable. For some, engaging in more formal literacy lessons is important, for others, it is learning how to apply for jobs, or how to maintain work practices. For some women support is needed in balancing their new goals and family commitments, for others it is managing pressure from family to abandon their aspirations.

Women develop a sense of agency as they engage with others, develop research skills, and present their work. They learn to see other points of view, and to reflect on their responses. This has been instrumental in some women joining governing councils, and participating in a range of community consultations.

Word of mouth is a prime factor in women joining the SACE group. They are encouraged by others who are enjoying the experience and benefitting from it. A point that many often make is that the process is ‘healing’, especially as they tackle the project of their own choice, and explore and reflect on aspects of their life.

What makes it work?

The woman are seen and valued for who they are and their experiences. They are treated as individuals first, then as parents and lastly as students. This means that they are treated as adults who can make choices, that their valuable role as parents is recognised and supported and that they are engaging in learning as a part of this context.They come to see their SACE as time to be themselves, rather than only someone’s mother. They can justify this time as constructive rather than indulgent time, and clearly value the group environment and experience as valuable. Some talk about being surrounded by ‘positive people’ or ‘women who have the same goals as me’ and for those struggling with drug, alcohol or other mental health issues, this is extremely important.

The linking of formalising study with work that they are deeply interested and engaged in as parents, is also seen as an important factor in the success of this model. It is not external or imposed but grows from their interests. This becomes a point of recruiting as the women engage others in SACE studies…. “You are already doing this so why not write it up and get credit for it?”

The very supportive and respectful way in which staff and the group work with the women is another significant factor. Women report that it doesn’t feel like school: “there has been a lot of help and understanding through teachers and students that I believe can’t be found in other schooling situations. If Learning Together didn’t exist I would not have been on my way to completing year 12 as I would not do adult re-entry into high school.”

Conclusion

It is clear that a range of models need to be provided to engage adults in reconnecting with formal learning. The Learning Together SACE model is proving to be very successful in connecting mothers in this area of disadvantage to formal study. The relevance of the study topics to their immediate lives and the supportiveness of the environment are rated as significant factors in this. The women choose to return to study for a range of reasons including as a way to prepare for employment, to fill their time, and to demonstrate to their children the importance of education. What they say they have learned is that they are more capable than they and others had believed. They have greater aspirations for themselves and their children, and are more connected to their community.

10/10/2018S:\Early Years Curriculum\LEARNING TOGETHER\COAG\Information for regions\SACE at Learning Together.doc