Aspire to Lead

Program description

Aspire to Lead aims to develop school and student led solutions to the issues that negatively impact wellbeing, exclusion and disengagement from education in young people.

It is a 10-week student program facilitated by an experienced youth worker. Tailored workshops and mentoring support students to design and lead a project, activity or event. The goal of these is to foster a sense of belonging and connection to their school community. This strengths-based approach builds leadership skills and the capacity for positive relationships. This improves social cohesion amongst young people in schools. Topics covered in the workshops include:

• leadership
• working with others
• strengthening my voice
• advocacy
• planning and teamwork
• culture, bias and stereotypes
• mentoring sessions to support activity planning and delivery.

Training and support for school staff to deliver and run the Aspire to Lead program in their school is also available.

Intended outcomes

• Increased student self-esteem, belonging and inclusion.
• Increased student capacity for collaboration, advocacy and community participation.
• Improved student wellbeing through greater participation in the school environment.
• Increased student engagement, community, and school connectedness and social cohesion.

Program details

Implementation considerations

• Target population: Students aged 12–16 years of age in upper primary or secondary school with a particular focus on culturally and linguistically diverse and asylum seeker and refugee students. Primary or secondary school staff who wish to deliver the program in their school.
• Program adaptability: Content is easily tailored to different levels of maturity and literacy. An initial school needs assessment is embedded in the program so workshops can be tailored to student age, cohort, learning style or literacy level. The program is suitable for diverse cohorts including:
  • asylum seeker and refugee students
  • culturally and linguistically diverse students.
• Staffing: Backfilling is required. At least one staff member is required at all workshops to provide behaviour management support and follow-up on in-session progress.
• Training requirements: Internet access and basic Audio-Visual infrastructure such as a screen and projector are required.
• Factors to consider: Schools are required to identify and refer students at-risk of disengaging from the program. At least one staff member must attend pre-program sessions. There is a minimum of 6 participating students and a maximum of 12. Students should attend at least 80% of the sessions across the 10-week program. Follow-up support is available to students via referral to other volunteer and youth leadership opportunities at Centre for Multicultural Youth. Secondary consultation with school staff is available to support project/activity implementation at no additional cost. Expansion of Aspire to Lead for additional student cohorts and additional training for school staff to run and deliver Aspire to Lead within their school are available at an additional cost.
• Australian context: The program has been developed and applied in Australia.

Cost

Minimum cost

$5,000+

Detailed cost

The cost for the full Aspire to Lead program for 10 weeks is $15,317.78 (including GST). This includes:

• 3 x one-hour pre-program sessions with school staff to customise and adapt the program to the specific school context and the selected cohort of students
• 10 x 2-hour workshops delivered by a one x youth facilitator to a group of between 6–12 students
• catering for each of the 10 student workshops
• 2 x sessions at the end of the program collect feedback from key school contacts and share lessons and observations
• project management, coordination with the school and support and supervision of facilitators
• evaluation activities including pre and post workshop data to demonstrate progress and share feedback from students
• a detailed case study highlighting the progress of the program and its outcomes
• resources and printing
• travel time.

Optional training and support for school staff to deliver and run Aspire to Lead at their school is costed at $6,055.50 (including GST) including:

• 2 hour guided workshop on provided manual and resources
• supported co-delivery of up to 3 x one-hour student sessions
• one hour debrief session on evaluation
• 2 hour ad-hoc online or phone consultation.

Discounts available include:

• 10% discount for additional Aspire to Lead sessions purchased in the same calendar year
• additional student sessions for other cohorts can be provided at a 10% discounted rate.