- Tier: Tier 2: Early intervention and cohort specific support
- Category of intervention: Support for diverse cohorts
- Strength of evidence: Level 2: Supported by expert opinion or evidence for practice
- Geographic location: Program is not available in Goulburn, Ovens Murray (North East region), Inner Gippsland or Outer Gippsland (South East region).
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 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.
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
| Target audience |
|
|---|---|
| Program provider | Centre for Multicultural Youth |
| Delivery mode | Face-to-face |
Implementation considerations
- Target population: Staff and 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.
- 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. Supported cohorts include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, LGBTIQA+ students, asylum seeker and refugee students, culturally and linguistically diverse students, neurodivergent students and students with a disability.
- 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
Item cost
$5,000+
Detailed cost
The cost for the full Aspire to Lead program for one year is $14,635.50 (including GST). This includes:
- pre-program sessions to conduct a needs analysis and undertake adequate planning with the school for delivery of the program
- a youth facilitator to deliver the Aspire to Lead Workshops and provide mentorship to students during their project activation
- 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
- a debrief session with the relevant Centre for Multicultural Youth staff to collect feedback from key school contact and share learnings and observations.
Travel costs may also apply.
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