Outcome-Network.org

An International Database and eJournal for Outcome-Evaluation and Research

Paper

From competition to cooperation: the possibilities for reconnection engendered by a positive school climate

abstract

Background. The context of this paper is school based therapeutic intervention with high-risk adolescent girls, in particular pregnant and parenting teens and their infant and toddler children.

Purpose. The paper focuses on effective and helpful school based approaches to working with high-risk adolescent pregnant and parenting girls and their children. These girls were compared to girls of similar age attending a regular community-based high school. Both schools are located in mid-size Canadian city.

Methods. The methodology is mixed method. The tools used were quantitative surveys, cross-sectional comparisons, and qualitative interviews,

The sample consisted of 74 survey respondents, of whom 19 also participated in qualitative interviews, and involved a comparison between aggressive girls in a community high school and aggressive girls in an alternative program designed for high risk pregnant and parenting teens.

The instruments used were: The Survey of Student Life (Artz and Riecken, 1994, 1999, 2004.) and The Survey of Student Relationships (Artz, Nicholson and McNamara, 2004). The programmatic aspects of the participating schools were as follows.

Alternative program. The alternative program serves high-risk adolescent females in aged 13 to 19. The program was launched in the 1970s and currently functions in a small facility that was formerly an elementary school. One large classroom has been converted into a lounge with comfortable couches for group sessions. A well-staffed early childhood centre is located within the school. An on-site kitchen makes it possible for the girls to prepare food and learn about nutrition. The program provides an integrated learning environment in which staff model caring, respectful interactions and nurturing collegial adult relationships. In addition to the program director and early childhood care staff, the program staff includes 2 teachers, and a youth and family counsellor. Staff spend lunch and break-times with the students so that a strong adult presence contributes to the feelings of physical and emotional safety experienced by the students. The counsellor also interacts with the girls on a daily basis and works with them both individually and as a group on life issues such as substance use, abusive relationships, birth control, depression, and grief and loss. Pregnant and parenting girls also attend additional support and education groups, and learn about caring parenting and attachment through modelling by the early childhood care staff. Recreational and cultural activities are combined with academics to offer further opportunities to practice and exchange feedback on social skills and appropriate behaviours. Conflict resolution is an important part of the program's curriculum.

Public high school. The co-educational high school is a comprehensive community school with approximately 650 students in grades 9 to 12 (Aged 13 to 19). The school operates in a relatively new facility, built in the mid-1990s and serves students during the day and the community in the evening and on weekends. The school has a modern auditorium and theatre space as well as a gymnasium and playing fields that are made available to the community. About half the students in the school come there by bus, some from smaller communities as far as an hour away. A number of students commute to school in their own cars. The average class size in the high school is between 23 and 24 students. These classes contain a range of learners with a number of different learning needs but only one teacher for the full complement of students. The requirements of students with special needs are met outside the classrooms and homerooms to which these students are attached.

Key findings. Quantitative findings. Participants' responses to our survey questions regarding their current use of agression and violence with regard to pushing, shoving, sexual harassment and social/relational vicitimization and their expereinces of school climate in their present schools in terms of the level of cooperation in classrooms, their feelings of encouragement and discouragement, and their overall sense of school connectedness. The responses of the high-risk females in the alternative program show that contrary to expectation, the girls in the alternative program reported significantly lower levels of the use of aggression than girls in the public schools. As well, the alternative school girls reported the highest level of classroom cooperation, were unanimous in feeling strongly encouraged by their teachers, experienced very low levels of discouragement (save for a persistent fear of failure), and also reported the highest level of school connectedness. In addition the girls in the alternative program reported feeling hopeful about their futures, with 100% of these respondents reporting that they expected to complete high school and 68% reporting that they expected to go on to post-secondary education. This stands in contrast to expectations for similar populations in the school district within which their program is situated. Graduation rates in the district for 2005-2006 were only 76% for females and 20% for students with behavioral disabilities (B.C. Ministry of Education, 2006).

Qualitative findings. High-risk girls responded positively to a safe, encouraging and positive school climate provided by the alternative program described by one girls as a "school [that is] is like a home, like a special environment, and I can't describe it, it's just a good place. Like in other schools it's like we're the students and they're the teachers. Like here, the teachers are our friends. Another explained "We do conflict resolution. It always works. That's why we get along so well in this school." In helping us to understand just what it was that helped them to change their behaviour and to stop using aggression and violence, one girls told us that, "What really helped me was this school. They just helped me to get through stuff and give me advice on how I can go about it and tell me like, what I need to take care of myself." A different girl said, "It's a lot easier to [defend your beliefs] here, in this community, in this school. [Here] no matter what, you're allowed to say what you want ...what you believe in ...and everyone will respect you for saying that." A fourth girl noted that, "being able to talk to someone whether it was about like going out with my friends or dealing with an issue at home or something like that. It was just, like, someone who didn't really take sides, like they just listened." Overall the girls reported feeling safe enough in the program to cease the use aggression and violence in the school setting and instead to use the conflict resolution and social efficacy skills that they learned at school during school hours, but also with friends, boyfriends parents and other family member and most of all with their children.

Implications and recommendations

  • Policy: turn back the current North American trend of closing small alternative schools with specialized foci in favour of ever-larger centralized schools.
  • Professionals: work from a holistic educative model using collaborative approaches while at the same time teaching participants the skills necessary to changing entrenched aggressive and violent behaviours.
  • Research: examine the effects of school contexts on outcomes for high risk youth.

Key references

Baker, J., & Bridger, R. (1997). Schools as caring communities: A relational approach to school reform. School Psychology Review, 26(4).

Christle, C., Nelson, C.M., & Jolivette, K. (2004). School characteristics related to the use of suspension. Education and Treatment of Children, 27(4), 509-526.

Levene, K., Madsen, K., & Pepler, D. (2004). Girls growing up angry: A qualitative study. In D. Pepler, K. Madsen, C. Webster, & K. Levene (Eds.), The development and treatment of girlhood aggression (pp.169-190). Toronto, ON: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Contacts: Sibylle Artz, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700, Victoria, BC, Canada, V8W 2Y2, E-mail: sartz@uvic.ca, Phone 250-721-6472.

© copyright 2024 Outcome-Network.org all rights reserved, in partnership with FondazioneZancan | iaOBERfcs | read the legal notice.