Ensuring more high school students with complex needs continue their studies is the focus of a $48 million investment to be rolled out from next year – delivering a major reform to high schools across South Australia.

Tailored Learning will support secondary students from Year 8 up to the age of 21 who have disengaged from school due to significant personal barriers including mental health concerns, unstable accommodation, family difficulties, addiction, pregnancy and parenting.

The statewide delivery of Tailored Learning follows successful trials in 12 public high schools which have seen vulnerable students receive additional in-school support to help them overcome adversity and reengage with their education.

The investment builds on an earlier iteration of support for students called Flexible Learning Options (FLO) which has operated in South Australia since 2007.

A 2020 review of suspensions, exclusions and expulsions in South Australian Government Schools recommended the decommissioning of FLO, finding that, in many cases, it appeared to compound student disengagement and segregation.

Currently, there are 4,360 students that access the FLO program at 85 schools.

More than 40 schools do not run the program so the new approach will ensure students will be able to access it at all schools with secondary enrolments, ensuring consistency across the public education system.

The redesigned model gives schools greater oversight of the programs offered, puts more individualised supports in place for each student based on their needs and challenges, and encourages supports to be delivered within the school setting rather than off-site and away from their peers.

At the centre of the initiative is a tool to help schools identify a student’s personal barriers and measure their engagement with learning. It then helps determine the most appropriate support for the student.

The resulting learning plan, developed in consultation with the student based on their specific needs, skills and interests, will be delivered through:

• Part-time or full-time school study
• Vocational courses
• Online learning
• Work placement
• Volunteering
• Individual wellbeing and social programs.

The $48.3 million over three years will fund additional staff, support for students and ensure follow-up monitoring of student engagement and progress.

During the trial this year, the 12 sample schools reported improvements in attendance as a direct result of the extra youth workers and supports provided, and resulted in stronger engagement with the students and their families.

Parafield Gardens High School Principal Kirsty Amos said the good thing about the provision is it strengthens connections between the school and the young person in a way that has not previously been possible.

“We are aware that mainstream education structures and settings are not for everyone”.

“This initiative offers us the flexibility that we are looking for to be able to meet the complex needs of young people and provide more opportunities to develop the skills and dispositions that they need to be successful when they leave their formal education”.

“Tailored Learning allows the school to employ more site-based staff that are highly trained to provide supports and to ensure that a young person’s needs are better met”.

Recent examples include the return of 2 students who had not attended school for 2 years who are now on track to complete their SACE, an individual student’s attendance rising from 10 percent to 60 percent, and a student who had never passed a subject, now receiving a minimum C-grade in all of their enrolled subjects.

Learn more about Tailored Learning here.