Youth Transitions

Managed Individual Pathways - Case Studies

Kyabram Secondary College

Kyabram Secondary College has developed a built-for-purpose database that  many MIPs teachers around Victoria could find useful. Almost all of the forms, plans, worksheets and records that make up a MIPs folder in other schools are captured on a user-friendly database … with students entering their own data. Students can log into their MIPs plan at any time and from any school computer, and teachers can access any student’s MIPs plan and also call up aggregate reports.

Vaughan Patullock, the MIPs coordinator, had worked with a MIPs database at his previous school. When he came to Kyabram and teamed up with Ann Puckey (VET, VCAL and VASS coordinator, and MIPs teacher), Karen Sutton (careers teacher) and Phil Bowden (IT teacher), they developed a MIPs database to suit the school’s approach to pathways planning. This means that there is no paper shuffling and storage associated with the MIPs program.

From the student perspective, the MIPs database looks rather like an online survey. Across the top of the screen a row of tabs take you to the various ‘pages’ - Personal, Education, History, Interests, Work History, Work skills, Milestones, Goal planning, Barriers and Referees. Students log in using their CASES code, and cannot view any other student’s plan.

The personal details of each student are drawn down from CASES and cannot be changed by the student, which provides an incentive for students to inform the school of any change of address, phone number, etc. On all other pages (Word - 756Kb), the students select Yes/No buttons, choose from drop-down menus, and type in their own information.

Why would the students keep the information up to date and accurate? When the student selects ‘Print MIPs plan’ they receive a print out of all the information, including goal setting and agreed actions/tasks. Students are expected to carry a copy of their MIPs plan in their diaries at all times, and it is often used to underpin discussions with Form Care teachers and other staff.

And, at any time, a student can select ‘Print Resume’ and the database draws down all relevant information about work experience, demonstrated work skills and academic history, and places it in a spell-checked, perfectly formatted resume.

“The database is just a tool,” says Anne, “but it’s how it’s used that is the vital part of managing the pathway. It gives us an entryway into having a discussion with the students about what they want to do and how they can get there.”

Good Practice Approach to MIPs

 

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Process to establish the goals and aspirations of students

Kyabram Secondary College runs a Form Care program for students in year-level groups from Years 7 to 10. All students begin the pathways planning process at the age of 15. In term 4, Vaughan and Anne go into Year 9 classes for one or two periods to get students thinking about what they want to do after they leave school, and to introduce the Pathways Tool (database) as a way of working through this decision-making process. Many students are thinking about obtaining part time work at this age, and so the sessions also provide preliminary information about resumes and application processes.

The MIPs team encourages all students aged 15 and over to take advantage of the school’s work experience program before they choose their VCAL/VCE pathway.

Year 10 Form Care teachers take students to a computer lab where they begin to work with the Pathways Tool. The amount of time allocated to working through the Pathways Tool varies between Form Care teachers. Anne spent about four periods on it last year with her own Form Care group.

At Year 10 all students undertake a compulsory Careers unit for one semester. Work experience is a compulsory element of the Careers unit, through block release. This unit also trains students in the use of the Job Guide, VICTER etc., and students review and flesh out the details of their pathway plans (Word - 756Kb) at this time. These include:

  • Education – Favourite subjects, least favourite subjects, areas and strategies for improvement, barriers to improvement. The student’s description of barriers is reviewed by the MIPs team to develop a school response. For example, if lack of a computer at home is proving a barrier the school will explore ways to help.
  • Interests – Clubs and community groups to which the student belongs, sporting teams, personal qualities they believe they have.
  • History - Subjects completed at school, VCAL, VCE or VET enrolments. The database does not include the students’ grades at this time, but the team are considering including this so that the MIPs plan is more useful to new teachers and potential employers.
  • Work experience – Includes part-time work history and work experience placements.
  • Work skills – students choose from a list of options such as ‘mechanical aptitude’, ‘spoken communication’, etc. There is space for students to provide an example of when they have used or demonstrated these skills.
  • Milestones – information about sport and community achievements.
  • Goal Planning - plans for Year 11, canvassing a comprehensive list of post-compulsory options. Students indicate whether they would be interested to learn more about apprenticeships, SBAs, employment options, etc. Students also identify the career or careers they are currently considering.
  • Barriers – the factors that might prevent students from achieving their career goals, and actions or tasks to address these. This is also the page on which exit and destination information is entered.
  • Referees – students enter the contact details of three people who have agreed to act as referees

Refinements to the database are being considered, including a drop-down menu of industry areas for students who are considering an apprenticeship or employment pathway. This would assist MIPs staff to contact appropriate students when a guest speaker is arranged or industry-specific information becomes available. Another possible refinement is the addition of a stepped ‘pathways planner’, where students chart a subject selection path that will meet university, TAFE or industry selection requirements.

All students are counselled about their subject choices going into Year 11. Maths teachers make recommendations about the maths subjects they think the student will succeed at, and this tends to be about encouraging students to choose the more advanced subjects if they have the capability as many students tend to choose the soft option. A VCE/VCAL ‘round robin’ day allows students and parents to discuss the subject options. A trip to Melbourne for 3 days allows all Year 10s to visit a university campus, TAFE campus and student accommodation facilities, and to practice navigating their way around the city.

Year 11 students do not have Form Care teachers, but each student has a teacher-mentor. Karin Sutton, the careers teacher, works closely with Year 11 and 12 students on the university/TAFE pathway and VTAC selection process, and refers students considering alternative pathways to the MIPs team.

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Pathways plans to inform curriculum needs

Having all MIPs plans collected on a database allows the school to use aggregate data to inform its decision-making. Teachers can look at any student’s records and make notes (invisible to the student) of relevant conversations and interviews. The interests of a class of students could be taken into consideration when teachers are setting assignments or developing programs. Year level coordinators can, and do, refer to MIPs plans when discussing progress with students and their families, making the connection to what a student needs to achieve in order to enter the career of their choice.

The potential uses of the database to inform the MIPs and careers program, but also wider school decision-making, are enormous. MIPs and careers teachers can pull down a list of:

  • students who have indicated they would like immediate assistance or advice from MIPs staff
  • students who have an interest in securing an apprenticeship, and whether these students would do so through an SBA (of which there are currently 48 at Kyabram Secondary College)
  • students who are considering leaving school to pursue employment prior to completing Year 12
  • students’ favourite and least favourite subjects
  • students who have not reviewed their MIPs plan (i.e. logged on) since a chosen date.

Principal Lindsay Cooper has asked database designer Phil Bowden to consider whether it is possible to keep snapshots of data, so that the school can track how student career goals change from Year 10 to Year 12.

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Pathways planning through VELS

Though the impact of VELS has not yet been felt, Anne feels it will endorse the personal and relational learning that is a strong element of pathways planning, and that is so important to enabling students to meet their goals.

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Close collaboration between the VCE, VCAL and VET coordinators and the MIPs coordinator

Anne is a member of the MIPs team and also the VET and VCAL coordinator for the school. The accessibility of the MIPs plans to all staff encourages a wider engagement with both the process and the product. Anne and Vaughan feel well supported by other staff, and are part of a team-based approach to keeping the MIPs process alive and dynamic. If a student has a disciplinary meeting or subject choice meeting with their year level coordinator, they would be likely to be asked for their pathway plan and this would underpin the discussion.

 

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Close collaboration between student welfare staff, integration staff, careers coordinators and the MIPs coordinator

The MIPs team receives many referrals from the welfare team, and students identified as at risk through this process are case managed. The process of filling out the pathways plan, particularly the barriers to achieving short-term and long-term goals, often brings to light issues and students may be referred to the welfare staff by Form Care or MIPs teachers.

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Encourages parental involvement

Parents are informed about the pathways planning process and invited to discuss it with their children, but parents are not closely involved with the process of developing MIPs plans. Perhaps this is an inevitable feature of a process built around a database located on the school’s intranet. At times of subject selection, and in any disciplinary matter, the use of the MIPs plan to underpin discussions would bring it to parents’ attention.

Parent information nights, particularly the one at the end of Year 10, are comprehensive and very well attended by families. During Year 12 the school makes particular efforts to connect with parents, and to establish a partnership in which all parties can support each other.

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Process to regularly review pathways plans

Students begin their pathways planning in Year 9 and work through it comprehensively in Year 10. In Year 11 all students have an individual half-hour interview to check whether plans have changed, if the student is still on track to achieve their goals, what the student needs to do now (e.g. research, Open Days, additional tutoring to improve results, etc.), and what kind of support the school can provide.

This year the school has trialled the use of an external employment agency to undertake these interviews, as a way of connecting students to paid and voluntary employment opportunities that will assist them in their chosen pathway. This has not been entirely successful as the interview time has mostly been taken up with updating the information on the database, and students are confused about why they would be having this conversation with a stranger rather than the MIPs staff with whom they have a relationship. Anne and Vaughan are considering other processes to review pathways plans early in Year 11.

Towards the end of Year 11 and during Year 12, Karin works closely with students on their post-school plans and uses the MIPs plan to underpin this process.

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Process for the identification, support and monitoring of students at risk of early school leaving

Students at risk of early school leaving are referred to the MIPs team by year level coordinators, welfare staff, assistant principals, teachers and sometimes parents. Referrals might emerge from discipline and welfare processes, and reviews of academic progress. The MIPs planning process, of course, brings to light each student’s plans beyond Year 10.

Prior to the development of the database the school used MIPs funding to support an advocacy program, in which 10 staff with the skills and personality would case manage individual students. Anne believes this approach was an outstanding success, but it could only provide support for about 50 at risk students.

While the MIPs planning process is universal, a different process has been introduced to support students at risk of early school leaving. These students are case managed by Anne, who is passionate about building one-on-one relationships with them. Her approach is built around the advocacy/mentor guidelines that were previously used in the MIPs program. “It is really all about caring for the kids – that’s the underlying strategy. And it’s the little things that matter. Building them up, giving them hope, giving them encouragement to finish assignments and hand them in on time - just helping them learn how to play the game.”

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Supporting early school leavers for six months

All school leavers, including Year 12 completers, are followed up during the following year. At the graduation ball, all Year 12s fill in a form with their holiday addresses and contact details. The school makes contact with all students in February, and again later in the year.

Many of the early school leavers stay in the local area, and Anne tends to hear what they are doing through her connections with the local community. When students appear to have disengaged from education and employment, she will try to make contact to offer help.

Vaughan follows up all Year 12 completers in August, to capture those whose transition difficulties arise after six months or so along their chosen pathway. Any student who has doubts or problems is invited back in for further support. “They are never abandoned when they have been a student at Kyabram Secondary College,” says Vaughan.

“I’m still working with kids from this school who are 21 and 22, generally after hours. We say to them when they leave, ‘Good luck but we’re always here if you need help’,” says Anne.

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Provides students with a copy of their MIPs plan when they leave school or change schools

One of the strengths of the database approach is that students ‘own’ the information in their MIPs plan. They enter it, they keep it up to date, they can easily use it to print off resumes, and they can print out an up-to-date copy of their MIPs plan at any time.

When a student leaves school they are presented with a student achievement folder. It contains copies of their school reports, awards, recognition certificates, MIPs plan and resume. They are also provided with a floppy disk containing their resume and some sample job application letters.

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Recognising that retention and engagement issues begin prior to Year 10

Electronic MIPs plans are currently developed by Year 8 and 9 students who have been identified as at risk of early school-leaving, and these students are case-managed through the process. The short and long-term goal-setting helps students take a planned approach to their school-work. They might be linked up with an ‘Old Mate’ (a senior citizen from the local community), provided with extra literacy or numeracy support, or enrolled in a reward system related to their personal interests. The school is now exploring the possibility of expanding the MIPs planning process into the earlier years of secondary schooling.

 

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How did you get here – tips for success?

  • A vision shared. Principal Lindsay Cooper and Vaughan both believed that, with the hard work and skills of the team, it was possible to develop a fully integrated and efficient MIPs program (PDF - 85Kb) that met the needs of the students.
  • The development of the built-for-purpose database. Kyabram Secondary College is happy to share the database, and although it was designed to work with Kyabram’s IT systems, Phil Bowden – “a database wunderkind” according to Vaughan - is working on a version that can be used by other schools. It is currently proposed that schools might pay a one-off cost to get it up and running with their systems, but that thereafter it would be free of any ongoing licencing fee. For further details, contact Phil at philbowden@myrealbox.com.
  • “Keeping the focus on individual student needs, and on building relationships with individual students,” says Anne.
  • Anne works closely with local employers, drops into see them and maintains a strong relationship. This results in better work experience and employment opportunities for the school’s students.

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What next – where to with your MIPs program over the next two years?

  • Incorporation of the MIPs charter into the school’s charter, to reflect the integration of the MIPs (now called the “Ky Active Pathways”) program into all aspects of the school.
  • Incorporation of MIPs goals into the Professional Development Plans of welfare staff, and then all staff. Ensure that an introduction to the MIPs program is part of the induction of all new teachers.
  • Keep working on how best to prepare Form Care teachers for their role, providing them with good resources, making sure they allocate sufficient time to developing MIPs plans.
  • Addition of digital portfolio items into the database.
  • Greater information provision to families.
  • Review the process for updating MIPs plans at the beginning of Year 11.