Program: The Bright Side: four-day school week, Red Centre lights, and teen parents

Alice Springs local: I feel like in the news they kind of just, they put more spotlight on the bad things that happen in Alice and they don't show like the good things that's actually happening.

Sabra Lane: Hi I'm Sabra Lane and this is The Bright Side, a podcast exploring the news you might not hear about every day. How Australians from all walks of life are trying to fix problems and you might find that inspiring, encouraging and well, confirmation that not everything in the world is bad. In this episode...

Emrhan Tjapanangka Sultan: Yeah, there's lots going on but we can't deny the beauty.

Timothy Fernandez: She told me it's just been a game changer.

Sabra Lane: You're clearly very passionate about this.

Amanda McInnes: Oh absolutely, it's the most incredible job and there are times where I just say I just can't believe that I get paid to do this.

Sabra Lane: The four day working week, it's a glittering prospect for full time workers and something that's actually happening at quite a few Australian businesses after a successful world trial. But what about kids and full time schooling? Chevalier College in the Southern Highlands in New South Wales recently made news with headlines claiming that it was moving to a four day school week. Yippee! I could almost hear kids saying around the country. Some news organisations quoted parents who were outraged by the plan but it turns out there's more to the story and the headline was, well, maybe a little misleading. Tim Fernandez from ABC Illawarra has been covering this topic and he checked in with the school after its first term of flexible learning. Tim, thanks for coming onto The Bright Side.

Timothy Fernandez: Glad to be here Sabra.

Sabra Lane: Tim, let's start with some myth busting, shall we? Is Chevalier College running a four day school week or is it something else?

Timothy Fernandez: Yeah, it's not quite a four day school week. What they're doing is a new approach to how they're delivering their schooling to their students and they're calling it a future facing model. But essentially what it is, is one day a week, in this case it's a Monday, students will be allowed to learn from home, so learn remotely. Now this is available only to students in year 10 to 12, so senior students and they have to get a credential and opt into this program, so it's not for all students. Now the school says it's a deliberate choice that they decided to adopt this model and allow students this flexibility and they did this because they want to set kids up for life after school. So I spoke to Assistant Principal of Chevalier College, Rebecca Graham, who told me a little bit about why the school has made this choice to adopt this new model.

Rebecca Graham: Schools like ours often have quite a big dropout rate once kids get to university because they have been spoon fed, using that old terminology, and they haven't had to be self directed and understand that it's up to me, no one's going to be looking over my shoulder to make sure that I get this done. And so kids are finding part of that a challenge.

Sabra Lane: So Tim, who's gaining the most from this program?

Timothy Fernandez: So I think the students, parents and teachers are all getting something out of this. Students have told me that basically it's been a real positive change to their schooling. They're spending less time travelling to school. Chevalier College is a school that has a large catchment, they're drawing children in from the New South Wales Central Tablelands as well as the Southern Highlands, so it's a very large area. And students are spending up to an hour and a half a day travelling each way to school. So that one day of extra time up their sleeve to do a bit of study and to do a bit of, yeah, catch up on some of their work that they haven't had a chance to do is really beneficial for them. And for the teachers, they're spending that Monday planning lessons and just catching up on all that work and marking that they just haven't had a chance to do during the week. And as we know, teachers are under a huge amount of pressure in the school system. So having that extra time up their sleeve is really beneficial for them too. I actually visited a student of Chevalier College, Sheridan, who was one of those students who was travelling an hour and a half each way. There was one bus that took an hour and a half to get to campus and she told me that basically it's just been a game changer having that extra time to just do her work and also just reducing her stress levels as well. As we know, she's in year 12 and the HSC is a very stressful time for all students. Here's a little bit of what she had to say.

Sheridan Connelly: The Monday, you still get allocated work that you have to do. There's still set work, but I think it's just a different way in which you can learn to be an independent learner. You can go at your own pace. You can learn resilience to say if there's a problem you don't know or a concept you don't understand, you can build on that.

Sabra Lane: There's an interesting perspective from Laura Connolly, Sheridan's mum, that this is actually better preparing her for the real world.

Laura Connelly: We've had a very good experience and Sheridan has actually really blossomed in a way. Isn't it great to have kids leaving school that can already hit the ground running, so to speak, and can actually embrace hybrid working or hybrid studying?

Timothy Fernandez: In terms of the backlash, and that was what made headlines last year, was that parents were concerned that it was impacting the quality of the education that students were receiving, that their children were receiving. The school actually lost four families because of them bringing in this future-facing model. I've been told that since then, one of those families has actually come back when they realised that the students' quality of education wasn't deteriorating, and in fact, they were actually learning new skills to set them up for life after school.

Sabra Lane: So, academically, there's been no change in results, but students are feeling better about what they're doing?

Timothy Fernandez: Yeah, absolutely. Students are really having a positive experience of this Flexible Monday. They say that it's really improving their work-life balance, being able to juggle all the extracurricular activities, but also just being able to get on top of their work. And especially those students that are travelling from a fair distance away, it's been a real positive thing.

Sabra Lane: Tim, this is Chevalier College's program. Are the schools copying this? Is it something that can be applied elsewhere?

Timothy Fernandez: So, Chevalier College has tailored this particular program to its own set of circumstances and its own students. They said that other schools should look at flexible learning arrangements, but it's not a one-size-fits-all model. Chevalier College is very committed to flexible learning. They say that the amount of time spent in classroom doesn't necessarily lead to better outcomes for students and better student success. And I've spoken to some experts and they've said lots of schools are doing various types of flexible learning, but no one's collecting the data. No one has a big picture of what's happening in education.

Sabra Lane: That's the point worth making when you're reporting is that it's really hard to compare this with other schools. Other schools have got different ways of learning as well, but there's no one collecting data on what the schools are individually doing and comparing it with one another.

Timothy Fernandez: So the school is actually carrying out a research project, partnering with the University of Melbourne just to assess the success of the model. Part of that trial is regular surveys with students and parents just to get a sense of their levels of satisfaction. I've been told that these surveys have been really positive so far. So at the end of the school year, the school will assess whether they believe it's been a successful trial and if it is, they will make the model permanent.

Sabra Lane: Tim, while I've got you here, I loved your recent story from Goulburn about the community-owned solar project. What's the latest with that program?

Timothy Fernandez: Yeah, that was a really sweet little project out in Goulburn, the community coming together to build their own solar farm. Unfortunately, there have been some delays to the project. They're still waiting on a building certificate to be approved by the local council to finalise getting the panels in the ground, essentially. So when I was out there last year, they had started construction and they'd put a timeline on the project to get the solar panels generating power by the end of the year. Unfortunately, now it's been three months, four months later and they're still waiting on that building certificate, but they're still optimistic that by around the middle of the year, they can get that project off the ground.

Sabra Lane: Thanks for the update, Tim. And we'll check in at the end of this year for an update on Chevalier College's hybrid working scheme and whether that's actually had an effect on the academic results of the students.

Timothy Fernandez: Looking forward to it, Sabra.

Sabra Lane: Thanks Tim. That's Tim Fernandez, a reporter at ABC Illawarra in New South Wales. You can find more on his report in the show notes, including details about the trial so far.

Now, speaking of digging in behind the headlines, Alice Springs has received a lot of coverage recently for the violence, crime and curfew happening in the small red centre town. But locals say that's been a pretty one-dimensional take of their city. They say it's a beautiful part of the country with plenty to be proud of. Elsa Silberstein reports.

Elsa Silberstein: It's a sunny day, an hour out of Alice Springs. Locals frolic in the waterfalls of John Hayes Rockhole, recently filled from heavy rain. It's a stark contrast to the police sirens echoing around town a few weeks ago as a state of emergency was declared on the 27th of March following an outbreak of violence in the CBD. But the people of Alice Springs don't want to be defined by those national headlines. Because, apart from the overflowing waterholes, there's more to Alice Springs than its criminal record.

Reggie Smith: It's always been Alice Springs, everything negative that's always highlighted here, there's never too much of the good stuff. There's plenty of that around town as well, you know.

Elsa Silberstein: At the dog park next to a primary school in the suburbs, Reggie Smith is clipping the back and sides of a young Indigenous boy. Reggie's a barber with King's Narrative, a locally run free support service for Aboriginal men.

Reggie Smith
Lots of little families and kids and people come and get haircuts and hang out and play some games.

Elsa Silberstein: Reggie says there's a lot to celebrate about this place.

Reggie Smith: I know, I love it, it's home, you know.

Elsa Silberstein: And he's been up close to the toughest parts of Alice Springs.

Reggie Smith: I grew up in a town camp, you know, so I've seen everything from poverty to domestic violence to alcohol, drug abuse, you know.

Elsa Silberstein: Reggie feels protective of the young Indigenous boys he gives haircuts to, vilified by some. In a town famous for its crimes.

Reggie Smith: It is sad because you see some of these kids get ridiculed and looked down and looked differently for other kids doing the wrong things, you know, so it's all painted on under the same brush.

Elsa Silberstein: As night falls, the town's famous red rocky MacDonnell Rangesare lit up, glimmering with animated art from Central Australia. You can see it clearly from the middle of Parrtjima. It's an Aboriginal festival of light installations, music and speeches.

Jake Turner: I just love coming out as an Indigenous person. Being here is really important for us. I'm also here for my grandmother's display as well. What she's done and achieved over the years and pretty much paved the way for half of the grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren and I'm amazed to be out here and be part of that as well.

Alice Springs local: The light will come out, it's a nice way for kids to come out.

Alice Springs local: Yeah, all the kids will be enjoying themselves.

Alice Springs local: I feel like in the news they kind of just, they put more spotlight on the bad things that happen in Alice and they don't show like the good things that's actually happening, like Parrtjima. And you see like all these, like the beautiful culture in this town, so yeah.

Alice Springs local: My favourite thing would be the like coming back and seeing the hills. It's like a happy feeling.

Elsa Silberstein: Emrhan Sultan's one of the artists here. He feels the privilege of being part of an ancient culture that's celebrated tonight.

Emrhan Tjapanangka Sultan: So I learnt from a very young age, watching my grandmother, my mum paint and while we were sitting down, you know, watching them paint, all us kids were told, you know, stories of the artwork, of the painting and how significant it was for our family. The honeyed, for example, and where it come from and you know, that's how it connects us to that part of the country.

Elsa Silberstein: What comes to mind for you given we've just had a couple of weeks of national news about crime and violence and now we're here?

Emrhan Tjapanangka Sultan: Look, I grew up here and you know, I love the town. Yeah, there's lots going on, but we can't deny the beauty of the place. I mean, standing here and looking out at the sun, going down behind the ranges, you've got the different colours. It's a beauty.

Sabra Lane: And that story, I think, illustrates how there are stories of progress and hope and happiness happening in our neighbourhoods. And that's also happening in Alice Springs too, despite what you might have heard.

Teen pregnancy historically has been the kind of issue we've hushed up about. We've kept it out of sight or we've avoided talking about it. But let's get it out into the open. At the Young Parents College in Newcastle, New South Wales, you'll find mums and dads who've never finished school working towards their high school certificate. And they're doing that all while raising young families and even bringing them to the onsite daycare. We like to think of Australia as the place where everyone gets a fair go and the same opportunities in life. And that's exactly what this program is all about.

Tara Martin: I remember praying to God and saying, look, I want something to change and I need to do something to change my situation. And I did.

Sabra Lane: Amanda McInnes is the program's director. And at the moment, Amanda, your whole life pretty much revolves around young parents and children.

Amanda McInnes: It does. It does. So I've just become a grandmother this year for the first time. My gorgeous little grandson, Finn, was born in April. And I'm totally obsessed with him. I can't believe how much love you can have in your heart when a little grandbaby comes along.

Sabra Lane: And also, I mean, your heart would also swell sometimes, I would imagine, with the kids that you help out.

Amanda McInnes: Oh, absolutely. It's the most incredible job. There are times where I just say, I just can't believe that I get paid to do this. We just have incredible success stories and have seen so many lives changed over a number of years. It's just the best place to be.

Sabra Lane: So many people would think that, oh, teenage pregnancies, doom and gloom. But, Amanda, you know, education is... Tell me about it.

Amanda McInnes: Well, education, I mean, I'm an educator. So obviously, I'm going to speak into the fact that education is life-changing. And it's what breaks cycles and it's what turns people's lives around. But often when people have had disrupted education, they lose that sense of academic confidence or confidence in themselves to be able to achieve anything more than a base level or even anything at all sometimes. So part of what we do in the Young Parents College is help people to re-engage with education, but also to understand and believe in themselves again, believe that they've got the capacity to be more and to do more and to do what they want to do. And essentially in doing that, they're often breaking cycles of generational poor educational outcomes as well as many other cycles.

Sabra Lane: How many programs are there, I guess, like the country like yours? And tell us about the need in the Hunter region.

Amanda McInnes: Yeah, yeah. So there are a few programs around. There are a number of them. I think there are about seven in Australia and we're all connected. And it's so important to work collaboratively in that space because the needs are similar. Geographically, we're just in different spaces. So the need in the Hunter is quite significant. They're in our two major hospitals in the area. There were 146 births to teen parents over the last 12 months. So that's significant. But we've also got a campus in the central coast of our school and the central coast has just been named as the sixth highest rate of teen pregnancy in Australia. So that's come out in the most recent ABS statistics. So there's significant need there as well.

Sabra Lane: Some of the students say people are really judgmental about their circumstances and some have told them all you're going to be is a mother. Someone like Tara, for example.

Tara Martin: Just because you have kids, just because you become a mum at a young age or anything like that, there's, you know, there is potential, like you have potential.

Sabra Lane: When I was growing up in the 80s, it was very taboo, single mums, single young mums. What I was going to say, what would your message be to someone listening to this about cutting some slack?

Amanda McInnes: Treat people with respect, firstly. Be kind. And I guess that message that we don't know what people's story is. Many of these young people have had significant life experience before they've fallen pregnant and many of those experiences have been really negative through no fault of their own. You know, I have come across over the years working in this space, have come across a number of young people who have been abused, a number of young people who have experienced family and domestic violence. And many of our young parents, the majority of our young parents have experienced some form of trauma throughout their childhood. And the impact of that is something that we, I guess we're having, we're understanding that better now than we have done in the past. But, and we're learning to manage and work with that. And, but I guess just, just be kind to people. And, you know, these, these young people are amazing. As I said before, they're incredibly resilient. They're actually wanting to do the best for them and their child. And now what, what more could you ask of somebody than wanting, they're wanting to turn their lives around. They're wanting to make a better life for their child. That is an incredibly inspirational thing.

Sabra Lane: What success rate do you have in students who start school there? And what did these kids do before your school was doing this stuff?

Amanda McInnes: That's a really good question because many of our students were actually outside of school before they fell pregnant. So lots of them have had pretty tough home lives. We've got a lot who have been in out of home care. Lots who have, you know, we've got kids who have left home at 12 and 13, 14 years old. Kids who have been couch surfing, kids who have been expelled from school. So there's been a lot going on in their lives and through circumstances that are no fault of their own, they found themselves in a place that's been really difficult. And often pregnancy follows that. So it's generally not the first thing that, the first difficult circumstance that happens to them. But what we do find is that when they fall pregnant, for many of them, it's a catalyst for change. And so many of our young people say that they wouldn't have planned this. People have judged them for it, but falling pregnant's actually saved their lives because it's changed the trajectory of their life. They were living, you know, many of them are saying that they're living a life that's pretty destructive and making poor choices. And then pregnancy has actually turned that around. It's given them a reason to actually believe in themselves and believe that they need to do, need to make some different choices. And they do that. And the success rate is incredibly high.

Sabra Lane: You are clearly very passionate about this. And I would imagine too, that for many students when they finish, that's not the last you hear from them. I think Jess said that she almost wanted to fail on purpose.

Jess Gillespie: They become like your family. Like, sometimes I think about purposely failing so I don't have to leave. It's just so sad. I'll just miss them all so much. Like, they all become like family. Like your mum. They're all like mother figures in your life, maternal figures, and they all speak life into you and encourage you and you feel a sense of belonging, a place where you belong.

Amanda McInnes: She said that. Yeah, she said that to us. And kept saying it so that she could stay. So, incredibly capable young woman who'll be a vet one day. But yeah, I just thought, yeah, I'll just keep failing so I can stay.

Sabra Lane: What did some of them go on to do? Have some of them really surprised you?

Amanda McInnes: Most of us as kids have a dream of what we want to do. And a lot of the time that's disrupted. It might be unrealistic or, you know, it might change. For many of these young people, it's been disrupted by their life circumstances more than anything. So, just seeing, I guess that sounds so corny, but just seeing that re-ignition of the dream of what they want to do is incredible. Just had connection with one of our young ladies who's an engineer. And she was very bright, very talented in that mathematics space. And that's what she wanted to do. But had just faced so much discrimination in her life for a variety of reasons. But just had this incredible capacity to just say, I don't care what anybody says, I'm going to do this. And she's now working locally as an engineer. It's incredible. Many of our young people are the first people in their families to finish school. Many of them are the first to go to university or further education. And many of them are the first in their families for a long time to actually be in employment. So, like, why wouldn't you want to be a part of that? It's just such an incredible thing.

Sabra Lane: Amanda, thank you. You're clearly passionate about what you do.

Amanda McInnes: Yeah, thank you. It's wonderful.

Sabra Lane: That's Amanda McInnes from the Young Parents College in Newcastle. And we'll put that down on our follow up list to get in touch with some of the parents who graduate to find out how they're going post-HSC. In the meantime, if you're interested to hear more on that story, it's being covered in-depth on the ABC podcast, NewcastleCast with LauriseDickson. And if you live in Newcastle, you might want to give that podcast a crack and favourite it on our ABC listen app.

Sabra Lane: Now this podcast's sister production is The BrightSide newsletter. It also highlights solutions focused stories. It's published every fortnight with a dozen or more reports from all around Australia. If you'd like that to drop into your inbox every two weeks, check out the show notes for more information on how you can subscribe. You can get in touch with me at any time at TheBrightSide@your.abc.net.au. And if you've got a story you'd like to share, or even just tell me about the kinds of stories you'd like to hear about, drop me a line and I'll give you extra brownie points if you send me a voice memo. We can include that as part of a future episode. And make sure to follow us on ABC listen for new episodes each week. Until then, thanks for listening to The BrightSide.