Noel had been employed at his ACE for about eight years. He had been attending the ACE to complete his own senior years study as a mature age student and an opportunity arose to participate in an employment program there. He was accepted and first employed in an IT position, teaching himself the skills the position required as he worked. One thing led to another and he started to work in youth programs, they saw that I was quite capable of doing that. Noel described his progression from teaching in youth programs generally to a specific focus on teaching youth who were at risk of disengagement from education. He explains
… and I just went in further and started to teach VCAL and progress into becoming a coordinator.
Noel said his education wasn’t too bad and that he attended private schools. However, Noel had concerns about his lack of a formal qualification. He explains he
… left school at year 10 and I guess that sort of taught me how these kids think a lot, because I didn’t cope very well with school, I was more into sports and so I guess being a creative thinker I am able to find different ways to meet their needs. Most of the kids here drop out of school so their needs are very much like myself and they don’t like sitting in a classroom too much and I don’t like sitting in the classroom, so I think I am able to find creative ways to meet [their needs].
… the flip side of the coin I guess is … that I feel like I’m not as prepared as other people that have been through the school sector to come in and teach I have sort of always felt going to professional development opportunities a little bit umm … undereducated so to speak.
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While Noel may not have been a trained teacher he had a range of life
experience and life skills that he believed were valuable for his teaching in this context. He explained
… I have done my certificate IV in workplace training and assessment. I guess … I was hired on some of my life skills or life opportunities I have had. So most of that would be being a single parent, raised my own two children for about 12 years or so by myself …I worked with a [group] helping to run the youth program … my work before coming here … I’ve done things like garbage collector, I’ve been a concreter, a lot of my work as a single parent was farm work. I did painting as well … all sorts of things.
Noel felt really comfortable teaching in the VCAL space
… it has been a succession of events which has led me into it but it really suits the type of person I am and I really find that because of my own school experience that’s where I really excel with VCAL … … I just enjoy what I am doing, I enjoy working with the kids.
When I asked Noel about useful preparation for teaching VCAL he highlighted the needs of educators in his setting vary from year to year depending on the characteristics of the current cohort.
… It is difficult [to know what you need] because you have each year a different lot of kids and there are different problems, things arise so there are so many skills you need.
The reason for this is that the young people in his VCAL cohort are high risk which includes a range of potential behaviours
… there is drug problems, there is home problems, there is motivational issues … I guess we really need to know about counselling, I mean the amount of hats you gotta wear, you need to be aware of how to deal with anger management issues … alcohol abuse, there is risk of suicide … and each year is different.
Noel referred to the way VCAL might be perceived in other provider settings …VCAL possibly does have a bad reputation. I guess talking to a lot of schools they tend to think that the dummies go through VCAL and smart kids go through VCE, but that is not the way it is. We just find that VCAL is better because it is hands on applied learning approach and it’s aimed at getting kids into work rather than further study.
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During my interview with Noel, he provided many examples of instances where students struggled with their study. As a result I asked “do you have kids in your VCAL cohort that could academically choose any stream they wanted to”? Noel replied
… yeah very much, we have had kids that have had really bad home lives or they have had deaths in the family or something like that so they’ve fallen through the cracks at school. We’ve got one good example he’s gone to Canberra, he’s an IT [Information Technology] technician with the institute of sport … so yes we do have a lot of kids that can go anywhere, they’ve just had that little hiccup in their lives and we are able to pick them and get them back on track.
The ACE provider setting at which Noel worked had been delivering VCAL since its introduction. Noel highlighted for long term providers of VCAL the content of VCAL professional development opportunities were becoming repetitive
… and we’ve been in there [VCAL] from the start so there are plenty of VCAL opportunities but we are finding that it is really repetitive. However, he highlighted the value of networking with VCAL colleagues at professional development events to share ideas and debrief with like-minded people about the challenges they face as educators who work in VCAL. Noel explains
… but I still find it really beneficial, mostly to get and see new programs that people are actually doing and just hearing that other people have the same sort of issues that you do and you know bounce off each other a bit and blow off steam and that sort of stuff.
Noel and his colleagues worked with a cohort who had a concentration of challenging behaviours and were regarded as high risk. He particularly felt the pressure of the ongoing responsibility of ensuring duty of care. Noel spoke of the importance of respecting the boundaries of his qualification
… when you are actually dealing with kids that have got numerous issues and you have limited training then you have to be very careful that you don’t tread on or overstep your training and then deal with issues that you shouldn’t be dealing with… so that is a huge issue and I guess another issue is that we have to document everything that we deal with and that is just impossible.
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In his discussion of some of the key challenges he faces in his daily practice Noel described how conscious he needs to be in his classrooms of the power and control that technology can give students.
… one of the biggest issues in the classrooms with technology is the kids and their mobile phones and capabilities of their mobile phones. I’ve had an issue where I’ve had one kid line up the camera to film me while another kids tries to bait you and get some sort of reaction. I’ve had several kids [who] have been bullied through mobile phone use and spreading of pictures and things … that affects us as well so we have to be aware of even phones under the table and things like that.
Noel felt that dealing with young people who have very complex lives impacted on both his practice and his ability to distance himself from his work.
… it impacts on… well not only practice but … I have a lot of trouble actually separating my work and home life. It is really difficult to leave what you are dealing with [at work] at the door and not worry or think about it when you get home. That is one of the things that I really struggle with in this job.
As a result Noel suggests additional support would be beneficial to develop skills in order to work with young people who undertake the VCAL program and better manage his own wellbeing. He explains
… look, one of things I find is a real short fall would be being able to manage the stress that is associated with them and there is really high turnover of staff in this field … so I guess being able to manage the baggage that comes with it … the wellbeing of staff and self, dealing with all those issues that you deal with that is my number one thing that comes up all the time.