Working with young people to support them to be effective contributors
When a young person is an effective contributor they have a ‘can do’ attitude; they cope with new situations and have confidence in their own abilities; they can think through and solve problems; they can express themselves in different ways and in different settings; they can work with others but have the confidence to take the lead.
Working with young people to support them to be effective contributors
We run an After School Club which is for children aged between 5 and 11 who are experiencing difficulties socially, emotionally or behaviourally. It operates one afternoon a week, usually for a series of 5 to 8 weeks. Children are able to repeat the experience a number of times if it is felt to be necessary. The children are able to choose from a wide range of activities and are encouraged and guided in their play by adult facilitators who support the children to try new experiences and play co-operatively. The children are also encouraged to learn problem-solving skills and resolve any tensions that may arise for them with other group members.
Working with young people to support them to be effective contributors
To enable young people to communicate effectively it is important to develop the positive relationships which they have and also work to improve how other key adults understand and interact with them. It is not so much about fixing the child but about changing how adults communicate and respond to young people so that they can interact with them more effectively and build positive relationships. We don’t focus on the problems which young people and families are experiencing, instead we think about where they would like to be. We will review things regularly and reinforce positive change. We make sure that parents/carers understand the importance of small changes and how these lead to bigger change. We will discuss what might have helped in bringing about change and also explain the importance recognising change through positive praise.
Working with young people to support them to be effective contributors
It helps to recognise that disruptive and challenging behaviour is often the product of very distressing experiences at home and in the community. For us, shouting at young people can only lead to greater difficulty in terms of attempting to engage them in learning. If you praise a young person and they recognise that you value them then they are far more likely to be receptive and willing to contribute positively.
Working with young people to support them to be effective contributors
Having regular group discussion with pupils is a useful exercise to enable them to contribute and communicate their ideas more effectively. We recently had an incident where one pupil destroyed a computer monitor during a session. We highlighted this as serious and suggested that it would be useful to discuss it at the next group session. Through discussion the group realised that the monitor would have to be replaced and they began discussing how they could raise funds to cover the cost of replacing the monitor so that money would not have to come out of their project funds. Giving pupils the opportunity to work together to find their own solution can help them to develop into more effective contributors. In this case, it allowed the pupils to take responsibility as a group and also meant that the boy who destroyed the monitor could continue in the group as he agreed with the plan to raise funds and was willing to involve himself in this.
Working with young people to support them to be effective contributors
We treat each and every young person with respect, warmth, encouragement, friendship and care. It is in no small way a direct result of this ethos that the young people in the group are enabled to participate more effectively. At the start of each session we engage in “family time”. This is a time for all the young people and staff to chat about their lives: what has happened at school, who has new nieces and nephews, who has had something interesting happen to them. This is always done sitting round a table eating food together. The Programme puts young people into situations which are personally challenging. By working through their apprehensions and fears the young people are able to reflect on their achievements in a highly positive way. They can look back at what they had achieved individually, recognising the positives of group support, acknowledging the importance of encouraging others which in turn leads to a feeling of increased resilience. Participants commented on aspects of the programme “I didn’t think I was capable of doing that, but I proved that I could!”
Working with young people to support them to be effective contributors
A lot of the pupils start the xl programme with the attitude “This is rubbish, I can’t do it”. In a lot of ways this reflects their attitude and experience of education generally. We try to tackle this attitude by engaging them in something they are good at and they like doing. The work is very intensive and requires consistently reviewing and reinforcing small improvements and developments they make. We will regularly review previous course work which demonstrates how far they have come and we also give pupils our impressions of developments they are making. They often surprise us with the developments they make. We see previously disruptive pupils participating in group work and also pupils taking the lead who would not say a word when they initially started with us.
