Need more information?

Email: bmad@det.wa.edu.au

Schools and communities are increasingly concerned about a significant number of students who feel alienated from schooling and who are therefore unable to achieve their educational potential.  These concerns have increased importance when we consider the possible consequences of student alienation and under-achievement, such as substance abuse, truancy and crime.

The Retention and Participation Plan is one of five focus areas of the Students at Educational Risk strategy, which aims to significantly improve the educational outcomes for those students identified as being at educational risk through alienation.

The RAP plan specifically targets those students at educational risk through issues of alienation from Kindergarten to Year 12.

The plan incorporates prevention, early identification and intervention strategies to promote improved educational outcomes and supports the 4 Focus Areas of the Behaviour Management and Discipline (BM&D) strategy.

The State Government has committed significant funding to improve outcomes for students alienated from schooling in Western Australia.  An allocation of funds is made to each District Education Office to develop a Retention and Participation Plan that clearly demonstrates integration of services across the District to achieve measurable improvements for each of the key outcomes, over the period of the Plan. 

District Retention and Participation Plans must include:

• processes for identifying and profiling the District’s alienated student population
• prevention strategies for each phase of schooling
• intervention strategies for those students identified as alienated
• strategies to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for these students
• interagency collaboration
  

The six key focus requiring action to address the needs of students alienated from schooling are:

• Focus Area 1:    Access, Participation, Engagement and Retention
• Focus Area 2    Literacy and Numeracy
• Focus Area 3    The Learning Environment
• Focus Area 4    Community and Interagency Participation
• Focus Area 5    Planning and Decision-Making
• Focus Area 6    Career Paths
  

Further information

Further information on these focus areas is outlined in the Retention and Participation Plan booklet (1998) which is available in your school or from the student services manager at your local district education office.