Call for social educators in schools

Schools need to become more involved in young people's developmental needs in order give them the best chance in life, AUT academics say.

There has been an increasing number of disengaged and disenfranchised young people from high school over the past decade – but it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Although the learning that happens in schools is critical and should remain so, young people thrive when schools also offer social, emotional and well-being support,” Senior Lecturer Judy Bruce says.

"Viewing disenfranchised  young people as troublemakers to exclude or putting them in the too-hard-basket ignores their human right to education and is a failure in our duty of care.”

But a lot of secondary schools are currently not equipped to meet these young people’s needs, so they often stop attending altogether.

“This might be because they are being bullied and don’t feel safe, or they don't connect in the classroom with their teachers, or because their development and learning needs are not being catered to.”

Associate Professor Adrian Schoone  says that one way to support a shift in achievement, attendance and engagement at New Zealand schools is to invest in a new workforce of social educators.

Social educators are known overseas as “social pedagogues” and are a bit like youth workers in schools, performing a different function to teacher aides and counsellors.

They are highly trained and skilled practitioners who work at the intersection of care and education.

“Young people really love just working with somebody who is very relational and able to journey with them and provide support for them at school.”

The call for social educators in schools was one of the key recommendations in a white paper released in March by the Youth Development and Education Network Aotearoa, called Re-engaging young people in learning: “Just don’t give up on us”.

Dr Bruce and Dr Schoone were two of the authors and say the report presents the evidence that schools should become involved more in the developmental needs of our young people, as well as being places of education.

“If we follow the recommendations in this report then we can shift achievement, attendance and engagement at New Zealand schools and the trajectory of the lives of many of our young people, with huge benefits for the country as they embark into adult life,” Dr Bruce says.

Disengagement from school has a high cost to society, economically and socially, she says, including what is known as the school-to-prison pipeline, where young people who are not attending school are more likely to commit crimes and become incarcerated later in life.

It is also important that schools respond to the cultural needs of young people, so that they are seen and known for who they are.