A chronological history of the school
- Authors: Reeves, Mark , Dyson, Michael , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 2 p. 7-25
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- Description: This chapter introduces the Alpine School and its original purpose and goals before leading into the story of the historical development of the current School for Student Leadership (SSL). It outlines the extensive political background behind the creation of this unique Victorian school and the search for an appropriate principal. The development of the school from a single campus to the current three campuses is detailed, with photos of each included to illustrate the diverse environmental contexts that are represented. Also presented is an outline of some of the major differences in the curriculum and overall experience that students receive through a term spent at the SSL, compared to that offered via traditional mainstream education. The different learning opportunities resulting from a program that focuses on providing a rite of passage for adolescents and includes experiential learning, reflection and a Community Learning Project are discussed, illustrating the contemporary approach used at the school to meet the cognitive, physical, social and emotional needs of the attending Year 9 students.
A narrative account of the research journey
- Authors: Dyson, Michael , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 3 p. 27-42
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- Description: This narrative chapter unravels the story of the research journey undertaken over the last 16 years as part of a partnership between the Alpine School/School for Student Leadership and staff from Monash University’s Gippsland campus, which later became part of Federation University, Australia. It has been written in a narrative style to provide a conceptual context for discussing some of the major research insights from this partnership, including the significance of a ‘Landscape of Transformation’ as an overarching framework that has emerged from this longitudinal study. An outline of the research directions, and the associated teams who have been involved, is clarified. Also presented is a full listing of publications and reports associated with the research, with a focus on some of the key findings which are covered in more detail in later chapters.
Choice theory, relationships and community
- Authors: Dyson, Michael , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 4 p. 43-67
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- Description: The themes of ‘relationships’, and ‘community’, amongst others, have been constantly framed and reframed in the research conducted at the three campuses of the School for Student Leadership (SSL), and in the SSL China project, over the past 16 years. The student participants involved in the various research projects continue to highlight these themes and others, revealing that something unique happens at the SSL. This chapter on the student perspective discusses the themes of relationships and community, in the context of an Indigenous cohort of students who attended the Alpine School, which is what the SSL was originally known as. They were a unique cohort, who attended for a 6-week shortened program in 2006. Through focus group discussions at the end of their stay, these students provided through their narratives, key insights into what the experience meant to them. It appears that while the focus of the SSL experience is different, much of what is covered is transferable into mainstream schooling, which means that schools both nationally and internationally have much to learn from the practices of the SSL. This is further evident in the next chapter (Chap. 5), which is also on the student perspective, particularly examining leadership and student engagement in relation to the SSL experience.
Concluding summary
- Authors: Dyson, Michael , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 12 p. 203-205
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- Description: This final summary brings to a conclusion the narratives and the research associated with our description of the journey of development of this unique school.
Experimenting with place : The China project
- Authors: Plunkett, Margaret , Dyson, Michael , Holcombe, Wendy
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 11 p. 173-201
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- Description: This chapter presents an overview of a research project conducted to determine the impact of an immersion experience in China that was offered to students attending the Alpine campus of the SSL in 2014. The students participated via a state government initiative—the Victorian Young Leaders to China (VYLC) program, which aimed to aid intercultural awareness and understanding of secondary school students. Through pre- and post-surveys and focus group discussions with 43 students and 10 teachers, data was collected about the immersion experience and the impact it had on the participants. Both students and teachers reported on the value of the experience, particularly in terms of increasing intercultural awareness. However, as it was the first time that the China program was offered through the SSL, a number of issues and challenges were highlighted, which provided a sound context for associated changes to ensure that future experiences were as successful as possible. The program was also offered to groups of students attending the SSL during 2015 and 2016 due to the positive feedback from the initial pilot reported in this chapter.
Experimenting with time : The five-week program
- Authors: Joyce, Susan
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 10 p. 153-172
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- Description: In 2013, due to a longer term and other extraneous circumstances, an opportunity arose to offer a number of 5-week programs at the School for Student Leadership, as opposed to the regular offering of a 9-week program. This created an opportunity to conduct research into the impact of the program length on student outcomes. These outcomes were measured from a positive youth development perspective, utilising a mixed methods longitudinal research design. The research involved interviewing and surveying student participants in both the 5-week and 9-week programs at three separate stages—the beginning, end and 1 year post program. The findings illustrated that the program had impacted positively on aspects of participants’ development, regardless of the length of the program. This chapter provides an outline of the research project investigating the experimentation with time in the SSL programs, which was conducted as part of a larger Ph.D. study.
The journey begins
- Authors: Dyson, Michael , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 1 p. 1-6
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- Description: This chapter introduces the reader to the journey underpinning the creation of the School for Student Leadership (SSL), which was known initially as the Alpine School. This unique educational establishment is unlike any other in Australia, or perhaps the world, and has offered a distinctive and highly valuable experience to more than 5000 Victorian secondary school students since its inception in 2000. Mark Reeves was appointed the inaugural principal of what was then known as the Alpine school, and remains principal of the three campuses that form the school today. The initial campus was established within the pristine environment of Dinner Plain in the high country of Victoria, Australia. It has since expanded into the Snowy River area in Marlo East Gippsland, and Glen Ormiston in West Victoria. What has added to the distinctiveness of the SSL is involvement in ongoing research in partnership with university educationalists/researchers, thereby ensuring its programs and operations are continually responsive to the findings and recommendations of that research. In this opening chapter, a brief background is provided, followed by an overview of the content of the book, to guide the reader in the research journey that has underpinned the development of this unique school.
The student perspective
- Authors: Dyson, Michael , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 5 p. 69-90
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- Description: As previously highlighted in Chap. 4, the themes of ‘relationships’, ‘community’, ‘student engagement’, ‘leadership’, and ‘communication’ continually emerge in the research that has been conducted with the School for Student Leadership (SSL). This chapter draws on the data gathered from participating students during 2006 from the Alpine campus and 2007 from both the Alpine and Snowy River campuses. Data consisted of responses to pre and post surveys and focus group discussions. Common themes emerged as the students told their stories about their time at the SSL. They highlighted the value of the opportunities provided for developing a better understanding of themselves as individuals, while also learning to value being part of a community. However, the focus of this chapter is on leadership and its concomitant impact on communication. The data revealed that students often arrived at the school with limited understandings of leadership, couched in traditional views of authoritarian styles which were accepted as being the only way to lead. The experiences at the school provided opportunities for students to obtain a broader understanding of what it means to be a leader, particularly from an adolescent perspective. The underpinning philosophy of the SSL, together with the match between theory and practice, encourages and guides students in understanding themselves and their value to the group, while also facilitating integrated and authentic leadership, which is distinguishable by positive social outcomes.
The teacher perspective
- Authors: Plunkett, Margaret , Dyson, Michael
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Surviving, thriving and reviving in adolescence : Research and narratives from the school for student leadership Chapter 6 p. 91-105
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- Description: As indicated in other chapters of this book, the School for Student Leadership has a focus on relationships and development or growth in understanding of self and others. Not all teachers would choose to teach in this type of school, so this chapter on the teachers’ perspective highlights some of the hopes and aspirations of the teachers working in the SSL. A number of studies within the longitudinal project have included teachers, but the study discussed in this chapter involved a mixed methods study of the 33 teachers working across the 3 campuses of the school during 2010. They were surveyed and interviewed about their perceptions of being a teacher in the SSL. The findings illustrated a genuine commitment to the principles underpinning the core moral purpose of the school and the concomitant level of involvement required to teach in such an environment. While most reported that they did not see their role as ‘teacher’ in this environment to be substantively different from original perceptions they held of themselves as teachers, there was an acknowledgement of the different emphasis that was both possible and necessary within the distinctive context of the setting.