This case study offers important lessons for those wishing to support and respond to Aboriginal community leadership – including politicians, government agencies and philanthropists.
Through the COVID 19 crisis, there are communities across Australia that have demonstrated resilience and innovation, delivering fast and effective action.
Four communities, from disparate parts of Australia, are demonstrating how to increase life opportunities for vulnerable young people so that they and future generations thrive.
Doveton, Bourke, Logan and Kabulwarnamyo are four communities building new community structures that allow for a realignment and smarter use of public resources.
Across the world most nations want their citizens to be creative. Countries believe that, if their people are more creative they will be better at problem-solving.
The Case for Inclusive Learning Systems – Building more Inclusive Learning Systems in Australia by Dr Ani Wierenga and Jo Taylor is a Dusseldorp Forum.
Most Aboriginal young people in Dubbo do not end up in the juvenile justice system. What makes the difference for them compared to those that do enter the system?
What works in alternative learning, and why? Some answers can be found in the eight indepth case studies below, launched in September 2014.
What is Creative Learning, why is it so powerful, and how does it bring significant change to education? This article by Dr Julie Robson and Teya Dusseldorp.
The Dusseldorp Forum’s website – an information nexus for Alternative Learning organisations – has been enriched by the A Map for the Future 2014: policy update.
This report by Kitty te Riele analyses over 400 inclusive and flexible learning programs, with 33,000 young people enrolled in 1200 locations across Australia.
A partnership project between WorldSkills Foundation and University of Tampere, University of Oxford and RMIT.
This document summarises the learnings and underlying philosophy that informed a partnership project in the remote far north west of South Australia.
In this lecture Julian Sefton-Green talks about competing definitions of what ‘creative learning’ might mean, how it has been recognised, evaluated and described.
Dusseldorp Skills Forum carried out a national survey of alternative education programs in 2011. This report, by Roger Holdsworth from the Youth Research Centre.
An energy saving education program for householders, led by Generation Y, could see savings equivalent to taking 100.000 cars off our roads.
How Young People Are Faring is the pre-eminent national report on the learning and work situation of young Australians. This year’s report focuses on the global economic .
Keeping Up and How Young Indigenous People are Faring, two reports from DSF and Reconciliation Australia, draw attention to the facts and the people.
Nation building requires infrastructure – roads, rail, ports, schools, hospitals, and community centres. A business case for expanding school based mentoring.
Australia adopting clever solutions during economic slowdown and how to avoid throwing away investment in skills and training.
A discussion paper written by Michaela Kronemann about the government’s commitment to a national agenda based on ensuring universal access to quality.
What is Creative Learning, why is it so powerful, and how does it bring significant change to education?This article (1.6Mb) by Dr Julie Robson and Teya Dusseldorp .
This research investigated the level of understanding and excitement among young Australians about careers with an environmental focus.
It is now clear that facilities management will have a central role to play in building a sustainable future by ‘greening’ the built environment.
Growing the Green Collar Economy: Skills and labour challenges in reducing our greenhouse emissions and national environmental footprint.
10 priorities to help shape an adaptable workforce, develop a Australian enterprise culture, and provide the high quality vocational learning Australia needs.
Submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review about the implications of skills and sustainability. This submission is the first stage of a larger project.
How Young People are Faring is the annual DSF report that provides an overview of the participation of young Australians in learning and work.
A significant number of young people lack basic educational attainments and levels of engagement to adequately cope with the demands being made of them.
Newspoll Youth Report: What Young People are Thinking reveals quite a positive picture concerning young Australian’s current general life satisfaction.
A qualitative study by Saulwick Muller Social Research investigates the attitudes and experiences of young Australians in mid 2006.
Dr Bob Birrell scrutinizes some powerful myths that have influenced recent debates about higher education and training policy in Australia.
A timely and important contribution to the debate in Australia about the direction, funding and quality of skills development.
TRAC was a pioneering program of vocational learning for school students in Years 11 and 12 centred around structured and assessed work placements.
An online survey of more than 160 schools, TAFEs, community programs and initiatives providing unconventional learning options for young Australians.
What’s working and what isn’t in the world of education? Jenni Connor reports the views of dozens of students and educators in conventional and unconventional settings.
An important overview on the participation of young Australians in learning and work. View the main report, key messages, media release and analysis.
Conscious of a strong surge in apprentice intake during 2003 and more particularly 2004, Australian Industry Group Dusseldorp Skills Forum.
This paper explores the challenge that all young people have a curriculum that would engage them through Year 12.
A report on aspects of education, training and youth transition and an independent study of developments in education and training in Victoria.
This report considers the merits of the economic case for increased policy emphasis on youth participation in education, training and employment.
OECD studies consistently indicate that failure to make an effective transition to permanent work or to full-time study is associated with long term risks.
How Young People are Faring 2005 is the seventh report in this annual series. It provides point in time data for three main measures of youth participation in learning.
To what extent are young people who are compelled to be at school actually there? What is the level of truancy, and school exclusions, suspensions and expulsions?
A report released by DSF, The Smith Family and Big Brother Big Sister, suggests five key recommendations to move towards a National Strategy for Youth Mentoring.
Why do our Governments appear so reluctant to articulate in legislation the right of students to an education which is relevant and reflects individual needs?
How Young People are Faring 2004 reveals disturbing numbers of young people are being left behind, facing insecure employment, and reduced earnings.
An update about the learning and work situation of young Australians including an analysis of how young Indigenous people are faring.
A 2002 update on the learning and work situation of young Australians. This report discusses three main indicators.
A 2001 update about the learning and work situation of young Australians – The third in a series. This report discusses three main indicators.
A 2000 update about the learning and work situation of young Australians. This report addresses questions such as: How are young people faring?
This report was inspired by a 1992 Canadian report Dropping Out which estimates the lifetime costs of a single-year cohort of early school-leavers.
The first series of regular reports to be released by the Dusseldorp Skills Forum. The reports look at how young Australians are making the transition from education to work.
This report, which follows the 1998 publication Reality and Risk, provides a national perspective on developments that have affected young adults in the 1990s.
This report brings together contributions from seven of Australia’s leading research organisations to investigate the learning and working circumstances of 15-19 year olds.
All young people should have access to learning that enables them to gain the knowledge and skills required to realise their potential, build a rewarding future and make informed learning and employment decisions throughout their lives.
In the following case studies you can delve deeper to explore the real work organisations are doing to keep young people connected to learning and to understand why some young people will thrive in a particular program and how programs develop to provide a range of options.
Fresh approaches to national skills training are urgently needed in order to meet the challenges of the economic downturn and to position Australia for a return to growth and prosperity, according to a consortium of peak industry, trade union and youth advocacy bodies.
The NRGize Mentoring Workshop equips participants with the knowledge and resources needed to run a successful, effective youth mentoring program.
Resources that will guide and support you in conducting a proven school-based mentoring program aimed at assisting young people who are considering leaving school.
The Slingshot program is a self-employment pathways program designed to assist young people who have an interest in running their own businesses to learn relevant skills and to explore the opportunities presented by self-employment.
The resources on this site are able to be used and adapted by any community-based organisation who wishes to add this activity to their present offerings.
CLIP (Continuous Learning Improvement Program) was developed by WorkSkills Australia for winners of WSA Regional Finals who then go on to compete at the National level of competition.
The Whittlesea Youth Commitment (WYC) is a community based intervention strategy designed to enhance opportunities for young people to live and work in a healthy and prosperous community.
Plan-It Youth is an innovate mentoring project offering young people who are at risk of leaving formal education/ training early, the opportunity to plan for their future careers.
This report puts forward a set of practical and workable suggestions for improving career education and guidance as well as key themes arising from career education and guidance such as student needs, best practice and innovation.
This Handbook contains practical information and support material, ideas on how to improve your skills in communication, teamwork, motivation and problem solving, and a self analysis chart.
Education Review interview with Teya Dusseldorp, our Executive Director about our research report ‘The Case for Inclusive Learning Systems.
In these videos students describe their experiences with flexible and inclusive learning environments and why they work for them.
At the Creative Collective ConnectED Program teachers and learning practitioners collaborated on how they can engage their wider school community to create a collection of stories.
This professional development program for teachers and learning practitioners explores in depth how to utilise more creative learning strategies within their learning space.
In February 2015 children, educators and community members came together from across NSW to perform in celebration of our 25th anniversary.
We’re facing an epidemic of disengagement in schools, not just in Australia, but around the world,” says education specialist David Price.
Watch Tiga Bayles’ welcome from the launch of ‘How young Indigenous people are faring’ and ‘Keeping Up’ and hear from practitioners working in the good practice examples.
This training video has been produced to assist Y Green programs replicate the Captain Y Green experience to assist with household recruitment through local primary schools.
TRAC was a pioneering program of vocational learning for school students in Years 11 and 12 centred around structured and assessed work placements. It was designed and developed in 1989 by the Dusseldorp Skills Forum.
Zimbabwe as it is where the first muti-national, multi-skilled SAW project took place, in a community called Makwe in 1998.
Building on the success of the project in Makwe, the following years,1999 and 2000, saw a cluster of schools in the vicinity benefit from SAW teams.
In these videos you will hear from the 2012 finalists and what the Ern McDonald Fellowship means to them and their future.
Dr Julian Sefton-Green is a leading international thinker and practitioner in creative learning. Listen to his talk here.
WorldSkills Australia hosts some of the nation’s largest and most logistically-complex events, catering for up to 60 different skill categories.
Koori Job Ready run an eight-week intensive course in construction and hospitality for Aboriginal people in Darlington near Redfern. Beyond training, they negotiate jobs.
The Green Team project is a sustainability initiative which has been developed and implemented by WorldSkills Australia, the Dusseldorp Skills Forum and ARUP.
Noosa Flexible Learning Centre is a flexible Learning Centre catering for the growing number of young people who are seeking an alternative pathway to mainstream education.
Jack Thompson AM presents a new short documentary dealing with the hidden crisis of wasted potential with 16% of Australian teenagers not in full time education or work.
Central Coast Alesco offers a smaller, supportive, and non-competitive, environment. Listen to what the students have to say…
We have partnered to develop local jobs that provide real pathways from school to work in a remote community.
ARUP and the Green Team gathered data for the Environmental Audit Report and establish benchmarks for improvement.
WorldSkills Australia, Dusseldorp Skills Forum and RMIT are partnering to find out about excellence in skills. We asked competitors to share their experience.
The Quick Hut experience gives a detailed explanation of how teams of students and young skilled apprentices came together to solve a problem.
In todays world everyone has to know how to identify and solve problems, work in teams and communicate well.The Quick Hut experience.
Flexible Learning Network Learn more about The Flexible Learning Program for Indigenous Young Australians.
A video from the Indigenous Education Leadership Institute, a good practice example from Keeping Up.
A residential sustainability project where young people conduct home sustainability consultations in their local community.
Jodi Pincus, Director of California Youth Energy Services visited the Y Green project sites in February 2008. See her in action here.
An insight into the training day of the Green Team as they prepare for benchmarking water, waste and energy at the 2008 WorldSkills National Competition in Sydney.
Jodi Pincus, Director of California Youth Energy Services talks about combining the home audit with skill development and work opportunities for young people.
Sydney Institute of TAFE Students and teacher Kathy Herd talk here about the Green Team and why they are getting involved.
On February 24 2015, Dusseldorp Forum hosted a full day professional development program for teachers and learning practitioners to explore in depth how to utilise more creative learning strategies within their learning space.
Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf Theatre was filled with excitement, colour and creativity in February 2015 as we kicked off our highly anticipated Creative Collective event to showcase the children and young people who are thriving in creative learning initiatives across NSW and celebrate 25 years of Dusseldorp Forum.
We strongly value local knowledge, expertise and experience. As part of the Festival of Change 2018 we met and talked with community members from our partner communities to better understand what their community and the work of our partners, means to them.
This journey has taken us deep into the heart of remarkable, resilient communities that are generating positive impacts in people’s lives and driving changes in inequitable systems that work against collaboration and self determination.
Celebrating Dusseldorp Forum’s 30th year, we have been looking back at our origins and reflecting on the impact of the Forum’s work since 1989.
Two years into our new strategy, we are partnering with a number of communities that are achieving real gains. We call them “lighthouse communities” because they are shining a light on how to make better use of new and existing resources, and driving the change they want to see.
This year the Forum embarked upon a new five-year strategy that supports a holistic approach to young people’s development, to deliver improved education, health and social outcomes for vulnerable children, their families and communities.
Read the latest news from Dusseldorp Forum and our partners.
Dusseldorp Forum acknowledges the First Peoples of Australia and the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which we work and live. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and to Elders past, present and future.
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