Staying on at School: Strategies for Increasing High School Completion Rates in Low Retention Regions of NSW

Margaret H. (Margaret Helen) Vickers, Katrina L. Barker, Bob Perry, Sue Dockett

Research output: Book/Research ReportResearch report

Abstract

As indicated by the title of this project, the original intention was to conduct research in regions of NSW where high school completion rates were low, in order to identify strategies that might increase the likelihood of young people staying on to complete Year 12. During 2008, when discussions between University of Western Sydney and Department of Education and Communities staff began, approximately two thirds of all students in NSW completed Year 12. However, retention rates in some rural regions (Riverina, Hunter, and Western NSW) were much lower. In these regions only approximately 50% of students stayed on. While the overall retention rate for the South Western Sydney Region was close to the State average, there were (and still are) areas of severe disadvantage within South Western Sydney. In many cases these areas or neighbourhoods are associated with secondary schools that have low retention rates. However, within Regions or geographic areas across NSW where most schools have low retention rates, there are also particular schools that have relatively high retention rates. These schools can be described as performing ‘above expectation’. The decision was made to conduct a research project in three regions: Riverina, Hunter and South Western Sydney. In each region three schools were chosen: two of these schools would be schools that were performing above expectation. For purposes of comparison, the third school in each region would be one that had an overall retention rate close to the average for that region. In March 2009 nine candidate schools were identified. Ethical approval for the research was obtained (NEAF: H6099, and also SERAP: 2008235). Subsequently the nine schools were visited by UWS and CSU staff, and the Principals in each of the schools consented to participate in the study. During 2009, the research team gained parental consent for surveying 1966 students, and for interviewing 119 students. These were large samples, and all the students in these samples connected with the researchers each year for three years. Thus, three waves of survey administration were completed (2009, 2010, & 2011) with a sample loss of only 200 students, creating a high level of reliability for this study. Across the three years of the study, over 5,500 surveys were administered, coded, entered and analysed. With a data sample of this magnitude one can apply advanced analytical methods, and can have considerable confidence in the results obtained. For example, the identification of parental support, teacher respect and peer relations as central factors supporting student engagement is a very important finding. This provides the basis for the creation and validation of a Social Relational Support for Education scale, as described in Section 1.3. The size of the interview sample was also substantial. As explained in Section 2, these student interviews took the form of conversations, where students were encouraged to tell the researchers what mattered most to them. These conversations were carried out each year for three years, so that over 300 interviews took place. By selecting cases in which students participated in interviews and surveys consistently over all three years one can identify a sample of 55 for whom we have a consistent longitudinal set of survey and narrative data. Individual interviews were also conducted with teachers responsible for Year 10 and 11, with Principals and with Transition Coordinators.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationPenrith, N.S.W.
PublisherUniversity of Western Sydney
Number of pages192
Publication statusPublished - 2015

Keywords

  • New South Wales
  • high school attendance
  • high schools
  • motivation (psychology) in adolescence
  • student aspirations

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