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families and schools working in partnership to ensure the emotional well-being of young people
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Families Matter Newsletter Volume 1 No. 4: November 2005
National Evaluation of Families Matter well under way The Families Matter processes and materials were developed to reflect background research conducted with parents and families across Australia, and were pilot tested in a number of school communities in each state and territory in early 2004. Their positive responses encouraged us to invite a wide range of schools with secondary enrolments to participate in the first stage of the national roll-out in 2004. In 2004, nearly 200 school teams undertook background training to enable them to plan and lead workshops for other families in their own school communities. A further 130 school teams undertook training in 2005. Many more schools have expressed keen interest in being involved, but with so much else happening this year, they are seeking to postpone their training and involvement til 2006. A requirement of the contract with the funding agency, the federal Department of Health & Ageing, is that by the end of this year, following the first two stages of the national roll-out, a detailed independent Evaluation must be completed. This will enable the Department to make decisions about the future developments and directions of the Families Matter initiative through 2006 and beyond. Melbourne based firm Denis Muller & Associates has been contracted to undertake the independent evaluation, and for some time they have been very actively at work making contact with schools, talking with key people, gaining an understanding of the experiences of each participating school community; and shaping up a brief phone survey of members of school training teams. Denis Muller and his colleagues are ideally placed to provide an informed perspective, having been closely involved in the background research in schools in 202-2003 which helped shape the initial development of Families Matter. Their research and analysis should be substantively completed by the end of 2005, and the final report lodged with the Department by March 2006. That report will enable the Department to make informed decisions on the future direction and development of Families Matter through the latter part of 2006 and beyond. Planning for Operation of Families Matter February – May 2006 Meanwhile, we have actively commenced planning to run a number of Training Day activities in the first half of 2006, to enable those schools which have sought to defer their training to next year, to be linked into a suitable Training Day event. Initially, we will be planning to hold some twelve (12) training day events around the country in the period March – May. We want to enable as many interested schools as possible to participate, knowing that many wish to start the process moving as quickly as possible. For this purpose we will need to match our Training Facilitation team members’ commitments, school team members’ availability, with the dynamics of a time of year which includes term breaks, Easter holidays and Anzac Day… To help with our planning, could those schools keen to participate in training or re-training of their parent presenter teams and staff liaison person please take time to consider, complete and return the attached School Registration Form: Training Days 2006. If your school team is keen to undertake the initial training in March, April or May, can you please indicate the month you would prefer – and any more precise indication of preferred weeks or days in that month, if you are in position to do so. If your school team is keen to undertake the initial training later in the year, from June onwards, please indicate when you think would be suitable to your needs. That will also be of assistance in planning for the continuation and extension of Families Matter in the latter part of the year. Further Development of the Families Matter Website We have continued to add information periodically to the Families Matter Website at www.familiesmatter.org.au. The Resources and Links page has been progressively expanding, including an occasional series of research and discussion papers: there are currently eight accessible via this site at www.familiesmatter.org.au/resources.htm including a case study of community involvement in Charters Towers; and another whole of community approach in Louisiana, USA. Further papers and studies will be developed over the next few months. Most of these papers were written in response to particular requests for information or issues raised. In the same way, we plan to develop further information links to provide further materials and resources in respect of two wide-ranging topics of keen interest to parents and families and their school communities, where further information requests have been received in recent months:
We plan to locate and add a good deal of hopefully useful information and links between now and the start of next year, on each of these very big topics. Additionally, if there are topics on which you would wish to see further background information provided through our Website, please let us know the topics or issues you are interested in and we will see what information we can locate and provide in this way. Telling the Stories of the Families Matter Schools We know that participating school communities each have a uniquely interesting story to tell about their experiences and their shared learning journey. We know that all schools in the program, and scores of interested schools thinking about getting involved, are all keen to hear about those experiences and gain insights about ideas and approaches that can benefit their own school communities, and to share their own ideas in turn. Over the next few months, we will be working with Families Matter teams from schools around the country, to provide opportunity to tell their own story, in their own words, and with their own pictures… We will keep you posted! News from Other Linked Initiatives in the National MindMatters suite Families Matter is the vitally important element for parents and families working in partnership with their schools to support the well-being of young people. There are of course a range of other closely linked and interactive strands of the total MindMatters program, and you will find links to these from the Families Matter Website. Here we draw your attention to some important current developments in these other initiatives.
Questions and Enquiries
SCHOOL REGISTRATION FORM – TRAINING DAYS 2006 (click to download in PDF format) |
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