Issues

﻿Issues that can influences adolescent learning

Adolescence need to belong, they need to be engaged in learning and bring a wealth of skills with them into the classroom (Arnold, 2000). Adolescence can achieve very successful learning outcomes with their peers in a collaborative learning environment (O'Grady Crichton, 2010). Adolescence students are also easily disengaged and respond to negative peer influences, they need to be connected to their peers (Bennedick, 2003). Adolescence can become less positive towards learning when the subject matter is too difficult or boring (Cox & Kennedy, 2010). Issues that can influence a young person’s learning can be: school based, a feature of the community or family or can include personal values or beliefs. Community expectations of education include developing the capacity of young people to be able to make significant future contributions to society as informed citizens and responsible individuals in the areas of the economy, cultural pursuits and to the social fabric of the community, this view is reinforced in the Melbourne declaration (Ministerial Council on Education Employment Training Youth Affairs, 2008) and the Australian State and emerging National Curriculum. Pedagogical approaches to learning include: ‘collaborative learning’ based on the pioneering work of Vygotsky and Dewey, ‘building learning communities’ where curriculum should reflect the needs and abilities of the community and the ‘interdisciplinary: rich tasks and fertile questions’ approach developed by Michael Young (2008) using an integrated curriculum. Recent research and curriculum documents have emphasised the ‘process of learning’ and skill acquisition over educational content as transferable skills and generalisability are increasingly important in a dynamic and technologically complex world.  The Middle Years of schooling is the stage of learning where the 'breadth and depth' of knowledge and skills is developed during late childhood and the early teenage years (adolescence). This stage of schooling involves students with vast differences in: academic, emotional, physical and social development and behaviours. The onset of puberty varies between students and peers have a huge impact on student behaviour. Although there is so much variation in student attitudes according to many authors the common experience is the need to belong and to be engaged in their learning

 There are many social, psychological and environmental problems facing these students. Many of their behaviours and patterns have developed during early and middle years schooling also carry forward into the later years. There are issues common to later years and middle years students, these been summarised in the attached table and are based on information from the DEECD website : __ __ The website also provides guidance on how to address some of these issues as well as a Students at Risk Mapping Tool.  I have been involved in the Wannik program (improving education outcomes for Koori students) as a consequence of the My Mate program and found it both interesting rewarding. [] 