What Is Adolescent Services Enfield Campus (ASEC)

School learning environments

to support mental health for all and

care for people living with a mental illness.

This information has been prepared to support the launch of the COMIC (Children of Mentally Ill Consumers) pack for education and children’s services (October 2003).

It has been developed with representatives from:

• Department of Education and Children’s Services

• COMIC
• COPMI [Children of Parents with a Mental Illness]
• beyondblue the national depression initiative.

Further information is available from:

or e-mail:

Go to student well-being > health support > current programs> mental health

Positive learning cultures:

supporting mental health and well-being for all school community members

The learning achievement and the needs and wellbeing of children and students is at the heart of education

Mr Steve Marshall

Chief Executive, Department of Education and Children’s Services

2003

The South Australian Curriculum Standards and Accountability [SACSA] framework is based firmly on a commitment to the principle that all children and students should have access to a common curriculum entitlement. The challenge is to ensure that programs are devised which do not privilege or exclude particular groups, and which enable all learners to achieve success and become powerful shapers of our society.

This commitment to inclusion is shared nationally:

Schooling provides a foundation for young Australians intellectual, physical, social, moral, spiritual and aesthetic development… Schooling should develop fully the talents and capacity of all students.

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs

1999

The SACSA framework provides schools with opportunities to support the progress of all learners in line with their age and stage of development, and levels of educational need.

The needs of all students are met, inclusively, through:

• Flexibility in educational programs
• Addressing the needs and interests of individual learners
• Encouraging active involvement of parents and care givers in their children’s education
• Facilitating partnerships between schools, local communities and support services.

The significance of developing broader community links is highlighted by the United Nations Educational and Scientific and Cultural Organisation [UNESCO], which calls for communities to work together to foster in children and students powerful thinking and acting on a global scale:

. …while education is an ongoing process of improving knowledge and skills, it is also-perhaps primarily an exceptional means of bringing about personal development and building relationships among individuals, groups and nations.

Delors 1996

Learning: The treasure within

The relationship between teacher and learner is at the core of the education process. Teachers need to understand, acknowledge and respect individual ability levels and the nature of learners at different levels of schooling.

Equity in education:

learning about supporting the needs of all members of the community

The two social objectives of diversity and opportunity are central to the building of a fairer and more compassionate society.

SACSA Framework General Introduction Page 19

Within SACSA, mental health and wellbeing issues can be addressed through each of the learning areas, the essential learnings, equity and cross curriculum perspectives within an integrated Interdisciplinary approach.

The framework identifies five essential learnings, which connect the whole:

• Futures
• Identity
• Interdependence
• Thinking

• Communication

These essential learnings are drawn upon throughout life and enable people to productively engage with changing times as thoughtful, active, responsive and committed local, national and global citizens.

The coherent birth to year 12 framework focuses on the holistic development of learners and the importance of making connections to ensure learning as a whole is fostered.

The framework reaffirms the belief that education is central to making a fairer society.

Equity is made a central curriculum consideration through the learning areas, the essential learnings and a number of cross- curriculum perspectives. Thus learners come to recognise the nature and cause of inequality, and understand that these are socially constructed and can be therefore changed through people’s actions.

Through an investigation of diversity, learners will inevitably confront issues of social advantage/disadvantage, privilege/marginality and differential access to power. The framework places a value on critically understanding and acting to confront issues that shape unjust social practices and relations.

For the framework to be inclusive of all learners then two things are critical:

• The curriculum should be inclusive and build upon learner diversity
• Every learner must access learning and assessment experiences that optimise their opportunities.

A specific focus is to look at the entitlements of a diverse group of learners, including:

• Learners with disabilities and learning difficulties
• Learners from low socio-economic backgrounds.

The framework recognises the issues of mental health and how to addresses the needs of learners, teachers and school/local communities. The equity policy is clear about the need to ensure that social inclusion is embedded within the whole school community. This allows all learners, including those with personal and family mental issues to be involved in learning experiences in a safe and nurturing social environment.

Schools working in partnership with communities can address:

• Student participation – increase opportunities for meaningful participation in all aspects of school life
• Social relationships – improve the quality of the social interactions in the school environment, amongst all members of the school community in a range of settings.

Schools are complex and dynamic organizations experienced by young people through the activities they engage in and the quality of their interactions with others. It is through experiences that young people develop their sense of self-efficacy (“I can do”) and self-worth (“I am valued”) and ultimately, build resilience.

beyondblue schools research initiative

Essential Learnings:

supporting learning about mental illness and for mental health

The essential learnings areunderstandings, dispositions and capabilities, which are developed through the learning areas and form an integral part of children’s and students’ learning. They highlight specific concepts that support students’ wellbeing in addressing mental health issues within school communities.

Through futures, learners develop:

• A sense of optimism about their ability to actively contribute to shaping preferred futures.

This includes:

• Building scenarios of preferred futures
• Demonstrating lifelong learning.

Through identity, learners develop:

• A sense of personal and group identity
• Opportunities to contribute to, plan and take action to shape relationships.

This includes:

• Understanding self, groups and others
• Understanding the social construction of identities
• Relating effectively to others.

Through interdependence, earners develop:

• A sense of being connected with their world
• Contribute to the shaping of their communities.

This includes:

• Acting cooperatively to achieve agreed outcomes
• Taking civic action to benefit community.

Through thinking, learners develop:

• Capabilities to plan and generate ideas and solutions.

This includes:

• Using a wide range of thinking modes
• Drawing on thinking from a range of times and cultures.

Through communication, learners develop:

• A sense of the power and potential of literacy
• Capabilities to shape the present and future through use of literacy.

This includes:

• Understanding how communication works
• Making effective use of language
• Using communication in a range of modes to achieve identified outcomes.

These essential learnings support the wellbeing of all learners and foster the capabilities to:

• Develop the flexibility to respond to change
• Develop a positive sense of self and group
• Work in harmony with others and common purposes
• Be independent and critical thinkers
• Communicate powerfully.

Children of Mentally Ill Consumers [COMIC]:

resources to support teaching and learning about mental illness

In the SACSA framework teaching, learning and assessing within the birth to year 12 continuum are organised through four curriculum bands. The bands are:

• Early Years (Birth-end of Year 2)
• Primary Years (Years 3-5)
• Middle Years (Years 6-9)
• Senior Years (Years 10-12)
• all of school.

The bands represent aspects of learners’ physical, social, emotional and cognitive development, appreciating that within each band, learners bring with them a diversity of backgrounds and prior learning experiences. The following resources, available from COMIC, have been grouped to reflect the curriculum bands.

Early Years

Jake’s dinosaur, by Anne Sved-Williams

A picture book for 3-6 year olds, this helps convey simple answers to come of the complex issues relating to dealing mental illness.

Robby Rose and Monkey, by A Louis

This picture book for 3-6 year olds uses the third person concept (monkey) to deal with mental health issues, in particular postnatal depression.

I feel sad, I feel angry, by Brian Moses

A picture book for 3-6 year olds, this addresses emotions in a relevant, amusing and reassuring format.

Primary – Middle Years

You’re Not Alone

SANE cartoon format guide for children about living with an adult with a mental illness

Handle With Care

Association of Relatives & Friends of the mentally Ill (ARAFMI/SA)

My mom still loves me

For 6-10 year olds: a story of a boy who worries about his family’s mental health problems and keeps his feelings to himself.

Hard words

A short animated film featuring 5 children (9-13 years old) who have experienced living with a parent with mental illness.

About mental illness

ARAFMI/SA

The illustrated mum, by Jacqueline Wilson

A novel with a character that young people relate to and has many engaging human traits

Joe’s diary, SANE)

An excellent account of a young person dealing with their mother’s schizophrenia.

Surviving schizophrenia, by Marge Overs

A comprehensive booklet that answers many questions dealing with this issue.

Is there any body out there? From Community Focus in Queensland

The uninvited guest, by Anne Kasprzk and OFFSPRING (SA)

Senior Years

Hidden victims/hidden fears, by Julie Tallard Johnson

Uses case histories of a range of people dealing with mental illness in families

My parent’s keeper, by Eva Marian Brown

Written for and about people growing up with parents with emotional problems and a mental health diagnosis.

Video – for teachers and other adults

Koping, Developed using case histories to raise awareness of the experiences of children and young people whose parents are living with mental health problems.