Work in Progress
Who's supporting us? TAFE staff perspectives on supporting students with mental illnesses
Summary
- Item:
- 10383
- Title:
- Who's supporting us? TAFE staff perspectives on supporting students with mental illnesses
- Type:
- Managed research project
- Project no:
- CP0604
- Status:
- Finished
- Date commenced:
- 1 July 2006
- Contact:
- Nhi Nguyen
- phone: 08 8230 8451
- email: nhi.nguyen@ncver.edu.au
Purpose
Students reporting a mental illness have generally lower subject and course completions than most other disability groups and the VET population as a whole (Cavallaro et al 2005). We will aim to explore ways that outcomes can be improved for these students, through appropriate teaching and services, coordinated support and staff awareness.
This project will address aspects of Shaping our future and the National Mental Health Strategy, and is particularly relevant given the increased attention and funding for mental health in Australia. Ref: Cavallaro T, Foley P, Saunders J and Bowman K 2005, People with a disability in vocational education and training, NCVER, Adelaide
Approach
Literature review, interviews, case studies, data analysis
Research questions
1. What do students with mental illnesses do in VET, how well are they doing? What barriers do these students encounter in VET, and what are their learning preferences?
2. Are there current policies and practices in TAFE systems/institutes for providing support, assistance and services to students with mental illnesses?
*To what extent do the VET and mental health systems interact?
3. What are the attitudes and awareness of VET practitioners (teachers, support staff, managers) towards mental health issues?
4. What are the skills and support needed by VET staff at all levels regarding the mental health of their students? How can these be improved, for example, through specific professional development?
Methodology
The project aims to establish contact with a key group of people with specific expertise in this area to ensure the research questions, data collection and presentation of results are appropriate. This will involve contacting organisations such as beyondblue, the National Disability Advisory Council and the Mental Health Council of Australia, and may also include contact with a local equity manager in a TAFE not involved in the research.
Stage one - background and profiling (see questions 1 and 4)
This stage will involve analysis of data from the NCVER provider collection, as well as any relevant data from the ABS (eg. census) and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The aim is to profile the VET student population who report mental illnesses, in terms of their participation (levels), course and subject completions, age, SES and other demographic information. This stage will update some of the material from Cavallaro et al (2005), and will explore other data sets that can provide contextual information on people with mental illnesses in the general Australian population.
This phase will also involve a literature review, including international research where more work has been done in this area (especially the US and UK). Given that we will not be speaking directly with students, the data and literature will provide the background on what is known about these students' needs and barriers in education and training, to inform the kinds of professional responses required of staff in VET.
Stage two - scoping of current policy and practices (see question 2)
The project team will consult with each state and territory training authority to collect information on relevant policies, and where available, actual programs and strategies. This will be conducted using a standard template, and the information will be collated into summary form for the report. The purpose is to provide a point-in-time assessment of the extent to which VET systems have formal strategies in place for students with mental illnesses. Include consultation with peak bodies such as TAFE Directors Australia and DEST's Disability Policy Branch, as well as mental health organisations to gather information on their approaches and awareness of activity in the VET system.
During this stage the project team will also establish contact with potential case study sites for stage three.
Stage three - case studies (see questions 3 and 4)
This stage will involve developing a case study approach to collect data on TAFE staff attitudes and needs at a variety of levels in the system. Interview and focus group instruments will be developed in consultation with Surveys Branch, and other documentary material will be collected at each case study site. The project team will also explore the possibility of accessing de-identified institute-level data to indicate the extent of mental illness reporting. The interview questions will be developed from key issues and barriers found in the literature review stage, and from the consultations with key stakeholders. The type of data collected will be qualitative, and will include questions aimed at exploring the following:
* attitudes of staff towards mental illness generally
* their awareness of mental illnesses in the student population and available support services (on-campus and off-campus)
* procedures for assisting students in extreme cases
* availability of specific professional development (and demand for such PD)
* views on teaching and learning styles.
If required, separate questionnaires will be developed for managers, teachers and support staff (this is likely given the different levels of contact with students, responsibility and planning duties). We have the following plan for case studies, and have some existing contacts in particular institutes:
* one case study in South Australia as a trial for the data collection instruments
* two case studies in Western Australia (one visit)
* two case studies in Victoria (one visit)
* one additional case study in South Australia
* one case study in the ACT.
Stage four - analysis and reporting
In this stage the project team will analyse all data collected throughout the project, identify themes and key findings, and prepare the report in 1:3:25 format. Report printing and dissemination has been included in the budget.
Organisations
This project has been funded under the NCVER Core-research program.
