Making a Difference: Building on Young People’s Experiences of Economic Adversity FINAL REPORT Jennifer Skattebol, Peter Saunders, Gerry Redmond, Megan Bedford and Bettina Cass Social Policy Research Centre University of New South Wales August 2012 For a full list of SPRC Publications visit: www.sprc.unsw.edu.au or contact: Publications, SPRC, Level 2, John Goodsell Building University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. Telephone: +61 (2) 9385 7800 Fax: +61 (2) 9385 7838 Email: [email protected] ISSN: 1446-4179 ISBN: 978-0-7334-3172-2 Published: August 2012 The views expressed in this publication do not represent any official position on the part of the Social Policy Research Centre, but the views of the individual authors. MAKING A DIFFERENCE: FINAL REPORT Research Team: Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales Professor Peter Saunders, Professor Bettina Cass, Dr Gerry Redmond* (Chief Investigators), Dr Jen Skattebol, Megan Bedford (nee Griffiths). Partner Investigators: The Brotherhood of St Laurence: Janet Taylor The Smith Family (formerly at Mission Australia): Anne Hampshire The University of Bath: Dr Tess Ridge * Gerry Redmond is now at the School of Social and Policy Studies, Flinders University of South Australia Contact for follow up: Jen Skattebol, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Ph: (02) 9385 7816, [email protected] MAKING A DIFFERENCE: FINAL REPORT Acknowledgements First and foremost, we thank all the young people who generously shared their stories and insights about economic adversity. We have also benefitted enormously from the insights of the parents we interviewed, who helped us understand the complexities of raising children on low incomes. Speaking with these young people would not have been possible without the energy and support of service providers in our Partner Organisations (see below), and in schools. Our insights into young people‟s social contexts was further enhanced by the generosity of service providers in services not directly involved with this project who generously gave their time to help us understand local service systems. In particular, we thank the youth workers in our intensive case study site for their on-going generosity towards us and their substantial insights into the lives of disadvantaged young Australians. Representatives from our Partner Organisations have supported our methods and analysis and collaborated intellectually with us to develop an approach to this research that has rigour, an interdisciplinary base, is rooted in practical experience and is policy relevant. They have provided comments on the contents of this report, but the authors remain solely responsible for the views expressed and any errors of fact or interpretation. We also thank the interns who have worked on the project Bella Partridge, Tarsha Garvin, and Krishna Dermawan for the time and effort they have contributed. Finally, we thank Elizabeth Adamson who stepped in with advice and assistance a number of times and Denise Thompson for assistance with editing and formatting. The project grew out of a seeding grant provided by ARACY, and received financial assistance from the Australian Research Council (ARC) under its Linkage Projects Grants scheme (project LP0882352). Additional cash and in-kind support was provided by the following Partner Organisations: The Association of Children‟s Welfare Agencies; Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations; Brotherhood of St Laurence; Mission Australia; South Australia's Social Inclusion Initiative and Department for Education and Child Development; The Smith Family; and the Victorian Government Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. The project also benefited from the input provided by three expert advisors: Professor Jan Mason, Professor Margot Prior and Professor Ilan Katz. MAKING A DIFFERENCE: FINAL REPORT Contents 1. Introduction and Background ............................................................................ 1 2. Theoretical Foundations ..................................................................................... 7 3. Methods .............................................................................................................. 15 4. Experiencing and Coping with Economic Disadvantage ............................... 33 5. Locational Disadvantage ................................................................................... 49 6. Quality of Home, Neighbourhood and School Environments ....................... 83 7. Social Networks, Belonging and Obligation .................................................... 93 8. Economic Exclusion and Educational Disadvantage ................................... 113 9. School Organisation, Pedagogy and Economic Inequality .......................... 125 10. Pathways In and Out of Participation in Education and Work .................. 145 11. Conclusions and Policy Implications ............................................................. 165 Appendix A: Demographic Survey.......................................................................... 171 Appendix B: Neighbourhood Activity Sheet and Socio-gram .............................. 173 References .................................................................................................................. 175 MAKING A DIFFERENCE: FINAL REPORT List of Tables Table 3-1: Total Number of Participants by Data Collection Method..................................... 23 Table 3-2: Number of Participants by State ............................................................................. 23 Table 10-1: Characteristics of early school leavers ............................................................... 145 List of Figures Figure 3-1: Cultural Background of Young People by Gender ............................................... 24 Figure 3-2: Number of participants by age .............................................................................. 24 Figure 3-3: Number of participants by family income type .................................................... 25 Figure 4-1: Jessica‟s Diagram of her Living Arrangements .................................................... 38 Figure 5-1: Number of participants by location ....................................................................... 59 Figure 5-2: SEIFA Indexes for Low Cost Mortgage Belt Suburbs and Surrounds ............... 61 Figure 5-3: SEIFA Indexes for Isolated Pocket Suburbs and Surrounds................................. 62 Figure 5-4: SEIFA Scores for Region of Disadvantage Suburbs and Surrounds .................... 63 Figure 5-5: SEIFA Scores for Middle Ring Transit Suburbs and Surrounds ......................... 64 Figure 5-6:Vanessa‟s Opportunity Context ............................................................................. 65 Figure 5-7: Texas‟ Opportunity Context.................................................................................. 67 Figure 5-8: Henri‟s Opportunity Context ................................................................................ 68 Figure 5-9: Casey‟s opportunity context.................................................................................. 71 Figure 5-10: Tessa‟s opportunity context ................................................................................ 72 Figure 5-11: Mitch‟s opportunity context ................................................................................ 74 Figure 5-12: Amanda-May‟s opportunity context ................................................................... 76 Figure 7-1: Tessa‟s sociogram ................................................................................................. 96 Figure 7-2 Diana's Sociogram ................................................................................................ 104 Figure 7-3 Emily's Sociogram ............................................................................................... 108 Figure 8-1: The Compounding Effects of Concentrations of Disadvantage.......................... 117 MAKING A DIFFERENCE: FINAL REPORT Abbreviations ABS Australian bureau of Statistics ARACY Australian Research Alliance on Children and Youth ARC Australian Research Council CD (census) collector district GFC Global financial crisis HILDA Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey HREC University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee IEO Index of Education and Occupation IRSD Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage NGO Non-government organisation NPYAT National Partnership on Youth Attainment and Transitions NSW New South Wales OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development SEIFA Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas SLA Statistical local area SPRC Social Policy Research Centre TAFE Technical and further education UNICEF United Nations Children‟s Fund UNSW University of New South Wales VET Vocational education and training YMCA Young Men‟s Christian Association MAKING A DIFFERENCE: FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction and Background The Making a Difference Project was designed to explore the perceptions of children and young people (aged between 11 and 17 years) who experience economic adversity in order to understand what it means to them, how they experience exclusion in the family, at school, and in the communities where they live, and identify what services they think can make a difference. The project adopted a rights perspective which emphasises the