Disengagement and Re-engagement in the Compulsory Participation Phase

The commencement of the compulsory participation phase means that all young Queenslanders are now required to be either learning or earning until they turn 17 years or complete a qualification, with only a few exceptions. This is legislated through Chapter 10 of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006.

However, some young people will have difficulties meeting the requirements of compulsory participation. In these circumstances, the Director-General has legislative authority to commence re-engagement activities, as outlined in Section 6 (b) of the Act.

The Department's preferred approach is to prevent disengagement through proactive early intervention and support for young people who are at risk of disengaging.

Planning processes such as Senior Education and Training (SET) Planning assist students to identify appropriate education and training pathways. These processes are especially valuable for identifying realistic pathways for young people at risk.

In addition, the Government funds a range of programs specifically aimed at supporting young people who are 'at-risk' of disengaging or have disengaged including: Access to Pathways; Flexible Learning Services; Youth Support Coordinators; the Queensland Community Mentoring Program; Positive Learning Centres; and Get Set for Work.

Unfortunately some young people will not respond to these initiatives, and will disengage.

Using information collected by the Queensland Studies Authority from young people's learning accounts, from later this year, the Department will have information on young people who are not participating in eligible options during their compulsory participation phase. From this data, the Department will be able to identify young people who are not engaged in learning.

The information will be used in two ways:

details of individual young people will be provided to the school or training provider with which they were most recently enrolled. The school or training provider will be able to determine the most appropriate response for each individual. Responses may range from working with other local schools and other stakeholders through District Youth Achievement Plan (DYAP) Committees to ensure appropriate re-engagement activities are available in the district, to updating databases if it is known that the young person is not genuinely disengaged (eg: is in full-time employment), or a telephone call or letter to the young person or their parents, putting the young person in contact with support services.

Aggregate information on disengagement will be provided to DYAP Management Committees so that they can monitor the level of disengagement occurring in their district and determine appropriate responses. Each DYAP Committee will be required to ensure that a re-engagement plan is incorporated into its DYAP.

Under the legislation, parents may be prosecuted if their children are not meeting the compulsory participation requirements. However prosecution should be viewed as a last resort.

A policy and procedures document is currently being developed for the Education Policies and Procedures Register (EPPR). Further information will be provided once the EPPR document has been published.

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