In June 2016, Apex Inclusion hosted a visit by Jackie Anders, an Australian social worker who visited the USA, Scotland and Denmark to learn about cross-system collaborative efforts in these countries to keep young people in school and out of the justice system. Funded by the Winston Churchill Trust which provides an opportunity for Australians to travel overseas to conduct research in their chosen field that is not readily available in Australia, her goal was to identify policies, practices and approaches that could inform improvements in Victoria.
Jackie’s report is now complete and in it she speaks of the success and positive outcomes of the Apex Inclusion service. In particular, she highlights the effective collaborative approach between the schools and Apex and the importance of having Apex staff run the Inclusion service rather than it be an in-house programme. In fact, in her conclusion and recommendations at the end of her report, she states, “Schools should partner with community agencies to develop creative models of education provision and support (drawing on Scotland’s Apex Inclusion model) to maintain engagement of students within mainstream school environments wherever possible.
The full report is available here, with particular focus on Apex Inclusion over pages 47-49.