The Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly, held the Keeping Kids Connected to Learning and School summit #2 focusing on addressing the complex issue of disengagement and detachment from school. Key stakeholders met to discuss the challenges and barriers to successful inclusion of all students. Participants heard from a variety of key stakeholders from a range of organisations including:
Professor Anna Sullivan – Director, Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion at the University of South Australia
Helen Connolly – Commissioner for Children and Young People, SA
Fred Heidt – Executive Principal, Youth Inc
Dr Andrew Bills – Educational Leader/Academic, Flinders University
Dale Murray – Director Education Unit, Life Without Barriers
Yvonne Schultz – Head of Campus, FAME Flexible Learning Centre
Dr Sarah Hattam – Senior Lecturer, University Senior College
Nigel Howard – Lecturer, Education Futures, University of South Australia
The summit brought together schools, policy makers, and service providers, to do a deep dive into the issue, to better understand it from different perspectives and work towards integrated solutions. Summit outcomes are to be presented in a report to the Department for Education to help inform the development of world class cross-sectoral responses to disengagement and detachment from school.
In 2021, key stakeholders met to discuss the challenges and barriers to successful inclusion of all students at the first Keeping Kids Connected to Learning and School Summit. Discussions resulted in a constructive and considered set of recommendations to the Department for Education. The report can be found here.
