Welcome to the Positive Schools 2010 Workshops and enrollments page
POSITIVE SCHOOLS 2010 CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
NINE WORKSHOPS: NINE OPPORTUNITIES TO DEVELOP A SOLUTION FOCUSED APPROACH TO WELLBEING
Enrolment in the OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS will be open on Friday the 30th of April at 10am Perth time until 12 midnight on Friday the 7th of May. Enrolments in the OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS will be open for one week only. No enrolments in the OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS will be accepted after the closing date.
(CLICK HERE TO REGISTER on the 30th of April at 10 am WA time)
WORKSHOPS – Session One 9.45 – 11.15
ZAZA LYONS (Wise Solutions)
Title
Whole school social and emotional assessments
Abstract
This workshop explores the process and benefits of assessing the wellbeing of an entire school population. Whole school assessment can be a straightforward process, easily contained within the constraints of a busy school timetable. They enable schools to accurately and efficiently assess the social-emotional wellbeing of their entire student population. They provide objective information about the social-emotional strengths and weaknesses across all members of a school or college. Moreover, assessments mean that staff can track changes in social-emotional wellbeing over time. Assessments offer vital feedback about the effectiveness of both in-house and external interventions and provide accurate information from which informed decisions can be made. Anonymous reports may be disseminated to all stakeholders. In addition, separate confidential information about high risk students ensures that vulnerable children are identified as early as possible.
Biography
Zaza is a lecturer in the School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, at the University of Western where she teaches first, second and third year medical students behavioural science and communications skills. She also has a number of research interests and is currently working on a number of projects including the development of innovative programmes to encourage medical students to become psychiatrists; the development of a screening tool for Indigenous mental health; the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for depression; and metabolic syndrome in people with psychiatric illness.
Contact details
9346 2218
WORKSHOPS – Session One 9.45 – 11.15
ANDREA MUSULIN (Protective Behaviours)
Title
Protective Behaviours for Children
Abstract
Protective Behaviours can be used by children and young people to help keep them safe and work towards reducing violence in the community. It can provide the basis for helping children and young people be safe at school and take pleasure from their learning. It can also help children learn to stay safe from the risks that surround them in their everyday life. The program whilst useful in preventing abuse also addresses empowerment, communication, self-esteem, resilience, social skills and other life skills. By teaching and promoting these concepts, Protective Behaviours helps to prevent abuse, reduce violence and promote life-enriching rather than life-depleting experiences. It encourages children to:
- Assert their right to feel safe
- Listen to what their body tells them
- Follow up by taking action to either solve problems on their own or to seek assistance from other people
When presenting the program, a number of the concepts and strategies are presented with each of these themes:
Theme 1 "We all have the right to feel safe all the time."
Theme 2 "Nothing is so awful that we can't talk about it with someone."
Biography
Andrea is the Executive Officer of Protective Behaviours WA Inc and has been with the organisation since 1993. Andrea has been a police officer for 24 years and during this time she specialised in the areas of child protection, domestic violence, and school based policing. Due to her experience she brings with her a vast array of knowledge in the field of child safety and protection both in a reactive and proactive manner.
Andrea is highly regarded throughout WA as a powerful trainer and successful advocate and innovator in the prevention of child sexual abuse and she has an undying, infectious passion for the safety and security of all children.
Contact details
andrea@protectivebehaviourswa.org.au
0409 071 068
WORKSHOPS – Session One 9.45 – 11.15
MAGGIE GARRARD (ACTF)
Title
Switching on E:Literacies: Engaging digital natives with multimodal teaching and learning in relation to personal development.
Abstract
Television, film and digital technologies are powerful vehicles that provide constant messages about culture, community values and identity. How do teachers and parents use these e:Literacy vehicles for positive development and discernment about what, who, how and why the messages are conceived and delivered. As well, how can these e:Literacies be utilised to promote discussion around personal development and personal wellbeing, the development of social/emotional intelligence and understanding the importance of communication and connectedness to the community.
All curriculum areas are responsible for literacy and married with multi-modal approaches, teachers can encourage students to be critical and discerning consumers of the messages that media agencies and media technologies present to them everyday.
Most importantly, today’s youth want to design and create their own messages (objects, opinions and communities) utilising digital technologies. They are acutely aware of the potentials of public display and avidly seek opportunities to communicate with their peers, globally and locally.
This workshop will provide delegates with an overview of the availability of resources that promote e:Literacies and multimodal learning. The ACTF offers educators high quality television, films and multimedia produced in Australia for Australian children and teenagers that are relevant and entertaining supported by extensive teaching resources.
Biography
Maggie is experienced in developing Victorian educational policy in the areas of curriculum, assessment and reporting. A former secondary drama teacher and primary classroom teacher, she has worked with teachers providing professional development for The Arts domain, as well as developing resource materials for schools to use in the areas of contemporary 21st learning and teaching, and associated evidence based assessment.
Maggie’s role at the ACTF involves making connections with professional teacher associations and education authorities across Australia. Promoting to schools, tertiary and pre-service educators the productions, programs and digital resources developed by the ACTF.
Contact details
03 9419 8800
WORKSHOPS Session Two – 11.30 – 1.00
WILSON AND JULIE McCASKILL (The Game Factory)
Title
GAMES FOR GROWING – Improving learning behaviours
Abstract
The pressure is on. Every teacher feels the weight of expectation from their Education Department, the Government and the Community. Children must achieve, achieve, achieve and nothing will speak more highly of a teacher, their school and its leaders than excellent NAPLAN results.
The only problem is that your class has far too many children lacking the self-control, motivation and cooperative skills to profit from your well-planned lessons.
Even with all your experience and training you’re spending too much time trying to control behaviour and too little in quality teaching.
The Game Factory philosophy and program of physically interactive games helps children to develop the effective and appropriate learning behaviours that create safe and productive classrooms.
Enjoy a 90 minute hands-on, practical, straight talking workshop that will give you tools for immediate use and an insight into a proven program for the development of positive social behaviour in primary schools.
Biography
Trained in Britain as a drama specialist, Wilson McCaskill started exploring game-playing as a form of social education in the early 1990s, while running his acting school and theatre company in Perth, Western Australia.
Wilson’s work in a great number of schools throughout Australia created the real life, classroom experiences that have helped to shape the program into the success it is today. His games approach towards the improvement of pro-social behaviour continues to evolve and develop, keeping it relevant to the issues facing teachers, parents and children in primary schools.
Wilson and his wife Julie travel Australia presenting professional development workshops that have inspired many teachers and schools to make The Game Factory’s PLAY IS THE WAY™ program a regular and important feature of their classroom timetables.
Contact details
enquiries@thegamefactory.com.au
9343 3033
WORKSHOPS Session Two – 11.30 – 1.00
SUE BYRNE (University of Western Australia)
Title
Promoting positive body image in schools
Abstract
Body image was identified as the number one concern of both males and females in a 2007 survey of over 30,000 Australian adolescents. Up to 80% of adolescent girls and 50% of adolescent boys report being dissatisfied with their bodies and, among primary school-aged children, 50% of girls and 30% of boys report body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction is a known risk factor for the type of disordered eating that is associated with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, including such extreme and unhealthy weight loss techniques as severe dietary restriction, self-induced vomiting and laxative abuse. A recent Australian study found that approximately 20% of adolescent females engage in such behaviours. The incidence of disordered eating in young people has increased significantly in Australia over the last two decades. During the same time frame, the prevalence of obesity in Australian children has trebled. Body image is central to both eating disorders and obesity, and both conditions are associated with severe adverse medical and psychosocial consequences. The effect of extensive public health efforts to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity on body image and disordered eating is not clear, however, it is possible that strategies to prevent obesity might actually promote excessive weight and shape concern, poor body image and disordered eating among young people. This workshop will examine the outcomes of school-based prevention programmes that have targeted eating disorders and obesity separately, and will conclude with recommendations for an integrated approach to the prevention of obesity, eating disorders and poor body image that could be implemented in schools.
Biography
Associate Professor Sue Byrne's research interests lie in the field of clinical psychology. She has a particular interest in eating and weight disorders and has a strong background in both research and clinical work in this area. Dr Byrnes previous research has included projects investigating body image in adolescents, eating disorders in elite athletes, and cognitive-behavioural models of bulimia nervosa.
She has recently returned to Perth after spending four and a half years at Professor Christopher Fairburn’s Centre for Research into Eating Disorders at the University of Oxford, U.K. During her time in Oxford, she was involved in research which aimed to develop and test a new cognitive-behavioural treatment for obesity.
Her current research projects include a series of studies looking at the problem of weight regain in obesity, and a large prospective cohort study which aims to identify factors influencing the development and persistence of childhood obesity.
WORKSHOPS Session Two – 11.30 – 1.00
MOIRA SIM (Edith Cowan University)
Title
Working with young people on alcohol and other drug use issues.
Abstract
Alcohol and other drug use in young people is a growing concern for the community. While in most cases it is a transient phenomenon, in others drug use is continued into later years, with associated physical, psychological and social consequences. Families and schools can play an important part in building resilience and preventing harmful drug use. Treatment approaches in young people focus on engagement and gaining the trust and therapeutic alliance required to work effectively. This interactive session will explore the underlying attitudes and factors which shape drug use, important features in the engagement of young people and approaches used in managing alcohol and other drug issues.
Biography
Associate Professor Moira is the coordinator of Postgraduate Medicine at Edith Cowan University, a GP and a specialist drug and alcohol physician with over 20 years of clinical practice in the community. She has an extensive background in the education of health professionals and is involved in research in alcohol and drug issues, mental health, behavioural skills, health promotion and quality prescribing. She has served on boards of governance for general practice organisations at national, state and local levels and has worked to increase access to care through professional education, advocacy and the establishment of change through many roles in healthcare system.
Contact details
6304 3504
WORKSHOPS Session Three – 1.30 – 3.00
HELEN STREET (Wise Solutions)
Title
SMART Skills for Learning
Abstract
Procrastination is a formidable adversary for even the most capable of students. Yet, there are simple strategies that every student can employ to combat procrastination and ensure they make progress towards their goals. Those who do take action are often separated from those who procrastinate simply because of the way that their goals are presented. Not because the goal’s they set are especially low or high. This workshop shows you how to help your students’ progress towards their goals in a successful and sustainable way, no matter what their underlying ability. It uses five SMART skills to demonstrate that sometimes it really is not so much what goals are set, but the way that we set them, that counts.
Biography
Having successfully completed a PhD at The University of Sheffield in the UK, Associate Professor Helen Street worked in mental health research before travelling to Australia in 1998.
Helen was employed as a university lecturer in Queensland and quickly gained international standing as an expert in psychological aspects of depression and wellbeing. She has published internationally in respected academic journals and presented her work in Europe, North America and Australia. In 1999 Helen was employed by the medical faculty at the University of Western Australia. She became an Associate Professor in 2009 having taken over the running of the undergraduate Behavioural Science program in late 2005.
Helen began formally evaluating children in school settings in Australia in 2000 and quickly gained a reputation as an advocate for the importance of meaningful and accurate evaluation of wellbeing within our schools.
In addition to her published papers, Helen co-wrote the self-help book “Standing Without Shoes” with George Burns in 2003. The book explores the prevention and treatment of depression through an increased understanding of happiness and wellbeing.
Helen is an adjunct research consultant for the health department of Western Australia's Centre for Clinical Interventions and a registered psychologist specialising in the cognitive treatment of depression and anxiety. She is also co-conference organiser for Positive Schools. Helen’s latest book ‘Life Overload – effective stress management for people too busy to read this book’ is being published by Finch and will be released in March 2011.
Contact
Email (UWA) helen.street@uwa.edu.au
Phone (UWA) 08 9346 2045 or (Wise Solutions) 08 9388 8843
WORKSHOPS Session Three – 1.30 – 3.00
ROSIE and LUCY THOMAS (Project Rockit)
Title
Catalysts for change: Giving young people the opportunity to take the lead in anti-bullying culture.
Abstract
A workshop exploring the contention that truly proactive anti-bullying projects and pastoral programs must extend beyond the lens of bullying to actually instill social conscience and responsible citizenship among young people. We argue that old-fashioned strategies such as ‘walk away, ignore it, tell a teacher’ do not offer young people the opportunity to develop their own strategies based on what is relevant to their own unique experience. Put quite simply, tactics that we wouldn’t ourselves use as adults are equally as inadequate for young people.
We argue that in fact, the issue of bullying houses exciting youth leadership opportunities. These creative possibilities translate in a broader social context, echoing core personal development around social responsibility and ethics, citizenship and values. Engaging young people to do this requires the same level of creativity and a genuine understanding of the issues young people face. To acknowledge that young people do care about the issue of bullying, we must also give individuals the opportunity to independently reflect on their own behaviour and be active in making decisions about change.
Biography
PROJECT ROCKIT is the initiative of sister team, Lucy and Rosie Thomas. Lucy and Rosie are highly creative and innovative youth professionals, whose imaginative take on life is at the core of their abilities to facilitate the hopes and dreams of fellow young people. Lucy and Rosie have now worked with over 15,000 students from a wide range of educational backgrounds. The PROJECT ROCKIT sessions represent a 'show me, don't tell me' approach to learning. Using an array of dramatic role-plays, group activities, student performances, creative writing and real-life stories, each session embodies key messages and strategies that are most relevant to young people.
Contact details
0432 973 035
WORKSHOPS Session Three – 1.30 – 3.00
CARLA MEURS (Solving The Jigsaw)
Title
There’s nothing you can’t talk about – creating a safe and supportive place for kids
Abstract
This interactive workshop will include excerpts from Kids’ Business, screened in full on the ABC last year. It shows the multi-award winning Solving the Jigsaw approach to creating a safe space for children to consider the stories of their lives, in a supportive and nurturing environment. The workshop will explore the real life issues that impact on children; bullying, death of family member, family separation and violence in the home.
We will explore:
- violence and bullying in the context of behaviours, attitudes and beliefs that provide justifications for the misuse power to control, hurt, threaten and frighten others.
- how teachers and children can take action to break the silence about violence, bullying and abuse.
- responses to violence that build capacity to change, challenge, empathise, trust and support each other.
Biography
Carla Meurs has worked on the development of Solving the Jigsaw since it’s inception in 1997. She has 7 years experience as the co-coordinator of a regional domestic violence service (EASE) in Victoria, and 8 years experience as a secondary school teacher. Carla is a dedicated advocate for the rights and needs of children and young people and the capacity of communities to work in partnerships to support the well being of children.
Contact details
CarlaM@solvingthejigsaw.org.au
03 5443 4844/ 0407 326 700
Enrolment in the OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS will be open on Friday the 30th of April at 10am Perth time until 12 midnight on Friday the 7th of May. Enrolments in the OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS will be open for one week only. No enrolments in the OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS will be accepted after the closing date.
(CLICK HERE TO REGISTER on the 30th of April at 10 am WA time)
