Beacon aims to help young people make informed, high aspiration decisions about their future pathways.
We have an established track record of helping inspire and motivate students to either stay in school and increase their educational engagement and attainment or choose a positive pathway that enables successful transition to employment, further education or training.
Our unique program works in secondary schools to support young people to develop this focus through engaging and influencing the attitudes and behaviour of the broader community. By harnessing community involvement, it works within schools to ensure young people are either earning or learning at vulnerable transition points in their lives.
For young people to transition onto positive pathways they need to be personally equipped with knowledge, skills and confidence to make informed decisions, to have appropriate post school opportunities available and accessible, and need support to navigate their options and disappointments throughout the transition period.
Australia has high rates of disengagement of 15 – 19 yr olds from education and employment, those that are disadvantaged are worst off.
Post school transition support has generally been the joint responsibility of the school, family, business and community, however for young people in disadvantaged communities who are less likely to have parental, business and community role models and networks, the school must play a greater role in providing this support.
Schools have generally been falling short both in providing support themselves and engaging the family, business and community.
Furthermore, business finds it challenging to engage directly; the Government is trying to bridge the gap but the results are inadequate; and non-profit organisations are having some successes but are not focused on transitions.
The Beacon Foundation has scaled to a large, national presence with deep school and business/community relationships, it is therefore now uniquely placed to demonstrate what works to support the post school transition of low SES young people and to therefore indirectly drive these changes into all low SES schools.
When compared to other youth attainment and transition initiatives, a key distinguishing factor of the Beacon model is the provision of direct support and one-on-one resources for schools. A key resource is extensive in-school support to the Beacon coordinator in the participating school, supported by tools, templates and best practice information for schools participating in Beacon programs.
As an active participant in the school environment, Beacon has the established credibility and connections to significantly leverage across clusters of schools in allotted regions.
Beacon has a split of metro, regional and remote schools. Ongoing one-on-one support is provided by the Beacon Partnerships Managers to each school Beacon Co-ordinator via personal visits, phone and/or email.
Beacon Partnerships Managers assist with career education programs by demonstrating best practice techniques, providing resources, tools, established programs, industry and business linkages and strategic connections for a whole of community approach.
Beacon’s Core Programs comprise a range of activities and events that support careers curriculums in the school, and our High Impact Programs are specifically targeted to those in greatest need.
Our evaluation process rigorously measures three main outcomes – retention, engagement and employment.
Beacon schools have comparatively better retention, employment and participation than the national rates, which is particularly compelling considering Beacon schools are in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
For more information on results, read Beacon’s 2010 National Outcomes Report.
