Identifying at-risk youth: strategies to help them succeed

Abstract

Approximately 30-40% of Canadian children are deemed to be at risk of not completing high school and 1.2 million or 27.6% of Canadian children under the age of 11 can be considered vulnerable to emotional, behavioural, social, or academic problems. Through the use of unobtrusive research under a qualitative research paradigm, a democratic approach to education focusing on empowering members of the teaching community and students has been done. This research narrows the gap between traditional education practices and explores new ways of instruction in order to create a healthy learning environment where students are able to feel excited and empowered through their learning. This manual encourages educators to try, adapt, and adopt new methodologies in their teaching repertoire. Intervention strategies include physical literacy, adventure-based learning, strengths-based approach, and social justice.iii TABLE OF CONTENTSAbstract ii Chapter 1: IntroductionEducation is the primary factor that enables people to lead healthy, fulfilling lives. It plays a role in the healthy development of individuals by providing them with tools and skills to become productive members of society. When youth feel connected to school, they are more likely to report better health, above average marks, and engage in fewer risky activities than youth who feel less connected (Schonert-Reichl, 2000; Smith, Peled, Albert, MacKay, Stewart, Saewyc, & the McCreary Center Society, 2007). This connection to school provides a sense of belonging and enables youth to foster relationships with teachers and peers.Unfortunately, not all students thrive in mainstream schools. Young people today have many temptations and challenges such as violence, drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, and numerous other potential distractions from healthy and productive lifestyles (Penn, Doll, & Grandgenett, 2008;Schonert-Reichl, 2000). Poverty, dysfunctional families, housing instabilities, and various forms of abuse are just some of the other crippling issues our youth face on a daily basis. These problems are what lead educators to identify youth as at risk or high risk.At-risk is a multifaceted label applied to particular youth in any educational setting on a daily basis. When educators use the term at-risk, they are referring to the multitude of issues mentioned above (Brownell, Roos, MacWilliam, LeClair, Ekuma, & Fransco, 2010;Schonert-Reichl, 2000;Smith et al., 2007;Wotherspoon, & Schissel, 2001). Students may also appear lethargic, withdrawn, or sad in addition to the behavioural characteristics. These issues play a major role in the psycho-social development of these students which adds to their characterization of at-risk. Furthermore, an extension of the label at-risk is high-risk youth who are the at-risk youth disconnected from school, family and community, 2 compounding the risks and challenges of their lives (Penn, Doll, & Grandgenett, 2008;Schonert-Reichl, 2000;Smith et al., 2007). Education systems previously have forgotten, marginalized, or misrepr...