Innovative Community Action Networks (ICAN) bring together young people, families, schools, community groups, businesses and different levels of government to find solutions to local issues that prevent young people from completing their education. ICANs are a key part of the Making the connections, Student Retention Action Plan, a social inclusion initiative.
ICANs are targeting young people, between 12 and 19 years of age who are:
enrolled in school but at risk of early leaving
disengaged and/or not re-engaging to a pathway to employment, further education or community participation, or a combination of these.
ICANs are:
Innovative—new approaches
Community—people working together
Action—not just a talkfest
Networks—finding joined up solutions
Community partners
Community and partnership development, when seen as substantial core business in DECS schools, can generate environments in which quality learning becomes accessible to a wider range of people. Community partnerships are therefore pivotal to the success of ICAN, as demonstrated by the 60 ICAN programs which have shown that students who are disengaged from mainstream schooling can be successfully re-engaged in quality community-based learning programs.
The significance of partnerships
Underpinning ICAN are the guiding principles , which state that ICAN is about:
agencies, communities, family, social networks and individuals working together
identifying significant support people across stakeholders in the local community
developing local ownership around retention initiatives
identifying and developing working partnerships
demonstrating a commitment of working together in consulting across the community, sharing knowledge and wisdom about what will work
engaging young people in working with local business, industry and community in creating learning and work opportunities
supporting community and young people to lead planning and action associated with retention
embracing community capacity building principles.
Visit the ICAN website at www.ican.sa.edu.au for details of the ICAN program and its initiatives.
An Innovative Initiative is the FLO Pilot
Flexible Learning Option (FLO) is a DECS pilot enrolment approach to successfully engage and retain identified students in ICAN secondary schools in 2007.
FLO provides targeted students in ICAN secondary schools with some learning resource funding options to enable disengaged or disengaging young people to successfully re-engage with learning and earning pathways. The four ICAN areas in the State include schools in the metropolitan northern, southern, north western suburbs and the cities of Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla.
FLO students will participate in a learning program that may be delivered from within the school, as well as beyond the school in a wider learning community.
For more detail about FLO, visit www.ican.sa.edu.au/pages/FLO/ which provides detail on:
