Building Connections

Participation and engagement in formal education until the end of Year 12 is proven to improve life outcomes for learners.* Individuals’ health, work prospects and relationships all benefit in the longer term by continuing with education for as long as possible.

For some learners there are a number of challenges that limit their capacity to remain engaged with their education. Challenges may include disability, health problems, personal responsibilities and socioeconomic disadvantage. Often these learners have a lack of knowledge of their education and training options, limited interest and confidence in undertaking study and constraints linked to cost, transport and time that contribute to their disconnect from learning.**

This course offers learners who are at risk of disengaging from their education a targeted and supported course to reconnect with learning and develop competencies that will enable them to engage with their education program. The course is learner-centred with learners actively involved in decision making and actions.

This course exists for learners who need to develop very basic literacy and numeracy skills, generic social skills, and acceptable social behaviours that will advance opportunities for their future, both as active participants in their community and potential employees.

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* OECD, Education at a Glance 2013, P42

** Davies, Lamb and Doecke, 2011, Strategic Review of Effective RE-Engagement Models for Disengaged Learners, University of Melbourne

This course aims to assist young people to re-engage with education and training and to identify employment options. It aims to help young people who have not completed, or are at risk of not completing compulsory schooling to make the transition back to education/training.

While it will require course participants to consider employment and career options, it is not designed as a preparation for employment course. Its primary focus is development of the skills and behaviours that support young people in successfully participating in education and training.

Learners will enter this course at various stages of preparedness for learning. Some learners will be in situations of disadvantage – they may be vulnerable, have a disability or have multiple barriers to engagement. Learners may require a learner-centred, innovative and personalised approach to learning:

• nature of support – a range of supports and outreach services may be involved. These may include youth workers, support workers, health professionals, child protection workers, not-for-profit youth focused agencies, service providers and case workers
• external factors – including health, transport, housing arrangements, family responsibilities, social networks and other personal circumstances that will all influence the learner’s ability to successfully participate in their learning program
• learning environment – should be appealing, safe, provide a sense of belonging, ownership for the learner and must value diversity. Learning may be best provided in the learner’s community rather than the school environment. It will need to be contextually and culturally relevant to the learner. Some learning may be conducted off-site for the school or in an alternative context.

These influencing factors must be considered when planning and providing learning opportunities. Support must be relevant to the learner’s needs and their stage of development.

On successful completion of this course, learners will be able to:

This course has a complexity level of 1.

At Level 1, the learner is expected to carry out tasks and activities that draw on a limited range of knowledge and skills. The tasks and activities generally have a substantial repetitive aspect to them. Minimum judgement is needed as there are usually very clear rules, guidelines or procedures to be followed. VET competencies at this level are often those characteristic of an AQF Certificate I.

This course has a size value of 15.

Programs of learning will be developed using the topics and skills. Topics do not need to be delivered in any particular order. In some contexts they may be delivered holistically with the context determining which components of the topic are delivered at which time and in which order. The identified skills will be developed throughout the learning program.

When developing the learning program the provider must consider the student voice in their planning. It should reflect opportunities for:

• learner-centred decision making and action
• building capacity through networking
• developing aspiration
• fostering relationships

The course content is divided into two distinct components: Skills and Topics.

The identified skills must be developed within the context of studying the topics.

This course consists of a range of topics from which learning programs will be developed and personalised to each learner’s individual needs. The sequence in which the topics are delivered and assessed is not prescribed. Topics are not intended to be delivered and assessed as discrete Units. Concurrent delivery and assessment will occur when there are obvious connections for the learner between topics.

SKILLS
Basic Problem Solving Skills

Learners will gain understanding of simple problem solving skills and strategies (e.g. identify problem; look at possible solutions; make decision; implement decision and assess). These skills and strategies will be applied to real life situations and be contextualised within the topics of this course.

Finding Information
Learners will gain understanding of simple skills and strategies for the location of information they require (e.g. phrasing questions to gain the required information, and using simple internet search strategies). These skills and strategies will be applied to real life situations and be contextualised within the topics of this course.

TOPICS
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CAPABILITY

• self-awareness and self-management
  • values, beliefs, personal preferences and tendencies
  • feelings
  • positive and negative self-talk
  • using one’s senses to make meaning of the world around you
  • self-management plans and strategies
  • taking responsibility
  • replacing negative or harmful behaviours with more positive and supportive behaviour.
• self esteem
  • strengths and weaknesses
  • coping strategies
  • respect for self
  • building resilience
  • trying new activities.

• relationships
  • assertive communication
  • conflict resolution
  • dealing with negative behaviour
  • qualities of friendships and other types of relationships
  • respect for the feelings of others
  • strategies to cope with changing relationships.

• interpersonal communication
  • active listening
  • respect for others’ point of view
  • basic conflict resolution strategies
  • contributing to group discussion
  • clear meaning – in speaking and listening
  • body language.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

• safe living practices
• risk-taking behaviour
• protective behaviour
• sources of reliable advice and support
• workplace health and safety roles and responsibilities
• dealing with unforeseen circumstances and incidents.

READING AND WRITING

• reading for everyday use (e.g. signs, recipes, advertisements, messages, maps)
• completing forms (e.g. employment forms, government forms such as tax file number (TFN) applications, time sheets, applying for Unique Student Identifier (USI) , learners or drivers licence)
• reading for pleasure (e.g. magazines, interactive webpages, graphic novels)
• writing for everyday purposes (e.g. notes, simple messages, addressing an envelope)
• reading simple workplace documents (e.g. signs, simple procedures).

WORKING WITH NUMBERS

• understanding place value in whole numbers (e.g. reading, naming and writing whole numbers, comparing whole numbers)
• using money amounts (e.g. comparing values, rounding to nearest 5 cents , calculating common percentages of money using mental computation)
• performing simple calculations with whole numbers and money amounts (e.g. totalling measurements and costs, calculating unused materials or change, budgeting)
• recognising common fractions (limited to ½, ¼, 1/10) decimals and percentages, and their relation to each other (e.g. ½ = 0.5 = 50%)
• using calculators in simple calculations
• recognising basic metric units of measurement for length, area, mass and volume
• describing the difference between types of measure (e.g. perimeter and  area)
• using basic measurement equipment (e.g. tape measure, scales, measuring cup)
• simple mental computation including estimating and checking solutions.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OPTIONS

• planning future learning and career options
• learning gained from non-institutional settings
• how to determine suitable employment options
• paid and volunteer work
• what do employers expect of employees
• appropriate attitudes in relation to work ethics and habits
• workplace learning experiences available in the community.

BASIC COMPUTER USE

• creating, saving and opening simple files
• word processing
• using the internet to access information
• social media and appropriate use
• emails intended for an individual recipient with no attachments.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

• what makes communities work
• what do young people expect from their communities
• what can they contribute to their communities
• what services are available.

PLANNING AND ORGANISING

• working out how long a task is likely to take
• breaking a task into discrete elements
• identifying the factors that influence staying on task
• taking responsibility for own ability to commit to and complete tasks
• completing tasks in a given time frame
• developing a task list.

PORTFOLIO
The learner will develop a portfolio of work including:
A learning journal

• reflections on activities undertaken
• reflections on the development of their personal and social capabilities. (Note: this will require guiding questions as a scaffold).

And evidences that demonstrate development of the skills of:

• personal and social capability
• literacy
• numeracy
• career planning
• planning and organising
• using a computer
• health and wellbeing.

Evidence may be provided in the following forms:

• written
• digital recordings (e.g. digital recording of actual words, notations made by another person of the learner’s oral responses)
• oral recordings
• production of items
• practical demonstration of skills – validated using images and / or signed documents
• checklists (e.g. of observed evidence).

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PROFILE
Each learner – in collaboration with a significant other appointed by the provider – will create a Personal Development Profile. A ‘significant other’ may be a learner’s teacher, course facilitator, case-worker, support-worker or case manager. The Profile will consist of four parts:

• a self-evaluation made by the learner at the start of the program
• an evaluation of the learner’s development made by the significant other at the start of the program
• a self-evaluation made by the learner at the end of the program
• an evaluation of the learner’s development made by the significant other at the end of the program.

Each evaluation will focus on the learner’s:

• understanding of the personal and contextual factors that contribute to successful learning in an education institution
• understanding of the impact that various choices have on personal success in education
• identification of positive and realistic education and employment options for themselves.

The learner’s self-evaluation may be in a variety of forms such as:

• word lists or short paragraphs
• recorded oral responses (e.g. digital recording of actual words, notations made by another person of the learner’s oral responses)
• collections of images and/or words collected from magazines, the internet etc.

The significant other’s self-evaluation may be in a variety of forms such as:

• a formal written report
• a collection of notes
• a digital recording.

The Personal Development Profile will provide evidence towards the learner meeting the criteria. The learner’s self-evaluations will be used as evidence of the self-awareness implicit in the criteria.

Criterion-based assessment is a form of outcomes assessment that identifies the extent of learner achievement at an appropriate end-point of study. Although assessment – as part of the learning program – is continuous, much of it is formative, and is done to help learners identify what they need to do to attain the maximum benefit from their study of the course. Therefore, assessment for summative reporting to TASC will focus on what both teacher and learner understand to reflect end-point achievement.

The standard of achievement each learner attains on each criterion is recorded as a rating of ‘C’ (satisfactory standard) according to the outcomes specified in the standards section of the course document.

A ‘t’ notation must be used where a learner demonstrates any achievement against a criterion less than the standard specified for the ‘C’ rating. The ‘t’ notation is not described in course standards.

A ‘z’ notation is to be used where a learner provides no evidence of achievement at all.

Providers offering this course must participate in quality assurance processes specified by TASC to ensure provider validity and comparability of standards across all awards. For further information, see TASC's quality assurance and assessment processes.

Internal assessment of all criteria will be made by the provider. Assessment processes must gather evidence that clearly shows the match between individual learner performance, the standards of the course and the learner’s award. Providers will report the learner’s rating for each criterion to TASC.

The following processes will be facilitated by TASC to ensure there is:

• a match between the standards of achievement specified in the course and the skills and knowledge demonstrated by individual learners
  
• community confidence in the integrity and meaning of the qualification.

Process

TASC will verify that the provider’s course delivery and assessment meet the course requirements and community expectations for fairness, integrity and validity of qualifications TASC issues. This will involve checking:

• Provider standard 1: scope and sequence documentation:
  • course delivery plan
  • course assessment plan, assessment matrix
• Provider standard 2: student attendance records
• Provider standard 3: examples of assessments tools and instruments and associated rubrics and marking guides
• Provider standard 1 and 3: examples of student work including that related to any work requirements articulated in the course document
• Provider standard 4: class records of assessment

This process will be scheduled by TASC using a risk-based approach.

The assessment for Building Connections Level 1 will be based on whether the learner can:

Building Connections Level 1 (with the award of):

SATISFACTORY ACHIEVEMENT

PRELIMINARY ACHIEVEMENT

The final award will be determined by the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification from 6 ratings.

The minimum requirements for an award in Building Connections Level 1 are as follows:

Satisfactory Achievement (SA)
5 ‘C’ ratings

Preliminary Achievement (PA)
3‘C’ ratings

The Department of Education’s Curriculum Services will develop and regularly revise the curriculum. This evaluation will be informed by the experience of the course’s implementation, delivery and assessment. In addition, stakeholders may request Curriculum Services to review a particular aspect of an accredited course.

Requests for amendments to an accredited course will be forwarded by Curriculum Services to the Office of TASC for formal consideration.

Such requests for amendment will be considered in terms of the likely improvements to the outcomes for learners, possible consequences for delivery and assessment of the course, and alignment with Australian Curriculum materials.

A course is formally analysed prior to the expiry of its accreditation as part of the process to develop specifications to guide the development of any replacement course.

The accreditation period for this course has been renewed from 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2025.

During the accreditation period required amendments can be considered via established processes.

Should outcomes of the Years 9-12 Review process find this course unsuitable for inclusion in the Tasmanian senior secondary curriculum, its accreditation may be cancelled. Any such cancellation would not occur during an academic year.

Version 1 – Accredited on 24 April 2017 for use from 1 January 2018. This course replaces Building Connections (PRE010113) that expired on 31 December 2017.

Accreditation renewed on 22 November 2018 for the period 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2021.

Version 1.a - Renewal of Accreditation on 14 July 2021 for the period 31 December 2021 until 31 December 2023, without amendments.

LINE OF SIGHT– Building Connections Level 1