SINGAPORE, Sept 22 — They are so-called “mid-risk” youth — yet to show signs of misbehaviour, but are exposed to negative influences or come from troubled families. And for the first time, a 25-week programme has been developed by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) to help lower the chances of these teens turning bad.
Instead of engaging these youths — typically identified by risk factors including troubled family backgrounds, academic underachievement and low self-esteem — directly on their negative influences or personal problems, youth workers reach out to talk about their personal aspirations.
Under Scaffold, which is offered in four participating secondary schools involving 200 lower secondary students, entire classes undergo the programme — in contrast, programmes for at-risk youth usually involve taking them aside individually.
The NCSS hopes to eventually reach out to 800 students within this three-year pilot phase.
Conducted during normal school hours, the first 10 of the 25-week programme are set aside for students to set their goals — ranging from their ambitions to personal achievements they hope to achieve in their relationships — and for youth workers to identify the skills, education pathways and personal characteristics they need to achieve these goals.
For the remaining 15 weeks, the voluntary welfare organisation plans the curriculum according to the class’ needs. The NCSS said focussing on personal aspirations is a method based on research done by Dr Daphna Oyserman, a psychology professor, which showed that helping youth identify and develop goals improved their self-efficacy.
Lim Yu Kee, principal of Bedok Green Secondary School, which is one of the participating schools under Scaffold, said the programme complements the school’s Character and Citizenship Education curriculum. “Currently, about 80 Secondary One students are involved in various aspects of the programme, ranging from motivational lessons to after-school club activities that teach students life skills and teamwork,” he said.
Youth workers from Children-At-Risk Empowerment Association (CARE Singapore) and Students Care Service lead the Scaffold pilot programme, which started in April.
Gary Chia, manager of youth services at CARE Singapore, said: “A lot of these youths are being left out ... If intervention is not done early enough, they could lose interest or let their family or personal problems take over, and then it will spiral downwards.”
The NCCS noted that the need to look at preventive intervention in the lower secondary years was due to observations that vulnerable students were more susceptible to dropping out of school during the transition to Sec 1 and that to Sec 3. The Education Ministry said the overall proportion of each Primary 1 cohort that does not complete secondary education had fallen from four per cent in 2000 to less than one per cent in the past five years.
“We used to take out ... difficult students from all the classes (and) put them together ... (While) they might listen to you for that bit, the minute they are back in the class setting, that’s when problems surface,” said Chia.
Scaffold is offered to selected Normal stream classes at participating schools, though it is intended to be open to students from other streams as well. “Most times, the schools identify the students that require more support, and it is almost always (those from) the Normal stream classes,” said Chia.
“Some students do ask why they had been specially chosen, but as the programme progresses, our experience is that Express stream students want it as well, so it becomes a special programme available (for now) only to (those in) the Normal stream, rather than a stigma,” he added. — TODAY
