THE CHALLENGE
Youth Justice NSW cares for young people in Youth Justice Centres and the Department of Education manages a school for specific purposes (SSP) in each of the six Youth Justice Centres across NSW. The longest school holiday period occurs at the end of Term 4 in December/January, which is approximately six weeks in duration. This six week period has been identified by Youth Justice NSW as a time where further support is required to enable continuity of learning for young people in custody, in particular regarding the development of literacy and numeracy skills.
The Strategy Group partnered with the Department of Education and Youth Justice NSW to identify and develop opportunities to support young people in custody during school holidays.
THE APPROACH
Shaping a range of services and support initiatives to meet the deeper needs of young people as part of school holiday activities.
The Strategy Group provided recommendations for a range of service/support initiatives to be piloted in NSW Youth Justice Centres to improve the school holiday experience for young people in Youth Justice Centres across NSW. This was achieved through conducting a series of immersive interviews with young people from diverse genders, ages and backgrounds to uncover their deeper needs, drivers and barriers in relation to what they would like to engage in during the school holidays.
Co-design workshops were then facilitated with a diverse group of stakeholders to explore services and support initiatives that would meet the identified needs of young people in custody.
OUTCOMES
Concrete recommendations for designing a two-week “Supports and Services Package” to be piloted in a youth justice centre in 2022.
The project has highlighted four actionable recommendations (with detailed initiatives) for the Department of Education and Youth Justice to consider as next steps:
- Test and validate recommended priority initiatives with young people in custody
- Identify a diverse range of providers who can assist in delivering the solutions and services package
- Formalise a feedback process to continuously collect feedback from young people in youth justice centres
- Ensure collaboration and communication across all of the youth justice centres to enable the cross-pollination of ideas and sharing of valuable lessons learnt.
The Department of Education and Youth Justice now has a clear path forward to experiment and trial the ‘Supports and services Package’ that can meet the needs of young people in custody and improve their school holiday experience.
