Travellers programme appeals to staff and students alike

The effects of sad and traumatic events earlier this year among high school students were echoed in a recent Victoria University report. Author, Dr Nathan McCluskey, from the Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families, commented that it “...was recognised that students were struggling to deal with a range of transitional stresses and traumas irrespective of socio-economic status. In this sense, the ‘teenage condition’ was no respecter of decile.”
The pointed and timely statement came from a review of the Ministry of Health funded Travellers programme, run by children and young people’s charity Skylight.
Travellers aims to provide students with the skills and resources they need to “travel well” through their young life. The report found that “notwithstanding the incredible diversity that exists in NZ Schools, Travellers has widespread appeal amongst staff and students alike and crosses racial, cultural, gender, decile and learning ability boundaries.”
Travellers is a school-based scheme currently running in 94 schools throughout the country. On average 20 schools take up the programme per year. The current schools range from decile one to decile 10, with nearly 50 per cent falling within the decile four to seven range.
Based on an initial online survey of all year nines at participating schools, the programme recognises those young people that need the help and support of the Travellers eight-week programme. In 2009, Travellers online screening tool (which was described by some review participants as “the bomb”) had 12,400 individual student entries. 
Most schools run the Travellers programme in terms two and three when they have identified the students who would benefit from the programme.
Trained facilitators from within the school environment guide small groups of students through fun yet relevant activities, using “the journey” metaphor as the key link between all sessions and activities.
The programme aims to foster the healthy development of young people by:

• Providing a supportive environment
• Developing appropriate coping skills and strategies
• Exploring ways of thinking about stressful situations that are manageable for themselves
• Gaining a sense of empowerment by adopting behaviours that will result in an increased sense of self-worth
• Being able to access additional help and support when necessary.

As the Travellers programme entered its third year of being nationally funded, a review was necessary to see if the resources and approach used were still relevant to young people and how it was helping them deal with the stresses of modern life.
The report, from the Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families, audited the programme which has been running in schools since 2001.
The study involved qualitative interviews with 22 programme facilitators, 10 school principals and focus groups with 32 students who had been through the programme.
Participants thought it was a winner.
“Finding praise for the programme amongst key informants with the greatest interaction with it was not difficult and it was sometimes hard work evoking criticism,” wrote McCluskey. 
The reviewer also found much to like about the programme:
It is clear that the programme works best between Deciles 2 – 9 while at the extremes, it is stretched to comfortably meet the needs of literary and intellectual impoverishment on the one hand and linguistic and educational super-competence on the other.
However, all of these schools, regardless of decile found that the programme was hugely beneficial and helpful notwithstanding these challenges. Selecting the aspects of the programme that are best suited to given groups of students, facilitators are managing to adapt the programme in a flexible manner so that it can reach, touch and affect the psychology of many of their charges.
From within their extensive interviews, the reviewers received many anecdotal success stories. In a section entitled Stories from the Front, they included some of these:

• Participants said that they were going to teach the programme to their parents because ‘they really need this stuff’
• In one case a student changed a 20 per cent attendance rate to an 80 per cent rate after completing the programme.
• Because of the increased confidence and linguistic ability one participant had developed through the programme, they were able to avoid being suspended.

The conclusion was emphatic: “Results would suggest that the current content and operation of the Travellers programme is a well-liked and received model that would benefit from some cosmetic surgery rather than a major facelift.”
Phil Smith, National Travellers Manager, welcomed the result, saying “the survey result certainly reflects the feedback we are getting from participating schools, and the comprehensive nature of the audit means we can address the details that need adjusting.
We are always looking to improve Travellers so that it continues to meet the expectations and needs of schools and young people.”