Communication and social connectedness

The importance of communication and a sense of social connectedness is well-recognised. It involves young people having the skills and opportunities to communicate with others, and feeling that there are people around them who can support them, particularly when times are tough.

The Gatehouse Project Adolescent Health Survey of Year 8 students, undertaken in 1997, included a range of questions about feelings of connectedness to others. Nearly a quarter of all young people surveyed reported that they had no one to talk to if they were upset, no-one they could trust and no-one to depend on. Importantly we found students reporting poor social connectedness (i.e. having no-one to talk to, no-one to trust, and no-one to depend on) are between two and three times more likely to experience depressive symptoms when compared to peers who reported the availability of more confiding relationships. The findings also revealed that 8% of young people reported recent arguments with two or more people who were close to them and these students were five times more likely to report depressive symptoms. A sense of social connectedness clearly is implicated with a young person's mental health and emotional well-being.

In addressing this area, the Gatehouse Project team assisted schools to consider what skills and knowledge students needed in order to be able to communicate and develop supportive relationships and what the environment and people within it could provide to promote social connectedness and a sense of belonging. From the Gatehouse Project Adolescent Health Survey, schools received information about students' perceptions of relationships supporting communication and social connectedness. Survey responses in relation to security and positive regard were also of interest in determining priorities. In the school audits, school teams considered which existing programs policies and practices might foster communication and social connectedness and which undermined these, at the level of the classroom, the whole school and in links with the community. For those areas that were positive, what was needed to maintain and strengthen them? How might we tackle those areas that were of concern? The critical friend was available to help access information about programs and policy development which might help address concerns.

Starting points

The Gatehouse Project's curriculum materials included a range of activities particularly focused on enhancing communication and interaction within the classroom. Professional development provided to teachers emphasised the importance of their roles as guides and advocates in the lives of students. Beyond the Gatehouse Project, programs focusing on the Middle Years of Schooling have highlighted interactive teaching and learning strategies and small student learning teams as ways of fostering engagement of young people with each other, their teachers and learning itself. Pastoral care and co-curricular programs, peer support and peer mediation, transition programs, involvement of parents and other members of the broader community in teaching and learning projects are some other areas where communication and social connectedness can be fostered.

Some strategies adopted by schools at different levels of school activity

1. At the level of the whole school

All schools face the challenge of simultaneously addressing a range of issues across the whole school. The Gatehouse Project encourages schools focus on promoting well-being when planning and implementing any change. The Gatehouse Project materials and student survey data provide processes and information for doing so. Genazzano’s school story illustrates the interweaving of the Gatehouse Project’s approach in three areas of whole school change:

• organisational restructure, recognising the importance of teacher teams responsible for both the learning and welfare needs of students at particular developmental stages
• development of more planned, co-ordinated and consistent processes for identifying and supporting individual students identified with particular concerns
• review of policies and procedures for promoting positive climate, good relationships and emotional well-being.

The story of this process highlights the importance of providing clear structures and procedures for communication between students, teachers and parents to increase social connectedness and emotional well-being, as well as more effective learning.

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