Leaders Closing the Gap in Youth Attainment and Transitions: The Journey So Far in Senior Secondary Schooling

All young people completing Year 12 in Queensland are now expected to attain a qualification. There has been a fundamental change of mindset about the purposes of senior secondary schooling which has challenged education leaders to devise strategies for the achievement of that desired outcome. As part of an Australian Research Council Linkage project with the Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET), this research reports on leadership strategies for system-wide multi-level reform that, in this instance, are intended to achieve that outcome for young people (who are notionally 17 years old at the time of completing Year 12). This Report provides insight into the strategies of educational leaders who are redefining learning relationships with young people in Years 10, 11 and 12. From 2007 to 2010, a range of data was collected and analysed. This included interviews with educational leaders operating at local schools, district, regional offices and state levels of education and training; a questionnaire distributed to education and training, workplace and community agency leaders; policy documents and publicly accessible documents from schools and organisational websites. The findings presented are situated in reference to, and informed by related research in this field