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Support and Retain
Young adult Learners with Interrupted Formal Education (LIFE) are often high risk. They have specific needs and face barriers to learning.
Esther’s story illustrates how programs need to identify barriers and create supports so that learners succeed in school. This stage explores the process we use in the Bridge program to identify barriers and build academic and social supports for learners to stay in school.
Identify Barriers and Needed Support
- Think holistically about the learners and the barriers learners have.
- Anticipate barriers and be pro-active in addressing them.
- Identify the barriers that learners face.
- Identify the support learners need academically and socially/personally to overcome these barriers.
Build in Academic Support
- Help learners set long-term and short-term goals that are realistic and achievable.
- Help learners understand the concept of pre-requisites and develop a realisic understanding of their educational level.
- Give direction to learners and help them understand the steps needed to reach their goals and the approximate timeframe required.
- Hold learner conferences at regular intervals during the program.
Build in Social Support
- Develop a process to address learners’ barriers.
- If possible, hire a student support worker to meet with learners and to ease pressure on instructors.
- Make connections to community resources.
- Ensure that learners’ needs are communicated to the whole team as needed.
Help Learners Overcome Barriers
- Think holistically when addressing learner barriers.
- Support learners in developing the skills and strategies necessary to help themselves.
- Respond to the full range of learners’ needs.
- Be creative and flexible in finding new ways to address learners’ barriers to stay in school.
For more information, please refer to Bridging the Gap: A Framework for Teaching and Transitioning Low Literacy Immigrant Youth.
