RINE Research Journal 4: Teen Pregnancy

The Queensland Government has a state-wide Pregnant and Parenting Student programme designed to assist schools in providing equitable education to pregnant and parenting teens. Their website, http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=13245, includes some interesting statistics on the incidence of teen pregnancies in Australia.


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As is, unfortunately, so often the case, a cursory glance at the Northern Territory's figures is jaw-dropping. Whereas births to teenage mothers accounts for approximately 4% of all births, births to Indigenous teenage mothers account for a staggering 20% of all Indigenous births. The gap is heartbreaking.

The site quoted, as a Queensland authority, focuses on Queensland initiatives for pregnant and parenting students. However these initiatives, like those of the CCCares program in Canberra, provide an excellent benchmark and guide by which to orientate our inclusive programs for educating pregnant and parenting students.

The Learning Place outlines the pathways available to pregnant and parenting teens, which include continuing their schooling in a mainstream institution, studying by Distance Education, continuing at an alternative education centre which caters to their needs with on-campus support including child care, or enrolling in tertiary education.

The site underlines the importance of partnerships and flexibility in catering for pregnant and parenting teens. Partnerships may involve health care providers, counselling services, local charitable organisations, transport providers, vocational training institutions and many more members of the wider community. These partnerships allow the school more options in terms of the logistics of catering to a pregnant or parenting teen on a restricted funding budget.

An excellent example of using partnership and thinking outside the square, is the case of Geelong school Corio Bay Senior College (CBSC). Located in a disadvantaged area with a growing population of young parents, CBSC established an on-campus creche to care for the children of their students by creating a partnership with the local TAFE, who agreed to use the school campus as the site for its Certificate III Community Services (Childcare) course. Initiatives such as this illustrate the importance of flexibility, not just in curriculum delivery but in organisational planning, and shows what can be achieved when schools look beyond their own resources to the wider community for help.