Polyglot Theatre 5678 Film Club

Program Evaluation Project 2017 Interim Report

Dr C.L. Deans

Dr L.A. Chapin

College of Health & Biomedicine, Victoria University

December 2017

Contents Overview of the 5678 Program .................................................................................................. 2

The 5678 Program .................................................................................................................. 2

Theoretical background ......................................................................................................... 2

Victoria University Partnership .............................................................................................. 3

Evaluation Aim ........................................................................................................................... 4

Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 4

Findings ...................................................................................................................................... 5

2016 Precursor study on school engagement in 5678 .......................................................... 5

Key Findings ....................................................................................................................... 5

Theoretical Findings ........................................................................................................... 6

Quotes related to “A Desire to Learn” ............................................................................... 7

Quotes related to “Social Connection” .............................................................................. 8

Quotes relating to “Autonomous Choosing” ..................................................................... 9

2017 Information ................................................................................................................. 10

Survey data sample .......................................................................................................... 10

Developmental Assets Profile .......................................................................................... 11

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) .............................................................. 13

School Engagement Measure – Macarthur (SEM-M) ...................................................... 14

2017 Study on school transition socioemotional readiness ................................................ 15

Key Findings ..................................................................................................................... 15

Theoretical Findings ......................................................................................................... 16

Quotes related to “Adult Relationships” ......................................................................... 17

Quotes related to “Self-confidence” ............................................................................... 18

Quotes related to “Learning Valuable Skills” ................................................................... 19

Quotes related to “Self-expression” ................................................................................ 20

Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 21

References ............................................................................................................................... 24

2

Overview of the 5678 Flim Club Program

The 5678 Film Club 5678 Film Club is a three-year film-making project supporting middle-years transition of

young people aged 10-14 years (grades 5,6,7, and 8) who are at risk of school disengagement

and social isolation. Based at St. Joseph’s Primary School, Polyglot engages professional

filmmakers to undertake creative workshops, mentor and develop a peer network with young

people. Students determine and produce short films which are screened at community

events.

The project is funded via collaboration with a number of non-Government organisations

operating within the Inner North and Yarra Council. Young people attending St Joseph’s are a

vulnerable group - over half are in special needs programs and most have CALD backgrounds.

Theoretical background Middle-years children are at risk of school disengagement and social isolation during their

transition from primary to secondary school (Victorian Auditor-General’s report, Education

Transitions 2015). The primary-secondary school transition is a pivotal part of a student’s

engagement in secondary school (Kingery, Erdley & Marshall, 2011; Knesting, Hokanson, &

Waldron, 2008; Ma, 2003). During this transition social, emotional, and academic changes

typically coincide, threatening some students’ ability to also focus on school (Aikins, Bierman,

& Parker, 2005).

School engagement is an important predictor of future academic and socioemotional

outcomes. A sense of engagement, however, can be difficult to maintain during periods of

significant change (Liu & Nguyen, 2011). Students from culturally and linguistically diverse

(CALD) backgrounds are more vulnerable to low school engagement (Durà-Vilà et al, 2012).

Some students from CALD backgrounds face language barriers, and the potential of social

isolation, hostility and racism (Howard & Hodes, 2000; UNHCR, 2006), and in addition families

grapple with economic hardship and differences in cultural customs (Almqvist & Broberg,

1999; Hodes, 2002a, 2002b). This has a negative effect on some students’ psychosocial

wellbeing and school engagement (Bhugra, 2004). School engagement in early years is

important because it predicts students’ later behaviour, including leaving school early. Early

school leavers are at greater risk of long-term unemployment, placing them at much higher

risk for social exclusion, welfare dependence and mental health problems (Australian Institute

of Family Studies 2013).

There is international research to support participation in non-standard curricular and

extracurricular community activities (Atwool, 2002; Tragg & van der Velden, 2011) as a way

of building the skills that have shown to effectively increase positive youth outcomes. A

combination of community factors and skills development appear to be the best way to build

resilient outcomes (Zimmerman et al, 2013). This is the focus of the 5678 Film Club program

run by Polyglot Theatre, through a focus on mentoring, building social skills, and encouraging

critical thinking, students will carry those skills with them into the classroom. In this study,

3

successful negotiation of transition is conceptualised as a resilience process (Sanders et al,

2012).

A full literature review of the process of school engagement and student wellbeing, and the

psychosocial contextual factors related to that transition, will be included in the final report

of the three-year study.

Victoria University Partnership Victoria University (VU) has been engaged by Polyglot to deliver a three-year evaluation of

the program, including research input into, and evaluation of the anticipated outcomes of the

program. Whilst there is no developed program logic, there is a set of anticipated outcomes

developed based on a theory of change model. VU created survey material, collected data,

and produced this 2017 Interim Report. Data collection will continue for and provide an

overall evaluation of the outcomes of the three-year program.

4

Evaluation Aim

The project aims to evaluate the anticipated and unanticipated outcomes of the 2017 5678

Film Club program. It will do this by investigating participants’ changes from both quantitative

and qualitative perspectives. Evaluation focussed on the outcomes of the program as

developed by Polyglot Theatre and VU:

School engagement and bonding

Predictors related to transition to secondary school

Improved resilience

Improved wellbeing

Increased social inclusion

Diversified vocational exposure and educational aspirations

and

Individual differences in the impact of the program (age, gender, etc)

Table 1. Focus areas / planned research questions for the 5678 Film Club evaluation

Year Potential focus areas

2017 Resilience and wellbeing plus Socioemotional readiness for transition to high school

2018 Resilience and wellbeing plus Social inclusion and community involvement outcomes (potential focus)

2019 Resilience and wellbeing plus Vocational aspirations (potential focus)

Overall Resilience, wellbeing, social inclusion School engagement, transition to high school, vocational exposure Individual differences across the entire sample

* These potential research questions are dependent on participant makeup

In addition, this report provides an overview of the qualitative evaluation of the 2016 program

which was a grounded theory study of the impact of the program on school engagement in

the participants.

Methodology Ethics approval for the study was gained via the Victorian University Human Research Ethics

Committee (HRE16-053 and HRE16-267). This was a mixed-methods study. The full

methodology will be included in the final report due for provision in January 2020. It includes

details of the process for gaining consent and interviewing children. It can be provided on

request at any time.

5

Findings

2016 Precursor study on school engagement in 5678 Film Club

Data collection. Ten students participated in the study. This sample size is appropriate and

typical of phenomenological methodology aiming at understanding the nature and meaning

of participants' experiences, as is the size of the community group being surveyed, participant

response rate, representativeness of experience, and timeline for the project (Guest, Bunce,

& Johnson, 2006). Table 1 summarises the details of participants and details about Film Club

attendance.

Research question. The research questions for this study were:

What are the positive outcomes for CALD adolescents participating in Film Club?

How is this involvement linked to the emotional aspects of school engagement?

Table 2. Participant demographics (2016 data)

Gender, Age (yrs) Grade Country of birth

Parents’ birth country

Time in Film Club

Female, 10 Grade 5 China China, Vietnam 3 months

Male, 12 Grade 6 Vietnam Vietnam 19 months

Male, 10 Grade 5 Vietnam Vietnam 7 months

Male, 14 Grade 8 Australia China 18 months

Male, 14 Year 8 Australia Vietnam 19 months

Female, 11 Grade 6 Vietnam Vietnam 19 months

Female, 11 Grade 6 Australia Somalia, Kenya 8 months

Female, 12 Grade 6 Australia South Sudan 19 months

Male, 12 Grade 6 Egypt South Sudan 19 months

Female, 10 Grade 5 Australia South Sudan 19 months

Key Findings

The 2016 evaluation study found the following:

Film Club participants gained personal skills that they reported improved their school

engagement.

In order to enhance school engagement, in the classroom students should be given

some freedom over their learning and assisted to take risks by way of balancing

structure with freedom.

Film Club provided opportunities for collaborative peer learning, learning flexible

enough to seize opportunities for teachable moments, and social inclusion learning.

Film Club has legitimacy as a resilience-building program.

6

Theoretical Findings

Participants’ reports supported the emotional aspects of published theoretical frameworks of

school engagement (Fredericks et al, 2004). It suggests that the creative learning environment

of Film Club is conducive to positive outcomes including improved classroom engagement.

Whilst Film Club topics of learning were interesting, that alone was not enough to foster

understanding or engagement. In conjunction with interesting topics, the synergy between

learning and feeling positive about learning moderated developing self-efficacy, group

inclusiveness and the ability to recognise different ways of being in differing contexts. These

orientations and experiences acted as forerunners to positive outcomes and resilience

building. As expected, students’ prolonged engagement in Film Club led to greater intentional

learning, wellbeing and competency across differing domains.

Student accounts also supported published resilience mechanisms for culturally diverse

youth, revealing five resilience-supporting mechanisms (Ungar et al, 2007):

1. Constructive relationships: group inclusiveness

2. A powerful identity: anticipating secondary or post-school plans

3. A sense of social and/or spiritual cohesion: social connection

4. Experiences of control & efficacy: developing confidence and self-efficacy

5. Social Justice: perspective taking, empathy and sense of social responsibility

The substantive content of the superordinate, primary and secondary themes summarised in

Figure 1 are described below with illustrative quotes from participants to highlight the

attitudes expressed for each theme. Pseudonyms are used throughout.

Figure 1. Superordinate, Primary and Secondary Themes from 2016 data

All names in this report are pseudonyms to protect anonymity. This encourages

participants to tell us what they experienced and to say what they really think because no

one will be able to connect their words to them.

Social connection

•Group inclusiveness

Autonomous choosing

• Compliance versus creativity

•Negotiating identitiy

•Anticipating post-school plans

A desire to learn

•Developing confidence and self-efficacy

•Transference of skills

•Improved classroom engagement

7

“A Desire to learn”: In their own words

This theme represents participants’ dominant attitude and belief in being interested,

optimistic and curious in the Film Club experience. It also highlights that the desire to learn

extends towards developing confidence through mastery.

Developing confidence and self-efficacy. When participants were asked if they had noticed

whether they had changed as a result of participating in Film Club, they recurrently described

mastery experiences and a growth in confidence, “having more courage” and observing

adaptive behaviours.

I have changed a lot. I’ve improved in my acting. So before I went to Film Club, I was

very nervous and I did this nervous laugh. After Film Club, I actually got better at

everything, like confidence, I’m not worried to be in front of the camera, I’m not scared.

I can hold myself back from laughing, I still laugh sometimes [. . .]. (Heng)

Other participants noticed how a growth in confidence resulted in being more prepared “to

act.” This helped shape greater participation in the school community. For example,

So last year we had […] a bunch of sports teams or even a chess team and cooking

team. So I didn’t join any of them last year, but this year, because I feel more

confidence in myself, I’ve joined chess team and cross country team. (Teo)

Transference of skills. Participants commented on learning new skills and a willingness to

apply this learning in settings outside of Film Club.

In class and in everyday, I’m better because Film Club, like, teaches me new words I

like to try out. (Freda)

Improved classroom engagement. Despite Film Club and classroom activity domains varying

widely in task and complexity, participants noticed improvements in classroom engagement.

It’s different in class because usually, um, like, sometimes I’m not engaged that much.

Then because of this film group, I’m more engaged now; most of the times. And I’m

more confident to try other things and to act different roles. (Imari)

Participants displayed an ability to judge their self-efficacy in pursuits such as academic

development.

During Film Club what happens to me sometimes, is something I once thought was

hard, I don’t think is hard anymore! Like even in school when I’m doing my

mathematics now. That’s how I feel. I prefer Film Club to school though. (Fatemah)

In order to overcome obstacles participants used coping strategies to encourage resilient self-

efficacy.

In class when something I don’t understand and you have to do it, [sic] but I don’t really

understand what they mean, I get scared. But now, I don’t get as worried. I can

meditate a bit. I practiced this in Film Club. I breathe in and out; it makes me feel more

calm. (Panambi)

8

“Social Connection”: In their own words

This theme represents participants’ belief that Film Club is an opportunity for positive social

interaction which increased interpersonal closeness with peers, friends and adult facilitators.

Group Inclusiveness. There is an inclusiveness experienced as a result of working together

towards common learning helps to support group participants to proceed towards trust.

In this group .. I feel connected to everyone cause [sic] I’m not the only one who’s

learning... Like other people that are learning, they’re beginners too, and I like it, cause

[sic] we going [sic] each step up at the same time, instead of one of them being high

and the other being low, so you can feel better and rely on each other for support. I

like being more with the rest of everyone in a group, instead of working by myself, (like

in class). [In class] It’s quite different cause [sic] we’re at different levels and bad stuff

can come of it, like judging and stuff. (Ada)

Older participants reported encouraging and supporting younger participants. A chain of trust

was apparent, in that participants were more likely to be persuaded to act if a peer whom

they trusted delivered a message.

I hate school. I sometimes get bullied. I often get left out. But I’ve made a lot of friends

now, because, back then, I didn’t have any friends. So my friend, he …. dragged me

here. I have to do! [sic] I have no choice! And I wasn’t interested, but then, I started

talking to the others and feeling more connected and I got interested in Film Club. I am

more happy [sic] today than over the last three years. (Elijah)

Social modelling developed self-efficacy because participants saw their peers “really

addicted” and “succeeding” at film-making through perseverance. Encountering positive

adult interactions raised participants’ beliefs in their own capabilities.

I like the acting and I like film-making. I know I’m good at it cause [sic] I get a lot of

good feedback from them [group facilitators]. They say I’m a good actor and I haven’t

really done acting for a long time. It’s been really fun. It feels good to know you can do

something. (Gabe)

Perspective taking, empathy and greater social responsibility. Through the collaborative

creative script writing process, participants could make sense of their social surroundings.

When I’m acting, I can be someone else. I’d like to get better at putting myself into the

character’s shoes… So you know, some people are scared when they see people who

are different, like with a disability. If you walk in someone else’s shoes, like that person

who’s different, [sic] you would know more of how it would feel like [sic] to have a

disability. (Heng)

Yeah um, I used to be like, with a bunch of friends, and then like, others wouldn’t have

any friends. They all try to fit in but they just weren’t like … people said they weren’t

the right type of friend they wanted. I understand this more now. She felt very sad. So

I left them and started playing with her. You don’t need to be the same as everyone

else just to fit into the group. (Ada)

9

“Autonomous Choosing”: In their own words

Participants’ saw Film Club as an opportunity for multiple choices, promoting responsibility

for the outcomes of what one does. Many participants equated learning in the classroom with

compliance as opposed to expressing creativity in Film Club.

Compliance in the classroom versus creativity in Film Club. Students recognised the different

ways they were compliant or creative in the classroom as compared to Film Club. Participants

saw Film Club as an opportunity to exert greater intentional influence over their behaviour

and the course of events and demonstrate imaginative, divergent thinking.

The adults in the group are not controlling. You know, like for casting roles for a movie

they would just allow for people to choose their own role … There’s more freedom. So

when filming, even when everyone needs to be silent, everyone just respects what

needs to happen. We also have more freedom to explore. (Imari)

In Film Club, it’s different because we have more freedom to be ourselves and use our

imagination. Um, so you know, in Film Club we can bring out our ideas more. So even

if it isn’t something that is generally logical, it can sill be done in film-club. Being

ourselves can change the direction and the possibilities of what can happen. (Heng)

This theme also highlights that learning as play, rather than teaching by subject, affords Film

Club a learning environment that is more conducive to promoting creativity and motivation.

You’re not adding and subtracting and you’re not reading and writing, well you sort of

are but it’s very different . . . it’s more, like, made up, on the spot. It’s more creative .

. . And we’re learning animation and like you get to make stuff out of Lego, magazines

and plasticine. I like it [Film Club]. It should be permanent. (Fatemah)

If I were to say to the teachers; the students should more be themselves than having

to be one person . . . I think we should have different classes with more emotions and

different activities, like expressing yourself … this term, we’re doing inquiry and we’re

painting with different paints ... but it’s like history rather than our inner feelings. (Ada)

Anticipating secondary/post school plans. As a result of participating in Film Club, students’

expressed more goal orientation, a sense of hope and ambition towards academic

achievement, and a desire to formulate commitments to post-school careers.

I want to be a lawyer, yeah. [. . . ] I use to wanna [sic] play in the Olympics for athletics

. . . but now, like in Film Club, I did a movie about lawyers and all that, and then I’d do

the same thing at home. (Panabmi)

Film Club helped fulfil transitional goals, post primary school around choosing electives.

I never thought I was good at this until I went to Film Club … So next year at school,

I’ve decided to do … Media and Visual Communication, which is based – it’s like Film

Club. I feel better knowing there are subjects I’m interested in now. I want to learn

editing, so I can be like a programmer, a CG [computer graphics] artist. (Teo)

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2017 Information

Survey data sample

During 2017 a small survey of Film Club participants was produced. All participants completed

surveys at Time 1 (beginning of Term 1) and Time 2 (mid-way through Term 4), indicating at

least seven months in Film Club.

Table 3. Survey participants’ demographics: 2017 Film Club

Gender, Age (yrs) Grade Ethnicity Birthplace Languages spoken at home

Female, 11 Grade 5 Australian, Sudanese Australia English, Shiluk, Arabic

Male, 11 Grade 6 Sudanese Australia English, Dinkan

Male, 11 Grade 6 Vietnamese Vietnam English, Vietnamese

Male, 10 Grade 5 Chinese Australia English, Cantonese, Mandarin

Female, 11 Grade 5 Greek, Iraqi Iraq English, Arabic, Greek

Male, 10 Grade 5 Sudanese Egypt English, Arabic, Dinka

Female, 10 Grade 5 Australian, Nubia Egypt English, Arabic

Female, 10 Grade 5 Aboriginal, Maori, Timorese, Portuguese

Australia English, Portuguese

Female, 10 Grade 5 Sudanese Australia Nuer, Dinka

Table 4. Survey participants’ demographics: 2017 control group

Gender, Age (yrs) Grade Ethnicity Birthplace Languages spoken at home

Male, 11 Grade 5 Irish Australia English

Male, 11 Grade 6 Australian, Filipino Australia English, Filipino

Female, 11 Grade 6 Chinese, Vietnamese Vietnam English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese

Female, 10 Grade 5 Aboriginal, Irish, Spanish Australia English

Female, 11 Grade 6 Vietnamese, Australian Australia English, Vietnamese

Male, 11 Grade 6 Filipino, Australian Philippines English, Filipino

Male, 12 Grade 6 English, Vietnamese Australia English, Vietnamese

Female, 11 Grade 5 Ethiopian South Africa English, Other

Male, 11 Grade 5 Irish Australia English

11

Developmental Assets Profile (DAP)

The DAP gives a profile of the 40 types of assets, or resilience resources, available to young

people (Scales, 2011). Assets are categorised as external or internal assets, with four

categories each. External assets are those provided by family, school, neighbourhood, or

other people in the young person’s life, and include 1) support, 2) empowerment, 3)

boundaries and expectations, and 4) constructive use of time. Internal assets are those

developed over time in the young person, and include 1) commitment to learning, 2) positive

values, 3) social competence, and 4) positive identity. All of the internal and external assets

are potentially impacted in varying degrees by the 5678 Film Club.

Figure 2. Developmental Assets (Search Institute)

The DAP gives a total mean score within a range of 0-30 and a mean score for each of the

external and internal assets. The authors suggested the following range for mean scores on

all scales. It is typically expected that 5-15% of children score in the challenged or thriving

range, with most youth scoring in the vulnerable or adequate range.

Table 5. DAP profile ranges

Challenged Vulnerable Adequate Thriving

Score 0-14 15-20 21-25 26-30

Figure 3 provides the mean scores for young people in this survey. As can be see, all mean

scores are within the challenged range, for both Film Club and control group. No student

reported a score of 16 or over. This reflects the vulnerable status of the children at St Joseph’s

Primary School. Film Club participants reported higher mean scores at both time points. It is

noted that the pre-program survey was taken after students had enrolled and started

attending Film Club, and it is possible that this provided them with ‘instant’ resources that

12

increased their scores. It is also possible that more highly functioning children have chosen to

attend Film Club.

Figure 3. DAP Profiles for 2017 students

Mean scores were compared across time for all DAP subscales and total score for Film Club

participants. Mean score changes are provided in Table 6; no changes are statistically

significant, which means that the difference in scores between the early survey and the later

one is probably not practically meaningful.

Table 6.

DAP Profile changes for Film Club 2017

Variable Mean change SD t Sig

DAP Total score 0.29 1.39 .623 .551

Support -0.76 2.17 -1.058 .321

Empowerment 0.58 4.95 .354 .732

Boundaries & Expectations 0.78 2.37 .982 .355

Constructive use of time 0.73 3.94 .555 .594

Commitment to learning 1.51 2.33 1.953 .087

Positive values -1.10 2.58 -1.279 .237

Social competence 0.28 2.11 .397 .702

Positive identity 0.30 2.05 .433 .676

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

MeanS

core

Time1 Time2 Control

13

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

The SDQ measure of resilience and emotional wellbeing in children provides a total score,

plus scores across five subcategories: 1) emotional symptoms, 2) conduct problems, 3)

hyperactivity, 4) peer problems, and 5) prosocial activities (Goodman, 1997). The total score

includes only the first four subscales.

The authors provide classification of scores into normal, borderline, and abnormal categories

to indicate the level of functioning of the individual. An abnormal score on the total difficulties

scale suggests likely cases of mental health disorders. Approximately 10% of a community

sample would score in the abnormal band, and 10% in the borderline range. The exact

proportions will vary according to country, age, and gender.

Table 7. SDQ wellbeing categories

Scale Normal Borderline Abnormal

Total scale 0-15 16-19 20-40

Prosocial scale 6-10 5 0-4

Mean scores are shown in Figure 4. The mean score for Film Club participants appears to

decrease from pre-program to post-program, although this is not a significant difference (t(8)

= 0.235, p=.820). Scores are similar to the control group of children who did not attend Film

Club (t(15) = 0.426, p= .669). All of these groups fall into the borderline category, indicating

they are an at-risk group.

Figure 4. Mean SDQ scores (2017 data)

The mean prosocial score for Film Club participants showed a non-significant increase across

time (t(8) = -0.347, p=.738). Students started at a nonsignificantly higher level of prosocial

behaviour (t(15)=0.987, p=.339).

Overall, these scores are not different in a meaningful way, so in other words, the resilience

and emotional wellbeing of Film Club children at both times and the control group children

are very similar.

19.25

7.33

18.57

7.56

17.93

6.38

0

5

10

15

20

25

TotalScore Prosocialscale

FilmClubTime1 FilmClubTime2 ControlGroup

14

School Engagement Measure – Macarthur (SEM-M)

The School Engagement Measure (Fredericks, Bulmenfeld, Friedel & Paris, 2005) was

developed as a short measure of the behavioural, emotional, and cognitive aspects of school

engagement. It is one of the few scales to address engagement as a multifaceted construct

based on evidence in the literature.

The scale was validated on a sample of American inner-city at-risk students in Grades 3-5, but

is valid for upper primary and lower secondary school children. Average mean scores for that

sample are provided below.

Table 8. Mean SEM-M scores for at-risk children in Fredericks et al (2005)

Engagement Scale M SD

Behavioural engagement 4.00 0.76

Emotional engagement 3.76 0.85

Cognitive engagement 3.49 0.79

The mean scores on all variables for students are shown in Figure 5. Scores for Film Club

students improved across their time in the program. It is interesting to note that Film Club

participants generally started at a high level of engagement than the control group.

Figure 5. Mean SEM-M scale scores (2017 data)

Potentially due to the small changes and the sample size, these changes were not significant.

Table 9. Change in scores on SEM-M (2017 Film Club students)

Variable Mean change SD t Sig

Behavioural engagement 0.56 1.05 1.59 .152

Emotional engagement 0.06 1.27 0.15 .886

Cognitive engagement 0.44 0.70 0.19 .855

3.72

3.98

3.16

4.28

4.05

3.20

3.883.71

2.93

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Behavioural Emotional Cognitive

FilmClubTime1 FilmClubTime2 ControlGroup

15

2017 Interview study on school transition socioemotional readiness

Data collection. Of the fifteen children enrolled in Film Club at the time of data collection,

nine students participated in the interviews. This sample size is appropriate and typical of

phenomenological methodology aiming at understanding the nature and meaning of

participants' experiences, as is the size of the community group being surveyed, participant

response rate, representativeness of experience, and timeline for the project (Guest, Bunce,

& Johnson, 2006). Table 1 summarises the details of participants and details about Film Club

attendance.

Research questions:

In what ways did Film Club impact participants’ social and emotional development?

Was this impact in line with current knowledge of effective extracurricular programs?

Table 10. Interview participants’ demographics: 2017 Film Club

Gender, Age (yrs) Grade Country of birth

Parents’ birth country

Time in Film Club

Male, 11 Grade 6 Australia South Sudan 19 months

Female, 10 Grade 5 Australia Timor, Ireland 7 months

Female, 10 Grade 5 Australia New Zealand 7 months

Male, 11 Grade 6 Australia Vietnam 19 months

Female, 11 Grade 5 Australia South Sudan 5 months

Male, 10 Grade 5 Egypt Sudan 7 months

Female, 11 Grade 5 Iraq Iraq 19 months

Female, 10 Grade 5 Egypt Egypt, Australia 7 months

Key Findings

The 2017 evaluation study found the following:

Overall, participants indicated that Film Club supports the socio-emotional growth of

students in areas that are relevant to school engagement, transition to high school,

and general resilience.

Areas of growth match published theories of children’s’ needs during adolescence.

Participants’ experiences matched published general outcomes anticipated by carers

and educations for extracurricular activities.

Participants’ saw Film Club as being flexible to their input and learning needs; thereby

making it a non-traditional extracurricular activity.

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Theoretical Findings

Participants’ reports supported Film Club as impacting their development in ways that

indicate growth and maturation as defined by developmental theorists. This maturation of

their social and emotional skills was interpreted by the participants to have a significant

impact on their lives. It encouraged them to act differently at school, motivated them to

engage more in school, assisted them to better regulate their emotions, helped them to

respond to relationship dynamics more effectively, and taught them to think about problems

as having solutions that they can find.

Research suggests that maturation in these areas increases the chance of successfully

transitioning, adapting and achieving within high school (Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg &

Walberg, 2007). It decreases the likelihood of young people engaging in risk taking behaviours

such as illicit substance use and alcohol abuse (Modecki, Barber & Eccles, 2014). It also

supports the process of increased self-assurance that can become self-confirming and lead to

positive life experiences such as employment and relationship success (Walton, 2014).

The findings suggest that the expectations of stakeholders and participants experiences were

well-matched and no unintended negative impacts were experienced. Participants’ talk

suggesting maturation and increased school and community engagement, generally match

caregivers and educators’ published aims for extra-curricular activities (Chan & Ng, 2015).

They also directly matched Polyglot Theatre’s aim of supporting children by increasing their

chance of a successful transition to high school. However, it was also apparent that

participants considered Film Club to not just be a creative, teacher-led program, but one that

prioritised their input and evolved accordingly, as well as attended to their needs.

Figure 6. Themes and subthemes from 2017 data

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“Adult Relationships”: In their own words

The importance the children placed on their relationship with both individual Polyglot Theatre

staff and the school staffing was highlighted. The children spoke about how adults role

modelled appropriate behaviour such as communicating politely and persevering when they

felt frustrated.

“…like it's very hard [filming] and like you have to try again, even [Polyglot staff] have

to do it again and again.” (Participant 2)

Staff role-modelled patience and demonstrating caring, which encouraged participants to

practice patience themselves and learn to tolerate the uncomfortable feelings that led to

impatience.

Participant: “I have learnt to be quiet and be patient and stuff

Interviewer: has that been tough in the past?

Participant: yeah but my skills at that have gotten better

Interviewer: what do you think helped with that?

Participant: [Polyglot staff] being nice and not yelling at me, there was one time I think

they wanted to kick me out but they didn’t and yeah I want to be here” (Participant 3)

Children also spoke at length about how staff have directly intervened to help them resolve

quarrels, end bullying and manage other relationship difficulties that the children told them

they were having. They often described this as scary because they didn’t want to cause

trouble for themselves or others but ultimately helpful as it increased their sense of safety.

“I don’t like to tell if I don’t like something, it’s like because I don’t want them to get

angry at me but I still do tell them just to make me feel a little bit better like a lot of

weight lifted from my shoulders as I don’t have to keep it a secret that much”.

(Participant 4)

They also mentioned times when staff noticed the difficulties and intervened without them

saying anything which made them feel valued.

“They [Polyglot staff] know sometimes I get angry here with the other students but

everyone else here treats me with respect and they are also caring, I don’t really know

what I feel, if we talk about hate that is a really strong word so like I umm don’t really

hate anyone I just don’t like all the students sometimes but is a great place, they still

want me to come.” (Participant 5)

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“Self-confidence”: In their own words

Many of the participants described how their involvement in Film Club helped them to care

less about others’ negative judgement and feel more secure within themselves. This was

perceived to occur because of the support and encouragement that they received to try new

and at times scary things.

“[The screening of Film Club films] is at the town hall, St Joseph’s we go there and see

films see what is going on in the community and what every grade in the school’s doing

and yeah and they go like see the stuff and I’m scared like I used to be really scared

like I might be shown … and what would people think of me and all that bad stuff but

like now I don’t care what people think of me all that much, I do it anyway, so yeah”

(Participant 6)

“[Film Club] made me more confident cos I didn’t think that I could go in front of a

camera cos I sounded weird and I didn’t know what I was doing but then after I tried

that after Film Club I felt greater and more confident, I loved more things, people were

being, people were changing and everything was getting better at that point, it was

just getting better” (Participant 5)

Participants spoke about how they enjoyed having the opportunity and encouragement to

write their own stories for the sake of creativity and fun. Writing their own story under the

supportive conditions of Film Club freed them from the anxiety of having to perform to

someone else’s expectations, and this helped them develop confidence in their own ability

and translated into confidence in other areas.

“If I want to write a story I know how to think and know what I should write, cos at

the moment Film Club has changed my mind cos I used to think what should I write,

what should I write, but then Film Club changed that and now I know what to write

every single time I have a thought in my head! I write it and I’m gonna add more

thoughts and more thoughts and lots but like I don’t like to plan my story I just like

start my story and then as I stop my paragraph I do, so I don’t think I just add on, and

on not just thinking should I do this or not do this.” (Participant 4)

“I didn't like the writing man, writing was too much, but now I know how, yeah I like

to write cos I like stories, now I want to try my best at school” (Participant 2)

Self-confidence was also demonstrated in their ability to weather feelings of failure.

“Yeah I love it like it makes me love it and feel good that I know so much cos like not

everyone is interested and not everyone can do it you have to love it and sometimes

I’m not very good but sometimes I am but I like come back anyway” (Participant 2)

“I still have that proudness in me that I’ve done it, even when it didn’t turn out that

great I still did it, and I’m ok with that now” (Participant 8)

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“Learning Valuable Skills”: In their own words

Six out of the eight participants interpreted the importance of their experiences at Film Club

as being because they were learning valuable tangible skills such as filming, editing, sound,

acting etc. These skills were perceived as valuable both immediately within their social circle

as they could use them on social media sites and in the longer term. Employment

opportunities as well as wealth being the most common reasons.

“It gives me a great experience and we get to be seen by music festivals and film

festivals and we recently just went to a kids film festival which was very fun also we

like it will give me more opportunities when i am older if i want to be an actor or actress

then it will be easier and i will be more fluent in auditions and stuff so” (Participant 5)

“It’s good cos you can tell your high schools that you came here and umm you could

make money from it like when you grow up and it's just gives children a chance to

discover something new.” (Participant 3)

Although these tangible skills were spoken about more explicitly, implicit skill development

across all the participants appeared to have the biggest impact on their lives.

“I had to learn that I am not always going to be in the spotlight and I am not always

going to be the favourite … I was always like a big attention freak when I was young I

always wanted the spotlight cos they have like other things going on and I also had to

learn that people are going to have other opportunities than me, and I have to

understand that I am not always going to have everything for myself and that other

people can get other things than me.” (Participant 5)

“Before Film Club I did different stuff, I couldn’t really manage myself but now I can

manage myself a lot, I am very attentive and I listen more and I think before I say more

and I am not the rational self that thinks like violence is the way to fix it now I know

how to talk” (Participant 4)

Participants learned to tolerate feelings of isolation and social anxiety.

Participant “when I came here first it was hard to find friends and all that so then now

I have a lot of friends and now I know nearly the whole school .. like at the start of [Film

Club], before, they told you to get into groups and showed you how to um like match

up and talk to other people and work with other people you don't know, I didn’t like it

…I don't worry now and know how to do it, I’m good at it” (Participant 3)

20

“Self-expression”: In their own words

The young people highlighted the importance of being able to come to a place where they

felt accepted, could be themselves without fearing judgement or ostracism. Being different

and having unusual ideas was not seen favourably at school, but was seen favourably at Film

Club where the focus was on creativity.

“It just like makes me feel good and people that I do enjoy like I enjoy having more

people to play with, cos sometimes when you play with people then you don’t after

that and it's like I dunno why, but you don’t, but Film Club is really nice, they like you

no matter what, everyone wants to play with you” (Participant 2)

“My friend I met her here and she is really crazy, at first I thought she was crazy cos

she does different kind of stuff, not like others, then I saw myself in her a bit, then we

started to talk a bit, and she likes me a lot and I like her a lot, she is very good at

acting.” (Participant 5)

They also described relishing the opportunity to express themselves in a myriad of different

ways that are unavailable to them in their everyday lives and appreciating the encouragement

to do so.

“Well it is a fun subject to say for sure well I like the part where we do the acting and

we think of stories to do, anything and make things to go in the videos and yeah mostly

that oh and I like to do the photo, ah videoing and I like to share like ideas and Film

Club is the right place to do all those things I just said” (Participant 6)

“Film Club is fun… You get to do a lot of filming and editing and sound and you kind of

get to do a little bit of whatever you want but get help with it”. (Participant 4)

This opportunity for self-expression had the flow on effect of helping them to release energy,

emotions and thoughts so that they could focus when required, such as when completing

homework or housework.

“It helps me sometimes concentrate, cos sometimes I am bored at home and my mum

tells me to do homework and I can’t really concentrate that much, but if I come then

when I get home sometimes I do homework and I concentrate a lot better … like doing

something fun then going back home and doing something hard, it makes it easier”

(Participant 4)

21

Conclusions

This report has outlined the impacts of the Film Club program at St. Joseph’s Primary School,

in Collingwood during 2016 and 2017. The areas investigated include school engagement and

socioemotional development, from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. It uses a

combination of research-based measures whilst maintaining a student-led approach where

possible. The aim of the ongoing investigation is to evaluate outcomes and the processes

associated with the students’ experiences while participating in the program. Anticipated

outcomes include school engagement, transition, resilience/wellbeing, social inclusion, and

diversified vocational exposure.

As a combination of community factors and skills development appear to be the best way to

build resilient outcomes, the Film Club aims to achieve outcomes through adult mentoring,

building social skills, and encouraging critical thinking. We have found that across the course

of one year in the program, participants as young as 10 years of age are able to articulate their

socioemotional growth, openness to building social inclusion and embracing diversity,

understand the link between creative growth and learning, and increase their school

engagement. Quantitative scores were difficult to correlate with the interview findings, and

the small number of completed surveys does complicate this from a statistical perspective.

However, the small quantitative sample on measures of resilience assets and school

engagement do indicate there is a trend in a positive direction.

An important aim of 5678 Film Club is to have a positive impact on school transition, which

we can measure through school engagement. Though school engagement did not appear to

be improved when measured by the surveys, interviews indicated the Film Club participants

did benefit. Even though the interviewers did not explicitly ask how Film Club impacted

school, the participants freely made connections to school when talking about Film Club,

which is even more notable because some participants were as young as 10. The coming years

of the program and evaluation will continue to measure this impact.

Recommendations Film Club participants responded very positively to the autonomy, creativity, and flexibility

they experienced during the program. Students linked this to their ability to develop skills,

but it also gave them perspective on contexts that were more structured (like school). This

student-centred autonomy appears to be an important element of the program and it is

recommended that it should be maintained.

The adult leaders are one of the most important resources of Film Club. They are in a position

to effect positive impact on the young people they engage. Maintaining the excellent

relationships between youth and adults is important to maintain as the program continues.

There were no significant increases in scores related to the developmental assets profile,

therefore this is a potential area of focus. These are assets that the Film Club staff, as well as

the artists, can be oriented to relatively easily and they can think about ways to build the

22

assets into the activities they do with the students each week. For example, the Film Club

staff might decide to focus on assets that scored much lower (constructive use of time) or

assets that were relative strengths (positive identity). Search Institute has many resources for

community organisations (https://www.searchinstitutestore.org).

A number of students expressed a desire to continue through the programs’ four years. To

date, there have not been participants who completed surveys or interviews to explore the

impact of Film Club participation for students who have begun secondary school. Given the

addition of a number of secondary school students in Term 4, 2017, this will be a good

opportunity for focus in the 2018 survey.

23

Acknowledgements

From Polyglot, we would like to thank Priya Namana and Kate Kantor for supporting the

research, coordinating with the school and participants, and being enthusiastic throughout.

Thank you to the Victoria University students and research assistant who contributed to this

research: Monique Fabris, Maree Nekich, and Alana Fishman.

A big thanks goes to the students from St Joseph’s who completed surveys – from Film Club

and those in the comparison group who did not participate in Film Club. Many participants

also gave their time to be interviewed and we appreciate their honest and insightful answers.

24

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