South West Sydney Principals' Conference
Michael Durrant was the keynote speaker at the South West Sydney Principals' Conference on 23 May, speaking on Strengths and Resilience in Schools.
Sydney University appointment
Michael Durrant has been given an Honorary Academic appointment in the Faculty of Education, University of Sydney..
Michael training schools more widely.
Michael has conducted Staff Development training for an increasing number of schools, including Georges River College and Riverside Girls High. He has also been invited to present at South-west Sydney Principals' Conference and the National Deputy and Assistant Principals' Conference in Nelson, New Zealand.
New Zealand conference
Michael Durrant was the opening keynote speaker at a conference of educators in New Zealand.
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Solution-focused Brief Therapy has had a significant impact among the school counselling profession internationally - indeed, there are probably more professional books written about Solution-focused approaches in school counselling than there are about any other application of the approach (for example, Durrant, 1993; Rhodes & Ajmal, 1995; Murphy, 2000, Davis & Osborn, 2000).
While there are school counsellors and others employing Solution-focused techniques in many school settings, traditionally these activities have been limited to "counselling". The significant development in a number of places has been the application of Solution-focused principles more broadly within the school — taking the ideas OUT of the counselling room and into the classroom, the playground and the Principal's office!
There are various different projects around the world exploring strengths, a solution-focus or a focus on resilience within educational settings. Here we will include information about some of these. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LINKS TO "MORE INFORMATION" ARE NOT YET ACTIVE. Please come back soon!
Resilience at school
La Cima Middle School (Tucson, Arizona) has adopted a resilency-based approach to all its activities. Over 5 years, its average rate of exclusions reduced, its average level of academic performance increased and its level of staff attrition dropped significantly.
More information available here soon.
Strengths-based discipline
Doonside Technology High School in the western suburbs of Sydney introduced a "strengths-based" welfare and discipline policy across the school in 2004. Developed by (then) Deputy Principal Neil Worsley, with Brief Solutions' Michael Durrant as consultant to the project, the new policy talks explicitly about strengths and is designed to focus on CHANGED behaviour, not good behaviour and has had an effect on the "culture" of the school.
More information available here soon.
Solution-focused Education
FKC (Centret för Lösningsinriktad Arbetsmodell) is a therapy and educational organization in Sweden and a centre for Solution-focused approaches. Within FKC are two special schools, FKC Mellansjö in Stockholm and FKC Västersjö School in Gothenburg, offering special education intervention for pupils aged 7–16 who have had various school-related problems. Techniques from Solution-focused Brief Therapy are used by teachers in their interaction with pupils.
Kerstin Måhlberg and Maud Sjöblom, FKC Special Education teachers, have published "Solution-Focused Education" - their account of their use of the ideas in the learning process itself.
More information here (and how to order the book) soon.
A solution-focused high school
Gonzalo Garza Independence High School is an "alternative" high school in Austin, Texas. The school was founded in 1998 and implemented ideas from Solution-focused Brief Therapy as an integral part of the development of the school. The founding Principal set out specifically to design a "different" school culture.
A collaboration with the School of Social Work at the University of Texas has led to the production of an extensive program manual ã Solution-Focused Accountability Schools for the Twenty-First Century: A Training Manual for Gonzalo Garza Independence High School (Franklin & Streeter, 2001)
More information available here soon.
Email us (michael@strengths-in-schools.com) if you have a project, school or organization that should be listed here!