Projects
Through Turnstone Projects, as an associate or contracted to the organisation itself, the work we do is in education, employment and enterprise. Some examples of selected public projects implemented and supported by Rebecca Iliffe are summarised here.
Women Helping Women, Philippines, September – December 2023
Facilitating connections
With the Social Enterprise Academy’s goal to help create fairer communities and facilitate 10 million social entrepreneurs working as an Associate Facilitator means being a member of global team working with social entrepreneurs, organisations and young people. Program delivery is tailored to the need of those involved and is very much informed by the local community in which the participants live and work. Travelling to Scotland recently to meet some colleagues gave me an insight into how robust and relevant the Academy methodology is whether programs are being delivered in remote island communities or an urban setting.
Homeland education, training and employment
Miwatj Employment and Participation (MEP) based in Yirrkala, NT took training into the Homelands to help build a supported and encouraged larger young Yolngu regional workforce with practical and relevant skills. The skills transferred were to be flexible, transferable and adaptable both within their community and for employers. HEART was implemented over 12-weeks in four stages: recruitment, training, work placement and work placement extension. What was remarkable was the community support with a funeral held back for five weeks to allow the participants to complete their training successfully.
Creating a language and culture fair individual assessment tool
Discovery is a proven language and culture fair spoken and activity-based individual assessment tool. The process gathers information and life experiences relevant to school, training and work in a way that is inclusive, participatory and non-threatening. Participants are guided through a series of activities demonstrating their current abilities across 16 common learning and work behaviours including motivation, information processing, thinking, reasoning and creativity and are assessed for entry level English literacy and numeracy. Discovery is taught to an organisation’s own nominated facilitators to implement independently and on an ongoing basis.
Gulkula Regional Training Centre
Gumatj Corporation based in Gunyangara in the Northern Territory operates the Gulkula Regional Training Centre, an Aboriginal owned and run corporation providing certificate-level training for young Yolngu men and women. For its first program, Gumatj Corporation knew it needed to know as much about each applicant to bring forward a local workforce. To do this, Discovery was used. Working on-site with a local team including Traditional Owners and service providers, 89 people applied for the organisation’s first program, 10 were selected and all successfully completed the program.
Entrepreneurial professional development
Building a team of educators encouraging entrepreneurial practice for learners is one of the roles of the Sydney School for Entrepreneurship (SSE). Working alongside the SSE team, an Accredited Professional Development entrepreneurial learning program with the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) has been created. Over three hours, teachers implement and evaluate design thinking practice and outcomes consistent with the Stage 3 Science and Technology Syllabus K-6 and Technology Mandatory Years 7 – 8 Syllabus. Teachers explore the key stages of a student’s entrepreneurial journey from planning to pitch applying project-based learning to promote student engagement.
Enterprising education
The T Centre was a pilot program implemented in 2022 to encourage a more confident and engaged learner. The program met the NSW Stage 4 (Year 7 and 8) curriculum, delivered a selected online brain training program and students became social entrepreneurs giving to a cause important to them. Attendance was up and students had a more positive outlook about their school life, consolidated into T Centre Triumphs and Trials. Two programs later and following a Departmental review, the program is now in its second year and has received a 2023 NSW Department of Education Minister’s and Secretary’s Award for an Outstanding School Initiative.
Writing, recording and reporting
Capturing the results are a key part of a project’s implementation and success. Often this involves planning and monitoring the communications through to interviewing those involved in its delivery through to documenting the outcomes. The presentation of the material ranges from social media posts to project profiles, digital stories, collected data sets through to implementation guides and business summaries. We also prepare workbooks and materials as open source documents for others to use, develop and build upon as part of our social purpose.
Rebecca’s ability to communicate business ideas in a clear and concise way greatly assisted the project team.
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Produce Show
With the support of the school, students and parent community the garden space at Canterbury Public School in Sydney’s inner west became a member of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program. Established as a social enterprise with its social purpose to connect and include the diverse community and bring more parents and carers into the school, start up funds were through regular Homemade, Homegrown swap and sell produce and baked good markets. If you made something you could swap or buy. With growing revenue, up 20% each year, the garden initiatives expanded and the markets became the students’ domain. To celebrate the creative and practical students, Canterbury Produce Show was established to showcase their growing, baking and bottling skills.
