The Centre comments that -
To date there is very little local or international research that captures the voice of VET students with mental illness. Such research requires sensitive strategies to safeguard student vulnerability. We reflect on the strengths and challenges of research with vulnerable populations and discuss the issues, strategies and student responses relating to participation in the study.In discussing the student perspective on 'Enabling success' the report comments that -
Twenty VET students with a diagnosed mental illness and 20 VET staff from four institutes were recruited to the study. Students were enrolled in courses at certificate III or above. Only five of these students had disclosed their mental illness at the time of enrolment. Staff participants comprised 11 teaching staff and nine staff classified as access, disability or support workers.
In addition to interviews with students and staff, site-specific documentation relating to enrolment, disability supports, reasonable adjustments and other relevant information available in the public domain provided the data for analysis.
Students articulated the factors they believed contributed to successful course completion and progression as: regular attendance, timely submission of assessment tasks, receipt of constructive feedback from teaching staff and multiple opportunities to accept support with study. Students and staff agreed on the importance of being in the right course, having clear goals and support strategies in place outside VET. They also agreed on the need for clearer organisational processes relating to support services.
The place of disclosure of mental illness in course success and the linking of disclosure to study supports produced the greatest divergence of opinion — staff and students did not agree.
Students identified self-reliance as central to course success and placed great emphasis on their own capacity to manage their mental illness in the VET environment. They were prepared to take full responsibility for their educational success or failure. Students wanted to blend in with other learners and not be identified as ‘the depressed guy’, with their illness dominating the perceptions held of them by peers and teachers. This meant that most students did not disclose their mental illness.Staff indicated that they
also expected students to take responsibility for their academic performance, and for the vast majority this was evidenced by a student’s willingness to disclose their illness. They considered learner reluctance to request special attention or assistance as a disinclination to be responsible and to work with staff to ensure their educational success. For staff, the likelihood of success correlated strongly with disclosure.The report refers to the 'risky business of disclosure', commenting that -
Support mechanisms for VET students with a mental illness are based on disclosure and many previous studies have focused their recommendations on ways to maximise student disclosure. We found that this focus is problematic. Students usually do not disclose their illness at the outset for the following reasons: they want to be self-reliant and to protect their sense of self as a coping person; they fear stigma, prejudice and rejection; and they don’t consider an episode of psychosis or depression as a ‘disability’. But the risk is then that students are often too ill and too vulnerable to seek help when they need it the most. If, out of desperation they do disclose, support is not necessarily forthcoming or useful.
Meanwhile staff expect that students will disclose and use the disability services. However, many teaching staff work part-time and don’t have the time, skills or resources to manage students who disclose their mental illness.VET organisations have paid little attention to suitable organisational responses to students with mental illness and so are unable to deal effectively with disclosure when it occurs.
When students spoke of the meaning and experience of disclosure in terms of course completion and progression, their language was peppered with concepts of risk, regret at past rejections and the need for reliance on self. Students in this study were very clear that the act of disclosure had consequences for their integrity and confidence. It was usually only when the risks associated with non-disclosure outweighed the inherent risks of disclosure that students declared their mental illness.The report concludes that -
While staff acknowledged the risks inherent in disclosure and conceded that many students may have had negative experiences in the past, there seemed to be a fundamental belief that disclosure of a mental illness in their organisation would be the ‘right’ thing for the student. This belief was linked not only to the recognition that provision of study supports could be available upon disclosure, but also to the prevailing view that disclosure indicated a student’s acceptance of the presence of mental illness in their lives. For many staff, acceptance of the illness appeared to be linked to a willingness to seek support, thus demonstrating a commitment to academic success. There were however discernible differences in the views and experiences of teaching staff and specialist equity and disability staff. Teaching staff were less confident in the capacity of the organisation to respond effectively to disclosure of mental illness. Interestingly, all staff were adamant that they would not disclose a mental illness themselves.
It was clear that the kind of response a student received to the disclosure of a mental illness influenced whether the student sought and/or accepted study supports during the course. It was also evident that the response to the disclosure influenced students’ intentions vis-a-vis future decisions on disclosure. Of significance, only one student participant reported with any certainty that he would disclose in the future. The other 19 students explicitly stated they would prefer not to disclose infuture. Yet the organisational supports are structured in such a way that they can only be provided when students disclose their mental illness.
At the point of enrolment a VET student has the opportunity to disclose their mental illness and to request some assistance. Students reported that the absence of space in which to describe their condition, the location on the form where disability information is sought, the very use of the term ‘disability’ and the lack of clarity around information management did not encourage disclosure of mental illness. Students made an assumption that disclosure on the enrolment form would lead to some assistance being offered and enable teachers to be aware of their needs. This was not the case.It recommends that -
Staff acknowledged these concerns and suggested that the collection of disability information related more to the reporting requirements of VET organisations and their obligation to operate in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act than it did to addressing student needs.
Analysis of the organisational documentation available to enrolled and enrolling students revealed a lack of clarity and transparency and suggested that organisational responses to students with mental illness have been given little attention. The key finding reported by students and supported by staff is that disclosure at enrolment usually leads nowhere.
Staff and students spoke of the need to close the gap between student expectations of support and the organisational capacity and intention to provide such services. Clear and transparent processes and the adoption of inclusive teaching practices were identified as central.
Information about, and the formal provision of, study supports and reasonable adjustments be available to all students, if needed, and not be predicated upon the disclosure of mental illness.
Student attendance, accountability (timely submission of assessment tasks) and academic performance are monitored and offers of study assistance are made repeatedly and in a timely manner.
Changes are made to the way institutes collect health/learning/disability information to ensure a transparent separation between the data collected for organisational reporting purposes and that designed to identify student needs for support.
