Most become success stories and most acquire a set of positive adult behaviours that equip them for the workplace and life in general. Most, but not all, of the students who supposedly have ADHD give up their medication with no ill effects. (Broadribb, 2004) A great part about the job is that kids come back on a regular basis to visit – you put so much into them and they just walk in and they are adults now – they’re all grown up – they have put it together for themselves. (Staff)

Preparing the iconic daily fruit platter for all to share

Increasingly schools and alternative settings make a claim for providing “hands on learning” and that VCAL itself is an example of this. However close analysis of a number of programs identifies several euphemisms for activities that keep students occupied and involve pretend real world situations enabling other students to get on with the real stuff – academic work leading to university entrance (Zyngier, 2004, Zyngier & Gale, 2003b).

Many may assume that those students who benefit from a hands-on learning approach are the less intelligent or academically able. However theliterature on at-risk students (Zyngier & Gale, 2003a) as well as the staff comments and discussions indicate that many of these students do have extensive vocabularies, good reading ability and even excellent (oral) communication skills. The staff ‘see themselves in the kids – we’ve all done things that we shouldn’t have’ (Staff). Gardiner’s work on multiple intelligences suggests that these students have a preference for a kinaesthetic learning style not generally experienced or promoted at the more academically driven mainstream schools.

It is however the informal dimensions of The Island perhaps more than its formal programs that make the institution what it is.

Informality is the key to learning at The Island	Informality is the key to learning at The Island
The building is old. The furniture is old. The heating and ventilation are poor. The place will never win a design award. Yet, the interior was built by students and decorated by students and it feels incredibly comfortable. (Broadribb, 2004, 14)

An external stakeholder commented that ‘the staff are treated more like people in a workplace with these students taking the role of apprentices. It’s more like that sort of relationship than it is like a school … There is also a mutual respect and camaraderie that you wouldn’t normally find … It’s the simple things like eating and working together … the group seems to be together’ (External Stakeholder in Broadribb, 2004, 17). A member of staff adds that ‘their peers, probably more so than us, are acknowledging each other in a positive way’ (Broadribb, 2004, 19)

Working together with the instructor in a team, a student will take instructions related to their work and then complete the assigned task. If necessary the use of specific machinery and tools is explained and demonstrated. Most of instructions are oral and limited – learning is concrete, not abstract or theoretical – learning is by doing. The work and the learning that goes with it requires strong cognitive and physical skills, emotional intelligence, project and time management skills and three-dimensional spatial conceptualisation (Broadribb, 2004).

Clamping the new workbench for a client

The Island seems to work because it is NOT a school but a realistic workplace setting staffed by expert tradespeople who care about kids; where the experience is not of what a workplace might be like but of a real industrial situation that reflects the current Australian experience.

The staff and students and their parents agree that through the respect shown and support given to them by staff The Island benefits its students in at least three crucial ways:

• (re)building self esteem and self efficacy as previously alienated young people develop a new maturity that they can contribute positively to themselves and others through their own hard work
• credentialisation or certification within the new VCAL framework that can lead to further TAFE study or even re-entry into the regular school system
• moving directly into work or apprenticeships.

What is the lesson of The Island for other schools? An external stakeholder reflects that

The Island must be viewed as a cost efficient compare to regular schooling. Compared to an average stay of some nine moths, students choosing The Island as an alternative to 2 to 3 more (unproductive) years of schooling or even worse dropping out, living on the social security or on the streets with all its legal and medical cost ramifications are way ahead in more than dollar terms. Although it is capital and staff intensive, with 95% of students successfully completing their time at The Island and moving into either further study, apprenticeship or employment this must be less of a n economic and social cost than more “schooling” (Broadribb, 2004).

Broadribb (2004, 22) suggests that the ‘core of the innovation at The Island is generated by:

• The “educators” are tradespeople
• Hands on learning is valued above book learning
• Work and participation in the workforce is valued while academic values are immaterial
• The work orientation precludes a “welfarist approach”
• The relationships are as egalitarian as practical within a workplace
• While The Island has an inclusive culture political correct mainstream “equity conventions” are largely irrelevant - the right to participate is earned through work
• Education/training is shared between the instructors and “old hands”
• Students are encouraged to leave as soon as possible
• Learning takes place in workshops through work
• Getting it “wrong” is important – learning from mistakes is valued
• Students are de-schooled as a precondition for learning
• Students are not regarded as defective or as having deficits
• Instructors responsibilities extend both across workshops and beyond them
• The Island is an open physical environment – space is shared and common