Students hone skills

David Reid, 15, from Goodna Special School dismantles a computer. The school has run a computer-recycling program for senior students for five years and money raised from reselling the computer components goes towards tools and a student camp.

Claudia Baxter

STUDENTS at Goodna State Special School are being prepared for life after classes through a unique program that mixes environmental awareness with job skills training.

Since 2007 the school has led the way in a program that sees students with a learning disability work together to disassemble old computers for recycling.

The classes form part of the school's wider Work Skills Program that aims to offer functional job skills to kids that often find it hard to find work after completing their schooling.

Acting deputy principle Cathy Wheeler said the computer recycling classes had delivered outstanding results.

"It's just been amazing," she said.

"A student who can barely sit still for two minutes gets involved in the computer recycling and stays focused for two hours.

"To stay on task, they need to experience the work and that's what this program provides.

"All those things we pick up naturally, these guys need to experience it to learn them."

The school also has other vocational options, including a coffee shop and weekly paper delivery service.

Ms Wheeler said young people with learning difficulties struggle to learn in a traditional classroom setting but the hands-on nature of these classes was yielding more positive results.

"We're all about trying to prepare them for when they leave school," she said. "For them (students) to learn general job skills it requires hands-on work.

"Once they see that they can do it, it gives them a reference point."

Students are taught how to take the computer to pieces and then place the individual components into specific bins.

Because some of the students have limited reading skills, pictures of the computer components help them sort the parts into the correct groups.

Ms Wheeler said the students learn "how to discriminate" between different objects while also learning valuable workplace skills such as communication and working in groups.

Most of the participating students are aged from 15 to 18 and will aim to eventually get work with organisations that accommodate people with disabilities.

Any money raised from the recycling program is reinvested into school programs.