Hands On Learning Australia

[8] The program has featured in newspaper[9] and radio broadcasts[10][11][12] in Melbourne media, is acknowledged by the Dusseldorp Skills Forum,[13] and endorsed as a strategy to be implemented by schools in the Gippsland region as part of their Youth Commitment[14] to help increase retention rates.

[15][16] HOL operates on three broad principles for dealing with students at risk of leaving school prematurely; Target them early and long-term; Work outside the square; Don't just talk, do!.

In giving these students practical, inherently purposeful tasks to take part in, it is believed that they will be able to form supportive relationships that will help build a sense of wellbeing without necessarily engaging in discussion about issues they may be facing.

Examples include the construction of board walks, foot bridges, renovation of community buildings, repairs to public park infrastructure etc.

Somewhat unusually, the HOL LiNK program was expressly implemented as a non-remedial setting, working instead to help students avail themselves of incidental learning opportunities and to improve their strategies for coping in traditional classrooms.

[21] In 2009 Hands On Learning Australia entered into a pilot partnership with Berry Street and Anglicare Victoria to form a School and Family Engagement project (HOL SaFE) at two Victorian Government Secondary Colleges.