DATE FOR YOUR DIARY - The National Conference of Youthreach Co-ordinators 2002 will take place in Blarney, Co. Cork from February 27th - March 1st.
See the new Youthreach website at www.youthreach.ie. This site will be launched at the national conference, so could co-ordinators contact Brendan Sheehan in Pleasants Street Youthreach regarding individual centre photographs etc.
The National Youth Health Programme invite applications from Youthreach Centres to participate in a Health Promotion Initiative tailored for Youthreach personnel.
Breaking Through convenes its third annual conference on
Working with Young People at Risk, ‘In whose Best Interest’
from 12th - 13th March 2002. Those interested attending
should contact the Breaking Through office on (01) 708 6013.
Swords Youthreach Trainees pictured with the Minister for Education and
Science, Dr Micheal Woods when he presented them with their Certificates
for participating in the YES project.
NEWS AND REVIEWS
MOVING ON: Young Mothers and Employment Project
A Handbook for Trainers
The Moving On: Young Mothers and Employment Project was established because the small amount of research carried out in Ireland
relating to young mothers pointed to a strong association between poverty, young mothers and their low level of formal educational qualifications. The aim of the Project was to enable young mothers to gain access to employment, education and training by developing and delivering needs based, accredited, prevocational training.
This Moving On: Young Mothers and Employment Project Handbook is one of the outcomes of the training programme and is based on the experience of those who delivered the Moving On Programme to young mothers in Carlow and Dundalk. Forty-four young mothers availed of the original three training programmes which ran from 1996-98. These training programmes consisted of 9 months training at 20 hours per week. The Handbook does not seek to give all the answers to issues arising in working with young mothers. However, it will show how the Project worked with young mothers and contains recommendations that are based on the lessons learned from that experience.
The Handbook outlines the training element of the programme in detail and includes:
- Recruitment and outreach phase of the work
- Programme content and structure
- Accreditation routes and assessment
- Progression routes taken by the mothers on the programme
- Human and physical resources necessary to run the programme
In addition it also includes valuable baseline information for those working with young mothers including:
- A profile on the Moving On Project
- A profile of young mothers in Ireland
- A summary of the research findings undertaken as part of the Project
- A comprehensive resources section including resource/reference materials, national service agencies, community-based initiatives, funding sources and accrediting bodies.
The Handbook is available at a cost of 10 euro. All orders must be pre-paid. Please make cheques payable to National Youth Federation.
Careers World CD-ROM
Produced by Woodgrange Technologies Ltd.
The Careers World CD-ROM is produced in association with the Department of Education and Science and some of Irelands leading industries. The aim of this particular careers aid is to provide users with a unique step-by-step programme to investigate and discover careers that may suit them.
This CD-ROM is divided into six sections under the following headings:
- Preference Exercise
- The Organisations
- Career Explorations
- Employee Profile
- Industry Guide
- Mind Power
Each of these sections has a role to play and as a basic format work very well, the variety of questions used in the Preference exercise give no idea as to the career category outcome. The use of video interviews enhance this package and give an insight to the actual career that has been undertaken. A very important plus is the ability to use web links in order to find out more information about any of Industries or employees mentioned in the CD-ROM. This idea is very suitable in the information age and can allow for further research into careers on on-line web pages.
One interesting aspect to the Careers World CD-ROM is the Mind Power Site; this particular site deals with the ability to use your brain to a maximum. It contains a lot of interesting facts with regards our brains and how to increase our utilisation of our brains.
This CD-ROM is well produced but is missing some vital areas that should be included in a careers CD-ROM:
There is scope for more knowledge as to what studies should be undertaken at secondary level and the various options and route way that are accessible via non-formal education. Any search that is undertaken in the system is confined to a very limited search field with regards to careers.
The careers are very much "traditional" careers without the realisation of how broad the career spectrum is at the moment.
As this is careers CD-ROM, a section towards interview preparation would be an asset and allow for self-assessment.
This is a well produced CD-ROM, giving a lot of information and
ideas that can be used by the user as a staring block for
research in various careers/professions. This Careers World
CD-ROM is ideal for those students who are at the starting out
point of researching their career.
The President meets participants of Kilkenny Youthreach
News from Copping On
Copping On is delighted to welcome aboard our new co-ordinator, Bridget Gormley. Bridget hails from America but her family lives in County Tyrone. She has worked with young offenders in San Francisco as a counsellor and adult offenders as a literacy tutor. After travelling through New Zealand and Australia for 18 months, she arrived in Dublin in worked in Pleasants Street Youthreach in communication and literacy. Bridget also worked in Wheatfield Prison in the areas of literacy and parenting. "I’m really looking forward to meeting people from all around the country who are using Copping On in their programmes" says Bridget. Best of luck to Bridget in her new role as co-ordinator and to the Copping On team in 2002.
The launch of the Under 12 pack is scheduled to take place sometime before the beginning of May. Please contact the office if you require further information.
It’s business as usual in the Copping On office as preparation for the spring training is under way.
- 6th/7th March Castlebar/Monaghan/Donegal
- 20th/21st March Dublin, Sallynoggin/Dublin 12
- 17th/18th April Roscommon/Galway
- 8th/9th May Louth/Navan
- 15th/16th May Kilkenny/Tipperary
- 22nd/23rd May Kildare
- 29th/30th May Longford
If you wish to participate in the training please feel free to contact the Copping On office:
Bridget Gormley & Deirdre Bigley
Copping On, Education House,
NUI Maynooth,
Co. Kildare
Tel: 01 708 3468- Fax: 01 708 4271
Email: copping.on@may.ie
Development Programmes for Management and Young People
Encouraging people to think more positively about themselves is a central aim of the Pacific Institute’s personal development programmes. Michael Ostinelli is project director in Ireland for the US-based institute which specialises in developing training programmes for personal, professional and organisational change.
A human resources consultant who worked for many years in personnel roles in manufacturing industry before setting up his own company Ostinelli now works with companies, community groups, the education sector and semi-State organisations to help people in changing and improving their lives.
A number of different programmes are available to cover different needs. For example, the STEPS - Steps to Excellence for Personal Success - programme is aimed at men and women seeking work, those in job clubs, women returners and those on community employment programmes.
Investment in Excellence is a training programme designed for those in the corporate sector and those working in organisations and the education profession and it can be conducted for groups in-house or individuals can attend one of the open courses which Ostinelli runs at different times during the year.
Two course are aimed at younger age groups. Breakthrough is a programme aimed specifically at Youthreach groups.
Pathways to Excellence is for 16 - 20 year olds in the mainstream school/education system - it aims to help young people feel more confident and better about themselves, to improve their ability to get on with people and to get to grips with studying and taking exams.
A proposal for a management programme tailored for Youthreach co-ordinators, has also been devised by Ostinelli and Associates Consultants.
The objectives of the Management Development Programme are:
- To introduce participants to exciting concepts and techniques which will enhance thinking and creativity, both inside and outside work.
- To establish the current reality within the organisation.
- To enable the group to establish an agreed and challenging organisational future vision.
- To provide participants with the tools to positively and practically manage change.
- To enable individuals and the group to identify strategies to achieve the vision.
- The empower participants to work enthusiastically towards the achievement of these strategies, using the tools of change.
- To promote and enhance teamwork, group co-operation and open communication.
- To give feedback to participants on their own preferred working and management style and to help the group understand the significance of profile factors in managing themselves and their staff.
- To help identify the management training needs of each individual group.
The practabilites of two co-ordinators per region, participating in the ‘pilot’ training programme is being investigated by the executive.
Further information may be obtained by contacting:
Chris Heffernan,
National Association of Youthreach Co-ordinators,
Youthreach Transition Centre,
34, Dominick Place,
Dublin, 1.
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The President meets staff and participants of Mountmellick Youthreach
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