Youthreach participants ‘denied support’

Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) president Mary Bohan said 80% of those on Youthreach programmes have special educational needs or significant emotional and behavioural difficulties. The association represents the country’s 33 VECs whose work includes the operation of most Youthreach services, catering for around 3,300 people aged between 15 and 20.

“These young people are of normal school-going age, they have precisely the same entitlements as do other children in schools. But they do not have access to appropriate services and this is not right,” Ms Bohan told the IVEA annual congress in Tullow, Co Carlow.

She said resource teaching or other supports in second level school do not follow them into Youthreach because the programme has no allocation of resource teachers. “Social justice demands that we make

appropriate provision for these young people...failure to do so leaves VECs and the Department of Education open to litigation,” Ms Bohan said.

She called for the allocation of extra resources to allow VECs to cater for common special needs in Youthreach centres, while less common disabilities should be included in the remit of the National Council for Special Educational Needs.

Ms Bohan also urged the Department of Education to help VECs provide more childcare places for women returning to education, which would help efforts to increase female participation in the workforce.

“A number of VECs have very modern creches which play a key role in allowing women re-train and acquire new skills to enhance their employment prospects. We have the network and experience to deliver on the key objective to reduce a particular barrier preventing women’s entry or re-entry to the workforce,” she said.

The IVEA president called for proper investment in the further education sector.