Youthreach co-ordinators and CTC managers were asked how participants are referred to the Youthreach programme. Informal sources of referral were the most common pathway. Parents, guardians and other family members were mentioned in relation to four-in-ten Youthreach learners, while this was the case for just under a quarter of CTC learners, most likely reflecting the older age profile of the latter group (Figure 4.6).
FIGURE 4.6 REFERRAL PATHWAYS IN YOUTHREACH AND COMMMUNITY TRAINING CENTRES
Source: ESRI survey of Youthreach Co-ordinators and Community Training Centre managers.
Learners themselves spoke about being supported to attend Youthreach by their parents once school was no longer a viable option for them:
My mam told me about it… She said it was like an alternate way of like learning and then she said it was good that I, that you like get paid and like it’s better than school. (Barrow, learner)
My dad knew about it. He was telling me Youthreach is good… I think he did a course with Youthreach for students before for manual handling, so he knows about it. (Erne, learner)
Some learners referred to a family history of attending Youthreach; among this cohort of learners, there seemed to be less stigma attached to their decision:
My whole family’s been through Youthreach. (Boyne, learner)
My mother is exactly the same. She didn’t do well academically, but my grandmother’s friend: her son used to come to Youthreach. He was here last year, but now he’s going to FETAC, so I heard about it through them. (Bann, learner)
My sister goes here so she told me about it… she said it was handier than school like. (Blackwater, learner)
0 10 20 30 40 50 DEASP EWO Garda/JLO/Probation Youth workers/services Other Social worker School principal/GC/HSCL/year head Self-referral/friends Parents/family
%
Self-referral or hearing about the centre from friends was not explicitly mentioned on the co-ordinator/manager questionnaire but was recorded under the ‘other’ category in a significant number of centres. Overall, according to co- ordinators/managers, 14 per cent of Youthreach learners and 23 per cent of CTC learners approached the centre themselves or heard about provision through friends. According to learner interviews, peer influence played a large role in the decision to attend Youthreach for many learners:
I knew a couple of people from here and they said ‘it’s good’ so I applied. (Bann, learner)
One of my friends that left only recently, he’s only gone out of here - he told me about it. So I came down. (Liffey, learner)
I had friends that had already gone and then I have friends that are in here already, like. (Liffey, learner)
One learner explained the pull factor towards Youthreach once all of his friends in school left to attend the programme:
Like, we were all in one class as well, like, me and my friends. And some of them just started leaving and then, like, I had no friends really then, like, left in the class with me. So they all started coming down here. (Liffey, learner)
Learners reported being influenced by friends who described the benefits of Youthreach, in particular the amount of additional support available from the teachers:
She was here long like so yeah, she was telling me about it, that it’s brilliant here. And the teachers pay attention to you mostly like. Like if you were in secondary school they wouldn’t really [give you individual attention] …. It was just do what you can do. But here like they’re really focused on the work and stuff like. (Suir, learner)
Like there were two other girls that I’m really close with came here but they were living in my park like so that’s how I know it from them. Because my friend is kind of the exact same as me. She didn’t really get on in school either and she was like, ‘You’ll fit in perfect.’ And then I came here and it was just the best thing ever like. (Suir, learner)
One learner explained that hearing about the range of practical courses available in Youthreach from friends influenced his decision to attend the programme:
They were like, ‘This is just another place to finish your Leaving Cert and you can get all sorts of courses from this,’ and I was just interested so I just went. (Moy, learner)
Knowing other people from his community influenced one learner’s decision to apply to Youthreach:
A few older people, like, that are around my estate went to it. And they told me about it. And then - I always knew about it, kind of, because people from around the estate went to it and all. (Foyle, learner)
According to co-ordinators and managers, referrals through school staff, including principals, guidance counsellors, year heads and HSCL co-ordinators, were evident for only a minority of learners (12-14 per cent). Of the learners who reported becoming aware of Youthreach through school, many were informed as a result of absenteeism:
It was actually one of my teachers…she told me about it, cos she knew that my attendance was pretty bad so she was, like, she said that there is this place up here. It only opened recently, ‘So if you want to repeat you have the option to, whether you want to or not, like’. (Boyne, learner)
I think the school - I don’t know. I think it was the board of management, or something, because I was missing so many days at school or something. (Blackwater, learner)
One learner explained that her school deputy principal organised the CTC place for her once she completed the Leaving Certificate:
I ended up just doing the Leaving and that was that, over and done with. But my vice principal was actually the one that got me set up here. I told her that I wanted to come here because I thought, like, I would have got a, like, a SafePass out of here. (Shannon, learner)
School referrals were relatively more important in centres with a higher concentration of learning difficulties, suggesting that some schools may be referring young people with particular special educational needs to Youthreach provision. However, contrary to what might be expected, centres with a higher proportion of learners with primary education only tended to be less reliant on school referrals, suggesting that some young people are leaving the school system
at a very young age but are not being referred to other provision.
One learner reported having numeracy and literacy difficulties prior to attending Youthreach:
I always used to get in trouble and that and like before I came here to be honest I didn’t know how to read or spell. Then when I came here I just, my life changed. I learnt how to read properly, learnt how to do spellings and … I learnt how to do ABC, you know. (Foyle, learner)
The use of school-based referrals differed somewhat across ETB area.
A range of other pathways were evident, including through youth workers, social workers and Gardaí. One learner reported being referred to the centre by his social worker:
It was actually my social worker. It was better than me just sitting at home doing nothing. I agreed with them. (Barrow, learner)
The DEASP was the source of referral for 10 per cent of CTC learners but just 2 per cent of those in Youthreach centres. Informal pathways were more prevalent as sources of referral in centres with a medium or high concentration of learner need.
Similarly, informal pathways appear to be more prevalent in centres with a higher proportion of Traveller young people and of those aged 17 or under. Many Traveller learners report a familial link with the Youthreach centre they attend:
My three aunts and my… and the brother and a sister also went here. (Moy, learner)
My brother and a lot of my cousins came here…They’re the ones that told me about it. (Moy, learner)
A few of my cousins started here so I decided just to come here just for a look and see how it goes. (Moy, learner)
One learner from the Traveller community spoke about the appeal of getting paid to attend the programme:
I met a lot of the boys and they said that they were all starting Youthreach. I didn’t even know what Youthreach was to be honest…
They were like it’s just more or less like school like with just no homework and uniform and you get paid for it. (Moy, learner)
One learner decided to attend because he heard that he could receive extra help with schoolwork:
My cousins are in it… They were just like it’s a good place and the teachers don’t rush you or anything like they don’t like you know they take your time due and stuff like that. (Moy, learner)
In contrast, centres with a higher concentration of migrant learners are less reliant on informal pathways. This would seem to suggest that migrant families do not use informal networks in accessing provision and, given the lower representation of migrant groups highlighted above, may not be sufficiently aware of the programme. Levels of referral from schools or informal means varied somewhat across ETB areas. Centres that have greater contact with local agencies and organisations (see Chapter 7) tend to draw more learners through informal networks, suggesting that these centres are well-embedded in the local community.
During the Consultative Workshops, several stakeholders emphasised the need for a formal referral process which would force:
the Educational Welfare Board and the school principals to refer all students who leave prior to getting their Leaving Cert. (Stakeholder, Consultative Workshop)
Other stakeholders also raised the lack of formal referrals ‘feeding into Youthreach Centres’:
It’s a very small pool of people that are coming into Youthreach...they’re friends, neighbours, cousins, relations, if you like, it’s a network that way. (Stakeholder, Consultative Workshop)
There’s a serious public image problem with parents, schools, support agencies, like EWOs, we don’t get referrals from, and I think that’s a point of surprise from some people, you know, you think they would be part of the integrated network. It’s not there. (Stakeholder, Consultative Workshop)