Cheaper Teachers for Youthreach Centres?

national | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Tuesday June 20, 2006 19:08 by Teacher

The Vocational Education Committees and their teaching staff unions seem to be in a bit of a muddle about whether or not teachers at Youthreach centres should be properly qualified. Youthreach is an alternative education facility for pupils aged between 15 and 21 who have not succeeded educationally within the ordinary school system. There can be a variety of reasons - social, educational, cultural - why this happens and the centres provide a potentially valuable opportunity to support a group of young people who would otherwise be seriously disadvantaged.

The emphasis is on working in smaller groups and helping the students to develop their particular strengths and abilities. Work placements and project work of various kinds are offered and where the centres are working well they are greatly appreciated by the local community.

For the principals and teachers the work is far more challenging in many ways than an ordinary teaching job. It requires the most skilled, experienced and tolerant teachers if the centres are to have any chance of achieving their objectives.

It's surprising in the light of this that in some regions of the country, some Youthreach principals and teachers have been employed who have no third level education at all - no teaching qualifications and no teaching experience prior to joining Youthreach centres. Other Youthreaches are concerned about this situation. They feel it brings the service into disrepute if standards are not consistent in all regions of the country. The new quality framework is doing a lot to address the issue of standards generally but it seems likely to be a missed opportunity in some Youthreach centres if it as not being applied by appropriately qualified staff.

The background to the situation appears to be that, originally, the Youthreach centres were conceived as employment training centres offering basic skills training. But a policy change has meant that they are now focussed on offering their students educational qualifications such as FETAC approved courses and so the issue may be a temporary consequence of introducing the change.

Youthreach co-ordinators have recently claimed that they and their staff do an equivalent job and deserve to be put on the same salary as VEC school staff. Inconsistent with that, however, in some places they are also actively resisting the idea that either they should be required to have proper teaching qualifications. Parents of children at one VEC Youthreach Centre are concerned that some of the pupils are being taught Leaving Certificate level subjects by people who do not have leaving certificate qualifications themselves. The knowledge deficit is very apparent to their children who are in some cases more advanced in their studies than the people who are teaching them. Some parents say they don't believe their children should be treated as second-class students and think they have a right to the same standard of teaching as any school pupil.

'Frankly, it's insulting' one said. 'Some of my son's friends are enjoying free university education with all the support and professionalism which that guarantees. Why should Youthreach students be treated differently?'

Dermot Stokes who is the national coordinator for Youthreach recently said that up to 70 per cent of the people they teach have special educational needs. There are 6,000 students on the books in approximately 85 Youthreach centres most of whom are under 19. In mainstream schools all pupils are entitled to special needs support but Youthreach pupils have no entitlement to this, a factor exacerbating a very difficult situation.

Teaching unions might want to look closely at this issue - is it a worrying precedent for the profession generally that the Youthreach centres can recruit unqualified teaching staff and principals? More importantly, are Youthreach pupils being let down in some instances?