Project Partner: Clare Youth Service
IRELAND State of the art Introduction The programme addresses the exclusion of young people from social, educational, cultural and economic opportunities associated with full citizenship and the focus is to develop best practice in making social inclusion a daily reality for children and youth. Whilst there are various statutory and non-governmental approaches and provisions in an Irish context, these are principally in formal educational or employment-related domains. There is, therefore, a significant gap in the resourcing of social inclusion practices in other spheres such as sports, mental health and personal development. There is an additional pressure from the high proportion of young people in the Irish population and forecasts of high birth rates.
Current Benchmarks The Project seeks to combat exclusion and to promote high quality youth work by providing training and support through inter-agency collaboration. To this end, a benchmark of existing provision is offered.
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| The COURAGE Project
Statutory bodies - Department of Education. In Ireland, participation in formal education is compulsory from the age of six to sixteen or until three years of second-level education has been completed. There are a range of supports for students with special education needs and for those experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. Supports for disadvantaged students include •
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Increased resources for schools deemed disadvantaged on a spatial basis. These are DEIS schools. DEIS stands for Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools but is also the Irish (Gaelic language) word for ‘opportunity.’ Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Programme that aims to integrate supports in different spheres of students’ lives Traveller & Roma Education Provision
Whilst these programmes exist within mainstream post-primary (second level) schools, a large part of the education provision for socially excluded young people is generally known as ‘second chance’ educa-
