Youthreach Training Allownace

icebergiceberg

Anyone working in a Youthreach centre who knows if there is an allowance paid to students on their courses? How much is it and is it dependent on attendance. Their website refers to an allowance but no further details.

spurious

I may be a little out of date but it used to be 40 a week under 18 and 160 a week over 18.
There are also other allowances like travel and childcare that may apply to trainees.

There were deductions for non-attendance.

icebergiceberg

spurious wrote: »

I may be a little out of date but it used to be 40 a week under 18 and 160 a week over 18.
There are also other allowances like travel and childcare that may apply to trainees.

There were deductions for non-attendance.

I see. Some of out students want to go there. They don't know anything about the courses they would be doing only that they 'get paid'. And that's understandable.

I don't know if you have ever worked there but do you know anything about how much deductions per absences and so on? Are there deductions for poor behaviour? I think their website refers to 15-18 year olds and for a 15 year old the money on offer is an almighty draw (away from mainstream education). What percentage complete their courses?

spurious

We used to have a number of students who took OL and FL JC going there, specifically because they would get paid. It was very hard to try and convince them to stay in the mainstream school. Often they were doing the same course (LCA) they might have done in the school, but of course preferred what they were getting in our local YR centre, which was a much more relaxed disciplinary regime. We even investigated whether there was any possibility of having a child offficially on the YR books (for the money) but continue to attend school under the YR attendance rules and hand assignments etc. up to the YR centre. That was a non-runner. The Irish education system is not great at outside the box arrangements.

I don't know about the deductions, but I know the ones I heard of that left YR were no great surprise to me, likewise the ones that finished their course and went on to something else.

I know it won't be a popular thing to say, but for many of ours, it was a holding station until they went somewhere else 'at the expense of the State'.

icebergiceberg

spurious wrote: »

We used to have a number of students who took OL and FL JC going there, specifically because they would get paid. It was very hard to try and convince them to stay in the mainstream school. Often they were doing the same course (LCA) they might have done in the school, but of course preferred what they were getting in our local YR centre, which was a much more relaxed disciplinary regime. We even investigated whether there was any possibility of having a child offficially on the YR books (for the money) but continue to attend school under the YR attendance rules and hand assignments etc. up to the YR centre. That was a non-runner. The Irish education system is not great at outside the box arrangements.

I don't know about the deductions, but I know the ones I heard of that left YR were no great surprise to me, likewise the ones that finished their course and went on to something else.

I know it won't be a popular thing to say, but for many of ours, it was a holding station until they went somewhere else 'at the expense of the State'.

Yes. We are in the same situation. The idea of continuing their ed in mainstream while receiving an allowance is a thorny, complex one but could go some way to addressing drop out and achievement rates. We have thought of similar but it came to nothing. One size does not fit all. YR has an important role to play in furthering careers for sure, but it is very frustrating when you see a very bright spark lost to mainstream who could do very well academically, even progress to college, but is enticed by the money.

boobycharlton

I didn't think Youthreach (or "youtaridge" as some of the lads who dropped out our school to go there called it in the 90's) was still going in this day and age. I would have thought that financially incentivising teens to drop out of mainstream education would have been scrapped, especially when even most basic jobs seem to require a bachelors degree at a minimum these days. Surely the government could have come up with something better to try and get kids to sit their LC or LCA.

ustazjoseph

It's a little less simple than "financially incentivising people to leave early" not all schools are good at retaining students. The " we ll get paid" myth is not as simple as they think . 15 yr olds don't get paid. 16 to18 yr olds get 40 per full week 9- 4 so little over euro per hour . Docked per class missed. For some kids it works well. Counselling . support. Mentoring . Qui . Guidance . Yes some ex youthreach kids end up inside. Some end up doing well. I know a serving Garda who got on track through youthreach. There's lots of research out there on the positives . Ideally only a tiny number of young people would leave school early