Breaking the cycle of disadvantage

In the current climate of economic boom, the sad reality for many young people is that they will never come close to the high-powered jobs with big salaries. This is because thousands of them leave school before attempting the exams necessary to get them into jobs or colleges.

A report in 1996 showed that an estimated 15,000 young people opted out of the education system at some stage. Of these, more than 900 did not even get to secondary school, more than 3,000 left before their Junior Certificates and 7,600 left before their Leaving Certificates. An estimated 85 per cent of those who leave school early are from working-class backgrounds or small farms.

Today a report is being published by Area Development Management Ltd which has made recommendations to the Minister for Education, Micheal Martin, on how to tackle educational disadvantage. ADM was given £105 million from the European Union and the State for a six-year period between 1994 and 1999 to manage the Operational Programme for Local, Urban and Rural Development. Some 17 case studies were conducted from around the State to assess the problems associated with educational disadvantaged and methods that can be used to help stop it. The local case studies included Sligo, Longford, Monaghan, Drogheda and areas of Dublin such as Ballyfermot, Blanchardstown, Kimmage and the inner city.

So why do young people who have their whole lives ahead of them abandon the so-called "best years of their lives" for, often, a life of unemployment or low-paid, unskilled jobs? The National Anti-Poverty Strategy working group on educational disadvantage has said that often for those who leave school early there is no link between what they do in school with what they do outside school.

"Such discontinuity occurs for cultural and socio-economic reasons and involves not only the child's inability to cope with school but also the school's inability to cope with the needs of the disadvantaged child," the working group found.

This view tallies well with some of the experiences of the local groups that worked with the ADM on today's report. The Dublin Inner City Partnership, which looked at development at primary school level in their areas said: "People living in situations of poverty have little choice but to prioritise an immediate income over long-term goals, in an effort to cope with the daily demands of life."

So what has been done to tackle this problem? The ADM report says that for the last 15 years the problems surrounding educational disadvantage have preoccupied consecutive administrations. The Home School Liaison Scheme was introduced by Mary O'Rourke, Breaking the Cycle and Early Start was brought in by Niamh Breathnach and the initiative for eight-year-olds to 15-year-olds at risk has been introduced by Micheal Martin.

Increases in the number of Youthreach programmes and the expansion of educational psychological services have also been made in an effort to et to as many potential school-leavers as possible. Measures set up to work specifically within schools includes the Home School Community Liaison Scheme, remedial teachers, counsellors and psychologists.

The report outlines the need for further training and support for teachers and educators who are working with young people in danger of leaving school early. Speech therapists, educational psychologists, teacher counsellors and literacy support are all necessary features of a successful effort to stop educational disadvantage, the report says. The trend of young people leaving school is moving in the right direction. In 1976 only 60 per cent of students had completed their Leaving Cert, while in 1995 the figure was 85 per cent. The Department of Education and Science has set a target of 90 per cent for Leaving Certificate completion by the year 2000. It is hoped that the cycle of disadvantage can be broken in order to give all young people a chance to share in Ireland's prosperity.