More links between schools, more outings for young people and more investment in Dublin's inner city are called for in a report, Powerful Hopes, An In-Depth Study of the Potential of Young People from the Inner City of Dublin, launched by the President, Mary McAleese, last week.

Compiled and written by Scott Boldt, Powerful Hopes offers 12 "practical suggestions" on how to develop young people's potential. The importance of developing self-esteem in young people in the inner city is implicit in his recommendations. Schools should forge links with one another for the benefit of pupils, he says. He also proposes that more contact should be formed between primary and secondary schools; the narrow academic focus of the school curriculum should be broadened; mentoring programmes with teachers should be set up; and more financial assistance should be made available to inner city schools.

Boldt also says teachers should be given more time to allow them to learn new approaches and teaching techniques geared to the needs of their students.

The study is based on interviews which were conducted with pupils, teachers, principals and parents from seven schools, comprising two primary schools, Francis Street and Scoil Iosagain, and four second-level - Crumlin Secondary School, James's Street, Synge Street and Westland Row, as well as the Life Centre, which was set up in 1996 as an alternative educational centre for young people aged between 12 and 16. (See `News Plus', left.)

He encourages schools to "break down any barriers" that exist between schools and their local communities. He advises communities to organise trips and outings and to become active in providing facilities for young people. "The time for action is at hand," he concludes. "Young people need somewhere in their communities to go in the evenings. It is quite likely that many get themselves into trouble out of boredom and lack of guidance," he writes. "Communities should become active in providing or seeking the provision of facilities for young people."

In another recommendation, he calls for the provision in each school of a counsellor and remedial teachers. "In the light of the negative home circumstances and personal difficulties which some students have, it is necessary to cater for their needs by means of specialist teachers and personnel."

"It is important that serious needs of students be acted upon promptly as soon as they are identified and that young people who are encountering particular difficulties are given the opportunity to be engaged on a one-to-one basis."

The data he collected in the course of the study showed that "the perceptions of teachers differed from those of pupils and parents on a number of issues," he explains.

In particular, this was most evident in their view of the support and encouragement of parents for their children to do well and to stay in school. A small percentage of teachers agreed that parents encouraged their children to do well in school, he says, but "a much higher percentage of teachers" believed that "parents would not mind if their child left school at the age of 15".