The message about poor prospects may be getting through

How to keep students in school and reduce the number of early school-leavers is a problem that is occupying educators throughout Europe. In Ireland we've adopted a policy of trying to retain as many students as possible in school up to Junior Cert and at least 90 per cent of students to Leaving Cert.

The link between early school-leaving and long-term unemployment is well documented. The message has been going out for a number of years now that, if you leave school early without qualifications, the chances of getting a well-paid job and hence a decent lifestyle are negligible.

There is evidence, too, that early school-leavers are more likely to fall into drug abuse and crime than their school-going counterparts. Because of lack of literacy and numeracy skills, many school drop-outs lead circumscribed lives. For example, there is evidence that people with poor literacy skills are less likely to participate in leisure activities, including clubs and societies, sports and cinema and theatregoing, than are people who are literate.

It's estimated that up to 13,000 young people leave Irish primary and second-level schools with no qualifications or with only Junior Cert. A 1997 report of the National Economic and Social Forum shows that 85 per cent of all early school-leavers now come from working class or small farm backgrounds.

In recent years the Department of Education has introduced a number of interventions designed to support youngsters in school and prevent them falling by the wayside. These include Early Start, which provides free preschool places, homeschool-community liaison teachers, remedial teachers and guidance staff to schools; the Breaking the Cycle programme for schools in disadvantaged areas; curricular reforms and, in the future, a national schools psychological service.

A number of pilot initiatives have been developed throughout the country to reduce the school drop-out rate. Many, however successful, are never mainstreamed.

The Cox's Demesne Youth and Community Project in Dundalk, Co Louth, has adopted an innovative approach to the problem. "We target young people aged between 12 and 15 years who are either poor attenders, have dropped out of school or are having difficulties with the school system," explains Clodagh O'Mahony, a youth and community worker in Dundalk. Some 14 young people from the Cox's Demesne estate are admitted to the project at a time. They attend school two hours a day from 9 a.m. in a special class where they study English, maths, woodwork, home economics, art and metal work.

They spend the rest of the day with the project. Here students take personal development programmes, English, maths, art, woodwork and computer studies. "At the project our courses are not curriculum-based but are based on the students' needs," says O'Mahony.

The relationships between staff and students are key, she notes. "A lot of the youngsters have negative experiences of authority. We have to build a relationship based on trust and challenge but which is nonauthoritarian."

Encouraging a sense of ownership of the project is vital. "We hold weekly evaluation sessions with the young people and staff and we involve them in planning and decision-making."

Hugh Strain, principal of Letterkenny Vocational School in Co Donegal, says that for the first time in his experience the full cohorts of students intend to stay on in school to complete the Leaving Cert. "Nobody is dropping out in first, second and third years," he says.

"Maybe the message about the link between early school-leaving and poor future prospects is getting through. The LCVP has helped. We did away with streaming a few years ago and I think that that may also be a factor."

`What do we do about the ones who aren't suited to any system? We have to keep