Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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The Youthreach programme is a national full-time programme for unemployed early school leavers generally between 16 and 20 years of age and is delivered in two settings, Youthreach Centres and Community Training Centres. The Youthreach year is 225 days, with learners being required to attend for 208 days. Individual learner plans are developed for each Youthreach learner. While the precise configuration of the programme in each location is decided locally having regard to the individual learner and community needs and potential, the programme includes general education, vocational training and work experience as well as a variety of complementary experiences that build confidence and broaden horizons.

The Youthreach programme is staffed by Co-ordinators, Resource Persons and teachers with nationally agreed terms and conditions of employment. They have specific, clearly defined job descriptions. which were designed very much with the programmes structure in mind. Template contracts of employment for Youthreach were negotiated and agreed by all stakeholders.

Many Youthreach providers offer summer programmes, with opportunities for extra curricular activities, community projects and work experience modules to build the transversal skills of participants. The value of summer programmes has been identified in inspection reports of Youthreach undertaken by the Inspectorate in the Department of Education.

I am also aware of references to staff concerns raised in the ESRI’s Evaluation of the Youthreach Programme regarding learner attendance during the summer, Easter and Christmas holidays when schools were on holidays. A union representing Youthreach Co-ordinators and Youthreach Resource Persons has submitted a claim in respect of both grades, which officials are engaging with under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. During this engagement, the length of the Youthreach year was raised and my officials undertook an analysis of Youthreach attendance data which found that overall average attendance levels were 6% lower during the summer programme than the rest of the year. There were issues with attendance evident in some ETBs, but not all.

There is an Operational Guidelines Working Group operating under the auspices of Education and Training Boards Ireland, which is developing revised and updated guidelines for the sector, including for the Community Training Centres who offer the Youthreach Programme. The work of the Group is expected to be completed in June 2024.

My primary concern is to ensure the best possible outcomes for participants on the Youthreach programme are realised and there is a continuity of supports available for learners.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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353. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills how the Youthreach programme functions above the 166 days for students, given the reduction in staff who are employed as pro-rata teachers/resource persons; the percentage breakdown, by centre to indicate the way staffing levels change during this time (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18532/24]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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The Youthreach programme is a national full-time programme for unemployed early school leavers, generally between 16 and 20 years of age, and is delivered in two settings, Youthreach Centres and Community Training Centres. The Youthreach year is 225 days, with learners being required to attend for 208 days. Individual learner plans are developed for each Youthreach learner. The programme includes general education, vocational training and work experience as well as a variety of complementary experiences that build confidence and broaden horizons.

Within the ETBs, the Youthreach programme is staffed by Co-ordinators, Resource Persons and teachers with nationally agreed terms and conditions of employment. They have specific, clearly defined job descriptions. which were designed very much with the programmes structure in mind. Template contracts of employment for Youthreach were negotiated and agreed by all stakeholders. The programme is staffed by Managers, Instructors and administrative staff in the CTCs grant funded by the ETBs.

While the information requested on individual Centre staffing levels is not readily available, the overall numbers reported in the Youthreach Grades in the ETB Staffing Returns for Q4 2023 are as follows:

Details of the staffing in the CTC Youthreach Centres is not routinely collected and the latest available data relate to 2022 when there were 297 staff, including 31 Managers, 224 Instructors and 42 administrative staff employed across the 31 CTCs.

The precise configuration of the programme in each location is decided locally having regard to the individual learner and community needs and potential. In a needs-based service it is the learners’ needs that must define the curriculum rather than the competencies and preferences of providers. All full-time Co-ordinator and Resource staff are expected to be present on the days that learners are in attendance.

All centres are required to have a programme plan for work experience and while there is no set proportion of the programme that must be dedicated to work experience, it is recommended that no more than six weeks per annum per learner is spent on work experience.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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354. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if principal officers and deputy principal officers who work within the Youthreach education service read the Youthreach Employee Wellbeing Report 2022: A review of employees’ experience of working in the Youthreach Sector, published in January 2023; if he has concerns which may have been raised by the Youthreach Employee Wellbeing Report 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18533/24]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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The Youthreach Employee Wellbeing Report 2022: A review of employees experience of working in the Youthreach Sector was published by Maynooth University in January 2023. The relevant officials in my Department are aware of the findings of this report.

This report was based on a survey of 325 staff, or some 33% of the sector. It reported challenges facing frontline Youthreach sector staff and workplace stress but also found higher levels of wellbeing by comparison to teaching staff at other levels of education. The report highlighted the dedication and commitment of Youthreach staff to their student cohort.

The Youthreach programme is staffed by Co-ordinators, Resource Persons and teachers with nationally agreed terms and conditions of employment. They have specific, clearly defined job descriptions. which were designed very much with the programmes structure in mind.

I understand that Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) issued a follow-up sectoral response survey to the 16 ETBs. ETBI will consider the individual ETB responses and prepare a report for SOLAS and my Department on the issues raised and measures taken in relation to issues raised.