Jan 10th, 2023: Maynooth University has published ‘The Youthreach Employee Wellbeing Report 2022: A review of employees experience of working in the Youthreach Sector’ [Kenny, M, Bernie Grummell, Adult and Community Education, MU, and Jolanta Burke (RCSI)]. This national study reports on the experience and wellbeing of staff working frontline in the Youthreach Further Education and Training (FET) programme country-wide in 112 Youthreach centres, with 6,779 learners (2020) and a funding allocation for 2021 of €70,984,936 from SOLAS.
The report was featured in a news item and learner feature in the Irish Times on January 10th.
The report indicates significant challenges facing frontline Youthreach sector staff including workload pressures, difficulties taking time-off, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of recognition of the role and responsibilities of Youthreach staff. The report also highlights the dedication and commitment of Youthreach staff to their student cohort who often come from marginalised and disadvantaged communities and have dropped out of mainstream education pre-Leaving Certificate for a multitude of reasons.