Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Cys Ireland Case Studies
Cys Ireland Case Studies
Cys Ireland Case Studies
Clare Youth Service has three Case Studies as part of the Courage programme.
1. Personal and Social Development group work programme
2. The CYS Outdoor Education programme
3. The Clare Sports Partnership Health and Fitness programme
For all three areas the primary aim is to: Improve and support the training
needs of Formal Education, Youth work, and associated disciplines to address
the disconnect experienced by some teenagers to both formal and non-formal
education.
Central to all three areas is that the groups will be mixed in relation to young
peoples level of disadvantage and alienation from education, youth work,
sport and other areas of society.
All programmes will have a structure and will be planned with best practice in
the particular field providing the theoretical and practical framework for the
programme.
The physical, emotional and wellbeing of the young person and the facilitator
will be cared for.
Programmes should be assets as well as needs based, taking the strengths of
the young person and the staff and volunteers into account at all times.
The Clare Youth Service Personal and Social Development Programme offers
young people opportunities to discuss and explore issues that are important to
them. The programme is carefully designed to assist participants in their
social and personal development.
The programme takes place over 10 weeks where trained youth workers and
Volunteers work with groups of young people on such issues as relationships,
friendship and communication skills.
When this course was introduced there was a recognised need for young
people to examine areas of importance in their lives through the unique
approach of group work.
For staff and volunteers there was a need for training in this method whereby
the workers and volunteers move towards realising that they can facilitate the
young people to learn more from each other then they can teach the young
people directly.
These basic needs are still the case and while the evidence from the
programme is very positive some gaps/questions have emerged from our
baseline examination of the programme.
1. Very few volunteers from youth clubs and projects deliver the
programme at this time. This is in contrast to the early years.
2. While the evidence of learning and progression by facilitators and
young people has been recorded this information has not been collated
or presented in a way that could promote the programme to support
the training needs of other professionals and volunteers.
3. There is no formal long term record of the impact this programme has
had on the lives of those who took part.
We will examine
1. The outcomes and effectiveness of the programme for young people
2. The outcomes and effectiveness of the programme for facilitators
How
This will be done by tracking two groups of facilitators over the programme
1. Staff Youth Work
2. Volunteers - Youth Clubs and Projects
1. Questionnaire
2. Notes from support meetings
3. Reflective journal
The young people from these groups will also feedback their experiences
through the course using a questionnaire and the display they create for the
final assembly.
An effort will be made to track past participants of the programme and ask for
their reflections.
The timeframe for this Case Study will be from August 2016 to January 2017.
In CYS the outdoor programmes are seen as a tool for youth workers similar to
any other including music, art, sports etc., where the outcomes may relate to
personal development or any issue the young person may identify or need at
that particular time. These may include drug and alcohol issues, criminal or
anti-social behaviour, team building or mental health.
Over the course of the case study Clare Youth Service will;
Introduce a staff training programme specifically designed for those
engaged in outdoor work this will have theoretical and practical
components
Complete a brief review of youth-focused outdoor activity models and the
evidenced outcomes from these models
Write a summary document delineating the effective, or promising
practices identified in CYS outdoor activities in relation to identified best
practice from above
Develop a practical handbook for staff engaged in outdoor work to using
the research based evidence and the action research evidence from
existing CYS programmes.
We will examine
1) The effectiveness of the changes introduced to the outdoor programme
in terms of better outcomes for staff;
a) Have they made it easier to plan and run outdoor activities?
b) Is it easier to recruit young people who would normally not engage?
c) Is it easier for staff new to this area of work to become involved?
The timeframe for this Case Study will be from September 2016 to August 2017.