Question:
227 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will assist the Pathways through Education programme to continue its excellent work; and if will make a statement in the matter. [13785/00]
Written Answers - Pathways Through Education Programme.
The pathways through education project involves three inner city schools St Pauls CBS, North Brunswick Street, Presentation Secondary School, Warrenmount and Ringsend Technical Institute. This is an EU funded Youthstart project managed by the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Dublin School Business Partnership. My Department was represented on the steering group for this project which focuses on raising the self-esteem of young people in the participating schools.
I understand that two of the schools in question are currently participating in the first phase of the stay in school retention initiative at second level launched in June 1999. This Initiative provides funding to targeted schools on the basis of plans that they are being helped to design themselves. The intention is to empower the schools themselves to tackle early school leaving. At the core of the initiative are multi-annual retention plans drawn up by the individual schools and agreed with the Department. These are to provide for a range of specific measures, which can include programmes to assist in the development of self-esteem, directed at the needs of individual schools, together with clear targets in terms of increased retention up to the end of the senior cycle. I intend to invite further schools to participate in the second phase of the initiative shortly.
In addition, the schools in question will benefit from: the enhanced guidance service which has a major preventative role in helping young people at risk to stay within the formal education system. Existing provision is being augmented by the creation of a guidance fund of over £4 million which will enable increased guidance provision to be made within second level schools; the expanded national educational psychological service – NEPS – which will have 100 educational psychologists in post by the end of this year and 200 by the end of the development phase of the NEPS at the end of 2004.