Even as the Minister announced he was to raise the school-leaving age to 16 and that a new Inter-departmental National Education Welfare Board will be set up, research on eight different initiatives targeting early school drop-out shows they are "meeting needs which are neglected or overlooked by the formal education system".

Scot Boldt is author of Showing the Way: Responses and approaches to the needs of students and early school leavers, published last week by the Marino Institute of Education. He says the eight initiatives "rely greatly on volunteers, particularly, in some cases, on the assistance of trained parents". He recommends the voluntary nature of this work be officially recognised and that both initiatives and schools continue to "welcome and to make use of the abilities and skills of parents, especially, and the local community, generally". The initiatives he examined were the Life Centre, Pearse Street, Dublin; the Presentation Family Community Project, Cork; the Drogheda Youth Development Centre; the Kilkenny Early School Leavers Project; St Canice's Community Homework Club, Kilkenny; the Youthreach Centre in Edenderry, Co Offaly; the Homework Club, Rialto, Dublin; and the Support Centre and Off Campus Centre in Cork.

Boldt also interviewed 10 teachers whom early school-leavers from Kilkenny and Dublin described as particularly good or effective in reaching them when they were in school. They included seven postprimary teachers and three primary teachers - five men and five women. While these teachers varied considerably in terms of age, years of teaching experience and personal background, "their views on education and their approach to young people overlap in many areas." They "could all be characterised as being enthusiastic about their work, having a deep concern about the welfare and learning of all their students and a teaching style which has been developed through their experiences and designed to bring out the abilities of their students to help them to fulfil their potential."

Boldt recommends further research to identify and describe the teaching styles and approaches of effective teachers. Trainee teachers should be afforded the opportunity to observe excellent models of teaching and effective teachers should be offered the facility to share their expertise with trainee teachers. The staff involved in these initiatives and the teachers are "making a difference, they are providing hope, and they are showing the way forward as to how to meet the needs of young people," he concludes; "their efforts should be recognised, appreciated and encouraged".

Teaching news is compiled by Catherine Foley