Youth for
Decent Work
Film Competition 2016
Youth Connect, now in its fifth year, educates school
leavers about the issues they will have to deal with
in their working lives, no matter what career they
choose. It explores topics such as employment
rights, trade unionism, corporate social
responsibility and globalisation.
The workshops are facilitated by 'regional
champions’ who are all teachers. Lessons typically
last 80 minutes, and are designed for students in
Transition Year and the Leaving Certificate
Vocational Programme, as both require students to
complete a work experience placement.
YouthConnect workshops touch on some of the
areas covered in Junior Cert Civic, Social and
Political Education (CSPE), such as rights and
responsibilities, law and democracy. The
globalisation module promotes the engagement of
students in solidarity actions such as the Clean
Clothes Campaign, the Fair Trade movement,
eradication of child labour and more ethical trading,
particularly in the production of clothes and
technology. Youth Connect also customises its
material to provide workshops for fifth and sixth
year classes and Leaving Cert Applied students, as
well as post-Leaving Cert courses.
In 2014-15, YouthConnect delivered workshops to
24,374 students across 325 schools - almost half
of all second-level schools, making it one of Ireland's
largest school outreach programmes.
YouthConnect is run by the Irish Congress of Trades
56
Youth for Decent Work' film competition 2016
Now in its third year, the Youth Connect video
competition gives a team of students the chance to
win a fantastic 5-day trip New York. The theme for
this year's contest is 'safe and healthy workplaces'.
To enter, students can get together in groups of two
to four and create a three-minute video about the
topic of health and safety in the context of decent
work.
The deadline for online registration for the
competition is November 19th 2015. All video entries
must be submitted by January 28th 2016.
http://www.youth-connect.ie/
Last year's winning entry was screened in an OscarStyle Ceremony in the Savoy Cinema, Dublin to an
audience of almost 700 people.
Unions and the content was developed in close
collaboration with the three teaching unions (ASTI,
TUI and INTO) and the Irish Second-level Students'
Union.
"We started the programme because we felt that
young people don't really have a clue about work
and what they do when they go into the workplace,"
says programme manager Fiona Dunne.
"The idea was to get them work-ready in a gentle
way by talking to them about the world of work,
their rights, some of the issues that might come up
and how to deal with them."
The South West Region Champion, Mr Lynch was
previously a business and accounting teacher, and
he visits schools in Limerick, Cork, Kerry, Waterford
and Tipperary.
His lessons combine an introduction to workers'
rights with group exercises focused on workplace
situations.
He says: "It's about teaching students how to
protect themselves with the knowledge we give
them in the classroom.
"We're making them aware of what they should be
doing, when they should be taking breaks, how much
they should be getting paid, and how many hours
they should be working."
To find out more information or to book a lesson at
your school please visit the Youth Connect website
(www.youth-connect.ie) or contact us by email
[email protected].
You can also keep up to date with us on Facebook and Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/youthconnectire
https://twitter.com/YouthConnectIre
57