We believe in order for a young person to take advantage of their potential, they must first have a sense of self-worth, character and motivation.
At Solas Project, we call these "Pillars of Cultivation". We work to instill these values in each and every young person supported through our five programmes.
Self-Worth
- Personal Influence: young person knows they have influence over their direction in life
- Positive Self-Identity: young person likes and is proud to be the person they are
- Sense of Purpose: young person believes their life has a purpose
- Resolving Conflict: confidence to resolve conflict in a healthy way
Character
- Kindness: caring, generous and considerate of others, empathetic
- Self-Control: able to control their actions, emotions and desires
- Responsibility: trustworthy, dependable, accepts consequences
- Integrity: displays honesty, fairness and treats people equally
Motivation
- Engaged in Learning: value and understanding of the benefits of learning (formal or informal)
- Organisation: goal setting; time management
- Decision-Making: knows how to plan ahead and empowered to make positive life choices
- Achievement: dedication and hard working, desire to do well
We are compiling a bank of evidence based research in order to demonstrate that our programmes are producing the outcomes intended by Solas Project.
Through our work in Compass, we have realized the transition from primary to post-primary education is a crucial time for young people. One young man said ‘He loved primary school, but secondary school was a nightmare’. Without adequate support and resources a young person, like those we support, will start to disengage with their education and underperform. We see evidence of this through statistics such as: In 2014, 99% of leaving cert students from Dublin 6 went on to 3rd level education with 28% from Dublin 8.
Relevant research
- Monitoring and Evaluation by Whitebarn Consulting
- Greentown Report, University of Limerick (“Lifting the lid on Greentown – why we should be concerned about the influence criminal networks have on children’s offending behaviour in Ireland.” - Sean Redmond)
- European Youth Work and Youth Entrepreneurship ("Taking the future into their own hands: Youth work and entrepreneurial learning" - EU Publications)
RELEVANT STATISTICS
- Rate of re-offending is highest among young male offenders under the age of 21, at 57.7%.
- In 2014, only 28% of leaving cert students in Dublin 8 went on to 3rd level education, compared to 99% of students in Dublin 6.
