Carlow youth training proving popular with school leavers
Avril Lynch, manager of the Carlow Youth Training Centre.
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There is such a demand at Carlow's Youth Training Centre on the O'Brien Road, which helps young people who dropped out of school early, that applicants are faced with a year-long waiting list.
The training centre is aimed at young Irish school leavers aged 16 - 21 and the 72 places available each year are quickly snapped up.
'We run a wide range of courses here,' said manager of the centre Avril Lynch. 'We run courses on everything like woodwork and metalwork, catering, art and design, beauty therapy, IT courses and hair dressing.' All courses at the training centre are FETAC certified and an option of a six-month work placement is also available.
' The employer gets to see how the young person works out,' she added. ' The work placement is particularly successful with beauty and hairdressing because the young person has already picked up some skills here so when they arrive at the work place they are well on their way.'
However young people might have to wait up to a year to secure a place on one of the programmes such is their popularity and appeal.
' The guidelines now have become very strict and we often have to prioritise people with a poor second level education,' she added.
Carlow Youth Training Centre is FAS funded but it is run by a voluntary board of management and operates out of the Askea Business Park.
It employs a total of 12 staff and also offers literacy and counselling facilities.
'Apart from training we also provide something that we call tracking. It's follow up support and is usually for a minimum of six months.
We stay in touch on an ongoing basis or a person might have to come back to the centre a second time for further training if something is happening in their lives.
'We support the total person and not just the academic work,' added Avril.
To contact Avril you can phone 059 91 32245 or email info@carlowyouthtraining.org.
