Recognition, Relationality and Wellbeing Amongst Youthreach Education Staff

Wellbeing in education has become a priority issue internationally, yet the support of the staff working in education often remains limited. This article explores the unique contribution of the Youthreach early school leaving programme in Ireland in supporting positive learning outcomes for its learners. We contend that the person-centred approach, caring ethos and relational pedagogy used by Youthreach staff to re-engage young people is a vital part of learning. However, this person-centred relational pedagogy is not recognised by the education system, as evidenced by the significantly lower levels of recognition and resources held by the sector, and more challenging work and temporal conditions experienced by Youthreach staff than their colleagues in other education and youthwork sectors. This lack of recognition and resourcing is indicative of a broader misrespect for person-centred approaches in education, which has profound implications for learners already marginalised by the mainstream education system and for the wellbeing of staff who work with them.