Irlanda

3933

Data de início: 01-08-2013

Data de fim: 01-06-2015

Vagas: 1

Duração: 22 mes(es)

Data limite de candidatura: 01-08-2013

Financiamento: Candidatura

Subsídio mensal (Dinheiro de bolso): 125 €

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Resumo: The hosting organization is situated in a rural towns in west in the Republic of Ireland. All the towns have post primary schools that are involved in the this project. The 3 primary schools that the project works with however are in the country between 10-16km North. It is a very rural setting with small businesses, farming, fish farming, forestry and tourism being very important. The City is 65km away form the town where the volunteers live. Currently we have a 4 bedroom house with shared kitchen and lounge with TV. We supply broadband internet so that you can use skype to keep in contact with you family & friends. The house is 5 minutes’ walk from the town centre where there are basic shops and supermarkets like (Supervalu, Aldi, Centra). There is a small grocery shop only 20 metres from the house. There is a Library, swimming pool, pitch and putt in the town along with a number of sports clubs eg Badminton and also Irish dancing. The town school has a gym which is available to the volunteers.

The people that we work with generally come from 3 different backgrounds- those living in towns, those on small farms and those living the alternative lifestyle. It is an area of rural isolation. There are expensive & infrequent bus services between the towns and to the City but little off the major roads. Locals are dependant on cars to get around. The landscape is generally farmland; it is often rugged and mountainous. With both mountains and coastline the scenery is magnificent (Irish mountains are small by European standards).


Language training: - The volunteer will receive linguistic training as appropriate throughout their stay, usually with a private teacher. Lessons are arranged by the host organisation.
Training and support: - The mentor will meet regularly with the volunteer to check on their progress and help solve any problems. Regular supervision will also ensure on-going support for the volunteer. The organization will offer additional support through emails and phone calls as necessary. The volunteer will be given any training necessary for them to carry out their tasks. Attempts will be made to help the volunteer integrate into the local community. Volunteers will attend the on-arrival training organised by the National Agency or host organisation as well as nationally organised mid-term evaluation events. As host we will provide induction training which will include child protection training. Most significantly the volunteers will support young people who are at risk and they will gain valuable experience of how to work in a professional manner.
With the support of the Mentor volunteers will be able to certify their learning through a ‘YouthPass’. We start this process by asking volunteers to consider their learning goals before they arrive at our project.

The volunteers will be ‘School activity assistants’. They will support project worker to deliver a programme of activities involving ‘in-school’, ‘after-school’ and ‘holiday provision’ programmes. This will involve educational support both academic (eg helping with homework) and social. Also there may be sports, art, drama, music, computers, cooking, board games etc. there will also be a certain amount administration eg recording.

Volunteers often bring new and valuable ideas. If they have a particular skill that can be used it may be appropriate to set up a club involving that skill. There is opportunity during the year to be able to help young people learn about the volunteers’ own countries eg. workshops

Perfil: The volunteer needs to have good communication skills with an ability to encourage and support children and young people. They will need to be able to work as part of a team in and along with organization staff and teachers. To show initiative, be flexible and be enthusiatic about all parts of our programme.

All our work is based on having a positive relationship with young people and children, so the ability to build up a good rapport with them is very important. Maturity is required as young people will look to the volunteer as a role model
To feel comfortable in a rural and isolated situation and have the motivation to travel. The ability to get to know people in the schools and local community will be important for the enjoyment of your stay here. Having an interest in sports, music and languages, is an advantage.
Age: 18 until 30 years old

Tarefas: There are three types of main activity:-
1 In-school
2 After-school
3 Holiday-provision

1 In-school (engaging young people through class subjects)
This work is aimed at supporting young people to get on better in school. It may be helping with homework or a project or some subject area like Maths, English or French. While the subjects that we help with are important it is essential to point out that building self esteem and encouraging young people is also a vital part of our work. So being warm and friendly really helps young people to stay at school. So our work is both academic and social in nature.

What is expected of the EVS volunteer during in-school work?
Our aim is to use the skills of the volunteer to best help the student in all situations. In this situation you may be good at maths and so help a young person with their homework or revise their class work. A skeleton time table will be worked out so that you will have a list of people to work with. With the nature of our work people may be added or taken from your timetable and others may not come to school the day you have them on your timetable. This means that you have to be flexible in your approach to the work. It is important for us to get the balance right so that you are not under too much pressure or feeling that you don’t have enough to do. In either case it is important to talk to staff. There are other activities that you can do such as supporting class groups in their classroom, preparation for your work, administration. A small amount of in class work is expected to happen,this allows the volunteers to be aware of the nature of the Irish Educations system and also to gain the subject knowledge to help students with homework later in the day.

2 After-school (engaging young people through the medium of sports and other activities)
We run after school clubs eg Homework, table tennis, cooking, guitar, chess etc. This allows us to engage with students when they are under less pressure so there can be a more fun agenda and this is a great way to build relationships.

What is expected of the EVS volunteer during After-school work?
Normally after school clubs last for an hour after classes have finished. (We do however have a 40 minute breakfast club in the school currently. There are also clubs run at lunch time, like chess. Generally volunteers are expected to join in with the activity and support the club leader. There may be an opportunity to set up a club doing something that you are skilled at or for you to take a leadership role in clubs at times.

3 Holiday-provision (engaging young people through the medium of trips and clubs)
During the midterm breaks and holiday times we run trips and clubs for children and young people. This is a great way for us to get to know them very well in a very relaxed and fun environment. It also allows us to meet and get to know students whom we don’t have much contact with during school time.

What is expected of the EVS volunteer during Holiday-provision work?
Normally we run trips at the beginning of November, in mid-February, at Easter and in late June. These trips are usually for 2 days. As they are residential trips it is important to watch out for the welfare of the young people. The main aim is for the young people to learn teamwork and develop personally. An example of a trip is to go to Waterford and stay at a hostel by the beach. On the way we visit a Life boat station and we get the group to decide on a meal to cook, buy the food, prepare, eat it and clean up afterwards. We then play teamwork games and the next day teamwork games on the beach. Perhaps even an early morning swim for the brave!! We then go to a fun swimming pool called ‘Splashworld’. All the time we are interacting with young people and building relationships and learning through observation what needs they have. Generally volunteers are expected to join in with the activity and support the leader, perhaps even lead a session themselves. While trips are hopefully fun they are not holidays for young people as they sign up to it as a group learning experience. The trips can also be hard work for the organization staff and volunteers. A two day trip is 21 to 25 hours work and time can be taken in lieu afterwards.

We also run clubs, usually 2 one day clubs at Easter and 2 week long ones in June/July. These are for primary school children and they may involve arts and crafts, sports, computers, team games, drama, swimming, a beach trip, music, quizzes etc. Volunteers, depending on their departure date, will be involved in helping with or running some of these activities with other staff.

We can also link in with other local providers of summer activities. Many of our children go to clubs like the ‘Happy Days Summer Camp’, which is a week-long sports camp in July. Children also link in with the the Family Resource Centre which runs clubs and activities throughout the year.

During June with the state exams, the post primary schools are closed but the primary schools remain open. At this time we can support those taking exams at post primary but also visit the primary schools to do cultural workshops on your country and we also do transfer programmes to help the children moving to post primary to be aware what it will be like there.
In recent years volunteers have not been involved in Summer activities as most come in late August and leave in late May ie. a 9 month stay, but we may be able to discuss the length of stay with volunteers.

Interagency work
We are an interagency programme. Other agencies work with the same children and young people as we do. We therefore occasionally get involved in activities that are mutually beneficial to the different organisation and more particularly the young people. We now have a strong link with the local Youth Cafés and the family resource centres.

The organization engages with different aspects of school life including the classes for those with special needs. Rossa College has an Autistic Unit with which we may engage.

Administration
There is also some administration work which is very valuable to the project. Keeping records of attendance at school and clubs is important, as is the making up posters of photographs for young people to remember the trips they have been on. We also make certificates for some primary school children to recognise their attendance at school.

Documentação: CV + Carta de Motivação em Inglês