Schools Project

Supporting and Challenging Young People in Schools, Parishes and Other Contexts

For the past ten years, the Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ) has been developing a Project to support and challenge young people from diverse backgrounds in schools, parishes and other contexts.

The following are examples of the types of intervention CARJ offers:

• Sustained work with small groups. Regular (eg weekly or fortnightly) one or two-hour sessions with up to 8 young people. In schools we have often worked with these groups for a full academic year, addressing the social and emotional aspects of learning. The group work is designed to build self-confidence, self-esteem, high aspiration, teamwork, speaking and listening skills, the ability to manage one’s own behaviour and awareness of a vocation to world citizenship.
• Awareness raising with larger groups. This often takes the form of talks, audio visual presentations or inter-active sessions (one or two hours or up to a full day) for school assemblies, RE or PSHE classes or parish groups. The aim is to raise young people’s awareness of how their faith relates to justice, equality, cohesion and related issues.
• Teachers and Parents.We provide INSET sessions for teachers or parish staff to familiarise them with our vision and perspectives, and wherever it is possible and appropriate, we try to make quality contact with parents of young people involved in our programmes.

• Opportunities for active citizenship CARJ offers young people opportunities to engage with others in reflection on public issues and action to bring about change. CARJ recently organised a Young People’s Congress on World Citizenship, at Liverpool Hope University, and we are hoping to hold similar events in the future.
• Quality Education for Marginalised Communities. We are exploring with others ‘how best to support young people, schools and families in marginalised communities’. As part of this dialogue, we have published – Stepping Stones to a More Equal Society –and we are in the process of organising a series of Seminars to explore the issues and approaches outlined in this publication..