The Junior Action Programme is designed for teams of young people aged 12 - 15 years, in 1st - 3rd year of secondary school. Teams must be facilitated by a Guide (teacher).

Guides (teachers) sign up to the programme on behalf of a team, either on the YSI website (link) or by phone to (01) 645 8030.

A YSI Guide is the facilitator for a student team(s). Often a teacher, the YSI Guide is the adult mentor who guides young people through the programme activities and supports their innovation journey, looking after the communications with YSI throughout the programme. A certified YSI Guide is someone who has completed the requisite YSI training and who experience facilitating a team to programme completion.

Training is not mandatory, however, teachers who attend two training workshops in a year are eligible for certification as a YSI Guide. The training modules are designed to provide teachers with a grounding in social innovation education, approaches and methodologies to be used to guide their team through the programme and ensure they get the most from the experience.

Yes, the cost for thsis programme is €5 per student.

Guides are provided with a full suite of online resources and activities as well as two training and networking events in the year. The YSI Education team is always on hand to offer support and can be contacted at educate@ysi.ie. 

Guides are also offered membership of the Social Innovation Learning Network, a closed Facebook group where teachers provide peer-to-peer support on anything programme related.

The Junior Programme is designed to be completed in 20 hours. A 10 hour Fast Track option is also available. Ask one of our Education Team at educate@ysi.ie, they will help you tailor the programme for your specific needs.

The Junior Action Programme can be incorporated into Junior Wellbeing, CSPE, SPHE, RE, and Career Guidance.

Yes, participation in the Junior Action Programme does contribute to Junior Wellbeing hours.

Teams can be up to 25-30 members and no fewer than 5.

Yes, a class can split into multiple teams if they wish to address different social issues, so long as each team meets the recommended minimum numbers.

Yes, schools and centres can collaborate on an action project. Let us know when you sign up who you plan to work with so we can correctly record the team’s information.

To complete the programme, teams must submit a written report online. The report is accessed in the teacher login area of the website.

When you sign up, you will be sent login details for the YSI website. The login button is in the top right corner of the homepage of the website.

A project report is a series of questions completed online by teams to capture the inspiration and actions undertaken for their project. It is screened and scored by independent evaluators.

Yes, you may submit your report in Irish. We ask that you notify YSI in advance if you intend to do so.

Yes, the Junior must be completed by the team.

Each team who successfully completes the programme i.e. submits a report, will be eligible for certification.

#YSIweek is a national campaign that invites all teams participating in YSI to celebrate and promote their initiatives, both locally and online. During the week, which runs in April, teams are encouraged to host events locally and raise awareness for their social innovations, and share their stories on social media, tagging YSI so that we can in turn share and amplify their voice.

Guides will be sent a link to a form to register for #YSIweek. Teams can also tag @YSInow and use the #YSIweek, and they will be recorded as having participated.

The YSI Schools of Excellence Awards are offered to schools who demonstrate a commitment to offering social innovation education to its student body.

There are two levels of achievement identified:

School Certification

Awarded to schools that complete YSI Social Innovation Action Programmes on an annual basis.

Schools of Excellence Awards

Schools become eligible for the Schools of Excellence Awards with accompanying flags when, for at least two consecutive years, they fully complete a Junior or Senior Action Programme and participate in #YSIweek.