About Us

What we do

We work toward redressing educational inequality

We support students in DEIS schools to get the best Leaving Certificate possible and increase their chances of progressing to third level and further education.

We believe that our unique Aspire2 model is an effective solution in redressing the educational inequalities that exist in Irish society.

Our Vision

The vision of the Aspire2 programme is to support students in DEIS schools to get the best Leaving Cert possible and increase their chances of progression to third level, further education and apprenticeships.

Aspire2

Our Mission

The Aspire2 vision is pursued by supporting students who live in areas of educational disadvantage to increase their prospects of completing the Leaving Certificate and progressing to Third Level education and other forms of further education including Apprenticeships.

Students from St. Aidan's Community College, Cork, receiving Aspire2 scholarships.

Our Values

We build through collaboration

The success of the programme is based on collaboration. At Aspire2 our values are firmly rooted in the values of:

Openness
Transparency
Co-operation
Trust.

These principles guide our relationships between all our participants:

Schools,
Teachers,
Students,
Parents,
Access departments,
the sponsoring company and other key stakeholders.

Key Activities

Aspire2 provides students with group mentoring, work experience placement, and a number of other social and personal development opportunities.

Initiatives to improve educational progression

Student Mentoring sessions

Student Work Experience

Youth Advisory Panels

Student Alumni

Parent Forums

How we work

We work in collaboration and partnership

The success of the programme is based on collaboration and the development of a relationship of openness, transparency, co-operation and trust between all the participants: schools, teachers, students, parents, access departments, the sponsoring company and other key stakeholders.

Steering committees in Dublin and Cork oversee the development of Aspire2. These steering groups are made up of the Aspire2 Project Manager, DPS Directors, partner school principals and our access partners from UCD, TCD, ITT, Maynooth University, UCC and CIT.

The Aspire2 Project Manager works closely with the partner schools, our access partners and with DPS internally to develop initiatives to deliver our programme vision.

In addition to the Steering Groups, DPS have set up an

Advisory Group to support the overall strategic development of Aspire2. The members of this group are as follows: