What educational programme has got rave reviews, steadily rising attendance numbers and an excellent prognosis for the next five to eight years? What has caught the imagination of senior cycle students who don't want to go the traditional all-academic route?
The newest senior cycle programme to be introduced to second-level schools in the last couple of years can't be stopped. Senior cycle students and their teachers have found that the new Leaving Certificate Applied programme has relevance, adaptability and focus for them. It has even won over the sceptics. The programme, which features a work-related curriculum with a project-based, ongoing assessment format, is now on offer in one-third of all post-primary schools. It is being promoted strongly by the National Council for Curriculum Assessment; at the moment 244 schools are offering the LCA, with approximately 8,000 students pursuing the two-year programme.
"It is . . . aimed at preparing students for adult and working life and emphasises forms of achievement and excellence which the established Leaving Certificate has not recognised in the past," explains Miriam O'Donoghue, a member of the LCA support service. "It's having a huge influence on the numbers of pupils staying on in school," she says. It is expected that more than half of all post-primary schools in the country will provide the LCA programme in the next three to four years, according to Aidan Clifford, deputy director of the Curriculum Development Unit, which is responsible for the LCA's support and service in schools.
"I see an average growth of 30 to 50 schools a year for the next three to four years," he says. "It's going to become widely available." The question of whether the programme will eventually be available in all schools "remains a difficulty", explains Albert O Ceallaigh, chief executive of the National Council for Curriculum Assessment, as a school needs to have about 20 students "to have a viable group" if it wants to be eligible to apply to the Department to provide it. However it is likely that the programme will be on offer, at the very least, in all large schools. Five years ago when the LCA was first introduced, the reaction of schools was varied. Some schools were eager to get involved, while others wanted to wait and see, says Clifford.
Now after a five-year period, the process is steady and well-formed and schools are prepared to change structures and teaching methodologies in order to provide students with the LCA programme.
Schools have to "be ready to take on" the programme, says Clifford. Teachers adopt a team approach. There is a work experience dimension which is integrated into the programme.
"There is a fair amount of dialogue between teachers about what's happening," he says. And there's also plenty of dialogue with the students who negotiate with the teachers on the areas they are interested in studying.
"What's happening now is that it's becoming a very definite choice for schools to exercise."
Albert O Ceallaigh says that, in spite of all the interest and development there is a need to increase awareness and appreciation among the public.
Over the past year the NCCA has been liasing with employers and educational and training bodies to build up awareness, recognition and acceptance of the Leaving Cert Applied.
"Important though the intrinsic value of any educational programme is, the recognition and value accorded it by external bodies are also vital," he says. The NCCA's aim has been to establish the incorporation of the programme into selection and entry criteria for a broad range of employment and training positions. The range of employers include, the NCCA reports, the Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, which both accept applications from those with a distinction in the LCA. National Irish Bank accepts graduates who have been awarded a merit or a distinction and discussions are under way with AIB. Also the Garda Siochana accepts applications from those holding a LCA merit or distinction. Intel welcomes applications from graduates of LCA for operative and junior technician positions. In a specially produced newsletter - Leaving Certificate Applied: Opportunities Update - that has been sent to all school principals, the NCCA has published the results of a survey on the destinations of last year's LCA graduates. See panel. Out of the total surveyed, 91 per cent proceeded to work or further education on completion of the programme. O Ceallaigh hopes this information will be of value to schools that are thinking about providing the programme to their students. The focus of the LCA is completely different to that of the traditional Leaving Certificate programme. It includes vocational preparation, general education and vocational education. Students are assessed under three headings - satisfactory completion of modules, performance of tasks and the final exams, which account for one-third of the marks.
The tasks that LCA students undertake are fresh and varied. For example today in the Presentation Secondary School in Bandon, Co Cork, LCA students are hosting a women's health symposium as part of their study programme. They have done all the organisation themselves, have a range of outside speakers lined up and the day is expected to excite interest and reaction locally. The LCA programme is still being fine-tuned, however. According to O Ceallaigh, some changes "at the edges" and "in light of the experience of the last couple of years" are currently in the pipeline and he expects these to be introduced next September.
One change, he says, is that the nine tasks that students have had to complete will be cut down to seven tasks in order to lessen the burden on students. "It was a huge burden," he says. Students are assessed on an ongoing basis throughout the two-year programme. Last summer, almost 2,100 students sat the LCA exams, which are not the same as the traditional Leaving Certificate exams. The LCA is not used for entry to third-level; there is access via the Post Leaving Cert route. According to Josephine O'Donnell, principal of Marino College in Dublin, "we welcome LCA students coming on to Post Leaving Certificate courses. They have trained skills in areas such as research, using time effectively, meeting deadlines and working in groups."
One of the few serious problems, which the CDU support service will have to deal with as the number of schools wanting to provide this programme continues to grow, is the major lack of teachers for some of the specialist subjects on the programme.
As Christine Foley, a PE teacher at Eureka Secondary School in Kells, Co Meath, told Exam Times after her students emerged from their leisure studies exam earlier this year: "It's a wonderful programme and leisure studies is superb but you don't find it in very many schools because schools lack the personnel to deliver it."
