ALL YOUR EDUCATION QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY BRIAN MOONEY.

My daughter's school is introducing transition year this September. I attended a parents meeting, at which the proposed programme was outlined. My only concern is the issue of losing study habits, which were built up over the past few years. What is your opinion of the transition-year option being offer?

Your daughter's school is one of about 12 schools, preparing to introduce transition year (TY) in September, 2007. Of the approximately 740 second-level schools in the Republic, 543 schools currently offer TY, which means that roughly three-quarters of students completing the Junior Certificate currently have the option of choosing TY. In the current year, 27,000 students are taking TY, which represents about half the total number of students in third year, and about two-thirds of those to whom the programme is available.

As a teacher in Oatlands College, I have found the programme to be hugely beneficial to students and I have never come across a student who had difficulty returning to study having taken the TY programme.

As I write, the TY students of Oatlands and Sion Hill are jointly presenting the musical Greaseover four nights. The range of skills that both sets of TY students have acquired and developed in this production is incalculable and will stand to them for the rest of their lives.

Students who undertake TY are more mature and confident than those who opt not to take the programme and progress directly to fifth year. What are some of the other advantages of TY?

Because students sample a module of Leaving Certificate subjects, they are better informed regarding the nature of the subjects, from which they must choose at the end of TY. Apart from these optional subjects, students continue to study the core subjects of Irish, English, and maths, throughout the entire year.

This allows for remediation and compensation in subjects, where students may have previously experienced difficulties, so that they can bring their grades in those subjects up during TY. Parents often do not realise, that TY is a full year with a full timetable - students must attend each day and observe the same rules as other school students.

Alongside traditional subjects, students take certifiable and non-certifiable modules. Certifiable modules include Safe Food for Life, ECDL and first aid. Non-certifiable modules can include mental health matters; tourism awareness programme; get up and go mini-company programme; design and discovery, staying alive and be real game.

Research Findings

There have been a number of research studies undertaken on the long-term effects of TY. If you are interested in looking at this work, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has undertaken work in this area and you will find details of their findings online at www.esri.ie. The results of the various research projects including an NCCA longitudinal study, shows former TY students score better CAO points than average than students who do not take the programme and are more likely to take subjects at a higher level. Some students take subjects they had not taken before - having become more educationally adventurous following on from the sampling process.

I believe that I can put your mind at rest regarding the issue of study habits. Most students have little difficulty settling in after the summer holidays and seem to settle faster than those who come directly from the Junior Certificate. As opposed to losing the study habit, they seem to have better study skills, organisational skills, time management and presentation skills as well as ICT skills. As you can see, I am a fan of TY. Your daughter is very fortunate that her school is introducing it.

Brian Mooney is the former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors.

E-mail questions to bmooney@irish- times.ie