From Leaving CertiFiCate to Leaving SChooL a Longitudinal Study ...

Guidance and Decision-Making in Sixth Year 149
Figure 5.3: Satisfaction with guidance provision
Enough info from school
to decide
Like to know more re jobs
Too early to decide what
to do
Like to know more re
courses
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
%
The Amount and Timing of Guidance
International research on guidance provision consistently highlights how
young people would have found it more useful to have received career
guidance at an earlier stage in their school career (Keys et al, 1998;
Maychell et al., 1998). Similarly, recent Irish research has shown that
students are positive about early information and support in relation to
entry into higher education (McCoy et al., 2010). Many students interviewed
as part of this study felt that their career guidance came too late
and reported that this advice and information would have been more
beneficial if they had received it at an earlier stage. This was particularly
the case for students who needed certain subjects or subject levels to access
particular college courses but realised too late as many of them had
chosen their subjects and subject levels when they finished their Junior
Certificate:
I mean you are in fifth year, you’ve picked your subjects and you are
going oh I like that course but I can’t do it because I don’t have the
subjects for it, can’t do it. … The teachers could come into the class
and tell you what their subject is about for Leaving Cert. (Argyle
Street, coed school, mixed intake)