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

Looking Back, Moving Forward 183
Because you have that break for a year that when you come back into
fifth year you are kind of like ‘okay, now I know what I want to do’.
You cop on.
Yeah, you grow up so much.
Yeah, you change so much.
TY is a mad year because you do actually just grow up.
Even from the beginning of TY to the end of TY the difference in
people is unreal.
Yeah, everyone is always saying [to] me you changed so much in
TY. (Belmore Street, girls’ school, mixed intake)
Some students at the school felt their close friendships stemmed from
their time in Transition Year:
Quite a lot, like after doing Transition Year we all became much
closer as a year, made better friends. (Argyle Street, coed school,
mixed intake)
Students in Harris Street suggested that being in a classroom of different
students encouraged them to be more accepting of difference:
You accept people, you’re really together in your class and there’s so
many different types of people in our class.
It’s good to be able to get on with them. (Harris Street, girls’ school,
middle-class intake)
Some Barrack Street students felt that the approach of teachers in Transition
Year allowed them to mature and enjoy it:
I’m glad I did it, I matured, I learnt a lot more as well about myself.
It’s more relaxed and you still do stuff and you weren’t given out to.
(Barrack Street, girls’ school, working-class intake)
Others at the school felt that it gave them that extra year to mature before
beginning the Leaving Certificate programme: