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

Looking Back, Moving Forward 193
made up of young people who intend to take a ‘gap year’ before college (6
per cent of all male students and 4 per cent of all female students).
Figure 6.3: Post-school intentions among sixth year students
80
70
60
%
50
40
30
20
10
Male
Female
0
Third-level Apprenticeship Other educ/tr Employment Other
Plans to enter non-tertiary post-school education and training are influenced
by the interaction of gender and social class. Entry to apprenticeship
and PLC courses is highly gendered so Figure 6.4 shows the proportion
of males entering apprenticeship and the proportion of females entering
PLCs by social class background. Young men from working-class
backgrounds are more likely than other groups to intend to enter apprenticeships,
with over a fifth of those from skilled or semi/unskilled manual
backgrounds planning to do so. Planned entry to PLC courses is
highest among young women from semi/unskilled backgrounds as well
as those from non-employed households.
In keeping with the actual patterns of transition to higher education
(see McCoy et al., 2010), there is a clear social gradient in the proportion
of students who intend to go on to higher education. The vast majority of
those from professional or farming backgrounds plan to go on to higher
education (Figure 6.5). In contrast, these plans are much less common
among those from semi/unskilled or non-employed households. In terms
of the social mix of the school, students from working-class schools are
much less likely to intend to go on to third-level education than those