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

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From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School
They do exceptionally well, that’s what amazes me. (Hay Street,
staff, coed school, working-class intake)
Many students were reported as opting for FETAC courses when they
leave school as a way to overcome difficulties around Maths:
Some of them may use the FETAC to proceed further, you know, to
go on. They’d be over that hurdle but then, you know, the case of a
lot of courses they go to anyway, they are faced with the Maths problem
anyway, when they get in there. If they chose anything like engineering
or construction areas, which is the area they are interested
in. (Hay Street, staff, coed school, working-class intake)
6.5 Still Don’t Know What to Do
Only a handful of students (around 2 per cent) reported ‘don’t know’
when asked about post-school intentions in the survey. The group interviews,
however, revealed greater uncertainty about their chosen pathways,
even among those who had already applied to college (see above).
Some of the students interviewed had no clear idea what they wanted to
do when they left school. Many seemed frustrated by this and felt pressurised
by the CAO system to make up their mind:
I’m really confused, I don’t really know what I want to do, I have
loads of different ideas and different, even filling out the application,
I put a bit of everything on it. (Dawson Street, coed school, mixed
intake)
Many students spoke about changing their mind and some were influenced
by their poor performance in the Mock exams:
I’ve no idea yet. No idea at all.
Interviewer: Have you applied for anything?
Oh yeah, I’ve a few business things in, but after the way the mocks
went I have to change it.
Oh I’m changing mine as well. Changing it around.
It’s just so hard like because I don’t know what I want to do at all.
(Fig Lane, coed school, middle-class intake)