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

Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Current debates about senior cycle education in Ireland have raised a
number of crucial questions: What effect does the Leaving Certificate
exam have on young people’s learning experiences? What helps young
people to do well in the Leaving Certificate exam? How do young people
make decisions about their future? What kinds of skills and competencies
do young people develop in the course of their second-level education?
This study provides an important evidence base for answering these
and other questions by examining the experiences of young people in
sixth year as they prepare for the Leaving Certificate exam and life after
school. International research shows that young people’s academic experiences
can change significantly during their final year at school. Studies
show that students experience increased pressure to attain high grades
in their final year exams while at the same time having to make important
decisions about their future (Bloom, 2007). In Ireland, attaining a
Leaving Certificate is highly predictive of longer term outcomes, even
into adult life, and the grades received influence access to education,
training and employment (Smyth and McCoy, 2009). Little is known,
however, about students’ own experiences of the Leaving Certificate
and, in particular, how the presence of the exam influences teaching,
learning and student decision-making in sixth year.
This book is one of a series of studies based on the broader Post-
Primary Longitudinal Study, which has followed a cohort of over 900
young people in twelve case-study schools, selected to capture key dimensions
of between-school variation, from the beginning to the end of
second-level education. This particular book explores the experiences of