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

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From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School
Secondly, second year emerges as a key phase in shaping student engagement
with learning. It is often regarded as an ‘in-between’ year by
school staff but many second year students struggle with their schoolwork
and fail to recover the ground lost at later stages. A significant proportion
of students, who fall above the criteria for formal learning support,
state that they would like additional help with their schoolwork.
There appears therefore to be a case for targeting support towards students
experiencing difficulties at this stage of their schooling. More
broadly, there would appear to be the potential to build upon NCCA
work on flexible learning profiles to allow students to take subjects, or
subsets of subjects, at a variable pace (see NCCA, 2011).
Thirdly, the quality of relations between teachers and students is
highly predictive of engagement in learning, school completion and educational
performance. However, in some contexts, a negative cycle of
interaction emerges, which culminates in disengagement from learning
and sometimes early school leaving. It is clear that promoting a school
climate of respect between teachers and students, including a more positive
discipline policy, will enhance student outcomes. Promoting such a
climate should therefore be built into whole-school development planning
and behaviour management techniques could usefully be a focus of
initial and continuing professional development for principals and teachers.
Curriculum reform is unlikely to be successful unless it is underpinned
by a change in the culture and climate of schools.
Young people’s decisions about the future are shaped and reshaped
by a series of seemingly minor choices about what subjects or programmes
to take and which subject levels to study. Many young people
reach senior cycle, having chosen subjects they feel do not suit and finding
themselves excluded from certain post-school pathways because of
the subject level, subject or programme they have chosen. The study
findings again point to the focus of guidance provision on senior cycle
students, especially on applications for higher education (see McCoy et
al., 2006). However, views about which pathway to take are often
formed at a much earlier stage. The findings suggest a need for targeting
guidance activities towards junior cycle students; this could take place
within the context of a whole-school approach to guidance, since many
young people rely on subject teachers for information and advice about