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

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From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School
cent for Irish). The same pattern is evident for Biology (93 per cent v. 53
per cent) and Geography (80 per cent v. 44 per cent), with higherachieving
students expressing greater interest in these subjects.
Figure 2.2: Proportion of sixth year students who find the selected
subjects interesting (those taking the subjects only)
History
Biology
Home Ec.
PE
Geography
English
Maths
French
German
Irish
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
% interesting
Among sixth years, Biology, Home Economics and Maths are seen as
the most useful subjects (Figure 2.3), which is consistent with findings
for students in fifth year. In general, the majority of sixth year students
find the specified subjects useful, with the exception of Irish which is
deemed useful by only four in ten students. For five of the ten specified
subjects, clear gender differences are evident in the perceived utility of
subjects. Female students are more likely to consider Irish, Biology,
Home Economics, French and Irish useful than male students (42 per
cent compared with 35 per cent for Irish; 84 per cent v. 71 per cent for
Biology; 85 per cent v. 61 per cent for Home Economics; 71 per cent v.
57 per cent for French; 44 per cent v. 37 per cent for Irish). As with subject
interest, PE is the only subject which males are more likely to find
useful than female students (72 per cent v. 64 per cent). Finding Biology
useful is closely related to prior achievement, with 97 per cent of the top
Junior Certificate quintile finding it useful compared with 59 per cent of