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

Curriculum, Teaching and Learning 41
school). Moving ‘down’ a level was not always an effective response to
perceived subject difficulty. Some of the students who moved from
higher to ordinary Maths found themselves struggling as the two courses
are so different. Their time spent taking higher level Maths was now
viewed as ‘a waste’:
They were told they all had to drop which is basically the waste of a
year because honours Maths is tough.
Yeah, now we’re going to pass and now I’m lost in pass like and I
would have been a C student in honours like. I’ve gone to pass and
I’m lost and I failed the pass Maths mocks because I’ve never done
it. (Harris Street, girls’ school, middle-class intake)
Other students were concerned that students changing from higher to
ordinary level were moving into their Maths class, thus impacting on
their own performance:
And my pass Maths class is full to the limit because of so many people
having dropped down.
It’s a joke, we’re all there like.
Ours is packed.
Ours is packed and we’re all failing. (Argyle Street, coed school,
mixed intake)
The extent to which students made their own decision appeared to vary
by school. Some students felt they had no choice at all and the subject
level at Leaving Certificate appeared to be directly influenced by their
Junior Certificate level:
You don’t have a choice in this school, I swear to god.
They just look at you.
The teachers you have in here you don’t have a choice.
… You’ve done ordinary level for the Junior Cert so you’re doing
ordinary level for the Leaving Cert. (Dawes Point, boys’ school,
working-class intake)