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

Curriculum, Teaching and Learning 69
enjoyable and interesting) and extrinsic worth (leading to further educational
or employment opportunities). Those with lower levels of prior
achievement were, however, more critical of the subjects they were taking.
In keeping with the pattern in fifth year, a significant minority felt
that the subjects they had chosen were different in content and workload
than what they had anticipated. In spite of high levels of subject satisfaction,
over half of the cohort pointed to one or more subjects which they
regretted taking and a similar proportion indicated subjects they would
have preferred to take. There is some indication that having taken Transition
Year is associated with lower levels of regret about subject choice,
reflecting the opportunity to sample subjects in many TY programmes
(see Smyth and Calvert, 2011).
Sixth year students vary not only in the programmes and subjects
they take but in the levels at which they study subjects. In this chapter,
we have focused on level take-up in Irish, English and Maths, and explored
the factors shaping take-up. In Chapter Four, we will explore the
number of higher level subjects taken in the Leaving Certificate exam.
Students differed in the extent to which they saw the level they were taking
as the outcome of ‘choice’. In many cases, sixth years felt that the
level followed on naturally from that taken at junior cycle, with the only
change involving ‘dropping down’ from higher to ordinary level in response
to subject difficulty and/or teacher advice. In some instances
even, subject level was seen as shaped by decisions made by the school
or teacher as far back as first year. There were differences across and
within the case-study schools in the degree of choice afforded to students
regarding the level taken. When asked specifically about selecting the
Maths level, students saw Maths teachers as the main source of information
and advice, although parents (particularly mothers) also played a
very significant role.
Sixth year students were asked about the kinds of teaching methods
used in their classes. A clear contrast was evident between LCA classes,
which were characterised by more interactive group-work and projectwork,
and LCE/LCVP classes, which were characterised by more teacherled
interaction, use of homework and an emphasis on practising exam papers.
For LCE/LCVP students, the ‘Mock’ exam assumed an important
role in almost all of the case-study schools, providing feedback to students