Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

6. WORK EXPERIENCEIN THE LEAVINGCERTIFICATE APPLIED6.1IntroductionThis chapter considers the work experience undertaken by students whopursued the LCA given that work experience represents a substantialcomponent of the programme. Section 6.2 provides an overview of thework experience programme. Using the qualitative interviews conductedwith LCA participants, Section 6.3 considers the nature of the workexperience and perceptions of work experience as part of the curriculum.Section 6.4 outlines the methods used by schools and LCA students toobtain work experience and perceptions of the actual work experienceundertaken. School involvement in students’ work experience is examinedin Section 6.5 and Section 6.6 focuses on reflections on skills gained inwork experience by interviewees. Section 6.7 then outlines the role of workexperience in career decision making, while Section 6.8 considersperceptions of career guidance in outlining the options available to LCAstudents. The final section provides a summary and discussion of the topicsraised in this chapter.6.2Overview ofWorkExperiencein theLeavingCertificateAppliedWork experience represents a significant component of the LCA relativeto the work experience component of Transition Year and LeavingCertificate Vocational Programmes, and is incorporated as part of theVocational Preparation and Guidance module which is allocated 240 hours(30 per cent of total time allocation) over two years. Thus, LCA studentscan spend up to half of this time on work experience over four ‘sessions’ orfour four-month periods, representing the total duration of theprogramme. As part of the compulsory module of vocational preparationand guidance, students are required to partake in modules relating to careerguidance, job search, two modules of work experience and two modules ofenterprise education. Therefore, LCA candidates take part in at least twoand possibly four work experience placements, depending on the modulesthat students select. LCA students can also return to a work experienceplacement if they find that any additional learning outcomes are on offer.In all, the work experience module consists of three sub-modules:• preparation and briefing prior to the work experience;• the actual work experience in the workplace;• a debriefing on completion of the work experience.89