Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

WORK EXPERIENCE IN THE LEAVING CERTIFICATE APPLIED 107The final section of this chapter then considered career guidance. Themajor difficulty that LCA students face in terms of their future options isknowledge relating to the courses and colleges that accept LCA as an entryrequirement. It was of particular concern that many of the LCA studentsdid not have this knowledge. Furthermore, it was not clear among studentswhether a pass LCA would gain entry to the same course as a distinctionLCA. While some of our respondents outlined that their guidance teachershad offered them assistance, it was clear that they still lacked this importantknowledge regarding their options. In fact, the lack of apparent viable postschoolpathways for LCA students proved to be a disincentive for someLCA students after they left school and is likely to contribute to a higherunemployment risk among this group.