Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

7. LABOUR MARKETOUTCOMES7.1IntroductionThis chapter considers the position of school leavers one year afterleaving school. It includes analysis of their main economic status and,among those in the labour market, their success in finding employment andthe nature of that employment. In doing so, it compares the relativeposition of the LCA group to all other school leavers including those whohave completed the LCE or LCVP and those who have left school early.Given that the School Leavers’ Surveys capture all those leaving thesecond-level system during the course of an academic year, the surveysinclude a nationally representative sample of individuals who have leftschool at all stages of the second-level system – including those who leaveprior to sitting the Junior Certificate examination, those who leave duringsenior cycle and those who complete one of the Leaving Certificateexaminations. This allows us to compare the relative experiences of pre-Junior Certificate school leavers (‘No Quals’ leavers), those who leave priorto completion of senior cycle (‘Junior Cert’ leavers) and those whocomplete their second-level education. Our particular focus is oncomparing those who complete the LCA programme with those who tookthe LCE or LCVP and these early leaver groups. In addition, wedifferentiate the Leaving Certificate (LCE or LCVP) group based onperformance in this examination, as follows:LCE/LCVP PerformanceGroup NameLess than 5 D3s at any levelLow5 or more D3s, but no C3s (or better) on higher level papers Medium-low1 to 3 C3s (or better) on higher level papers Medium-high4 or more C3s (or better) on higher-level papers HighThis enables a comparison of the experiences of LCA leavers with lowerand higher performing LCE/LCVP leavers and, given that LCAparticipants are predominantly drawn from the lower end of the JuniorCertificate performance spectrum (see Chapter 4), we can compare therelative experiences of LCA leavers with lower performing LCE/LCVPleavers in their post-school outcomes.108