Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

PROGRESSION TO FURTHER STUDY AND TRAINING 129entry into PLC courses, which reflects their high levels of entry into highereducation courses (see Byrne et al., 2009), which we return to in section 8.3.Figure 8.1: Percentage Who Participated in a PLC Course45403530%2520TotalMalesFemales151050Low Medium-Low Medium-High HighNo Quals Junior Cert LCA LCE/LCVP LCE/LCVP LCE/LCVP LCE/LCVPSource: School Leavers’ Survey, 2002-2007.In terms of gender patterns across all groups, females outnumber theirmale counterparts in their levels of entry into PLC courses, which largelyreflects the gendered nature of courses in the PLC sector and, as discussedin Section 8.4, the high level of entry into apprenticeship and other trainingprogrammes among male school leavers. However, it is interesting to notethat the gender differential in entry to PLC courses is highest among youngpeople completing the LCA programme. This suggests that the nature ofLCA course content encourages female school leavers to pursue courses inthe PLC sector but points male school leavers in other directions. Almostfour-in-ten females completing the LCA programme participate in PLCcourses in the 18 months to 2 years after they leave school. While thesecourses offer valuable educational opportunities for young people andconfer important labour market skills, research has also highlighted thatPLC leavers are less likely to progress to third level and these courses servemore as an alternative to third level than a route to third level (Watson etal., 2006).A considerable proportion of the LCA completers interviewed as part ofthe qualitative research participated in PLC courses, in line with the analysisof the School Leavers’ Survey data. These interviews explore the routethese LCA leavers took into PLC courses and other educationalprogrammes, their experiences of these courses and the pathways they tookafter completion.A number of female students entered PLC courses in subjects whichthey had studied in the LCA curriculum. Some took courses in childcare,interior design and hotel, catering and tourism and in some cases began towork in these areas when they graduated. Maura had attended a specialschool where she completed the LCA. As a result of advice received