Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

136 ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE?Not all of those who entered post school education (PLCs or otherpathways) were positive about their experiences. Some felt they tookcourses that either did not suit them or in which they had little interest. Anumber of respondents dropped out of PLC courses as they felt illpreparedfor the pace of instruction or struggled with the practicalities ofgoing to college. Ronan, for example, chose a PLC in Computer AidedDesign, something he had found interesting in his LCA work experience.However, he found the transition to a PLC course difficult as he had a lotof travel and was struggling financially:I done a year and a half in that and then, due to circumstances I didn’t finishit…I would have liked to, but I was just, there was just too much going on at thetime, so I didn’t.And did you go back to do it?Yeah, I went back as well for, I’d say half a year, but you know by this stage alot of my friends were actually gone up ahead of me and it wasn’t even that it wasjust the fact that, you know, no income, it’s hard like when you just, you’ve noincome coming in, your family tries to support you as much as they can, youknow, I got the grant the first year but I didn’t get it the second timeAnd why was that?Just, I don’t know, I was just, there was lots of reasons I just, it’s the wholesystem, so, and I was getting two buses up every day and it’s, it’s very hard.(Ronan, 25, completed LCA, apprentice)Alice also participated in a PLC programme, but found the transitionfrom LCA to the course too difficult. She also missed a lot of days due toher mother being sick. Influenced by her father to complete the course, shemanaged to sit the exams but struggled all the way through to keep up withthe pace:Then I done a course in [name of town], it was an IT course, you know, all thatbut I didn’t get on well in that really, very, very hard and then I missed timebecause my mother was sick and couldn’t concentrate I suppose.So you mentioned that you went to do an IT course in [name oftown], what made you choose that?Really because I’d no job kind of, I didn’t know what else to do so I decided I’ddo it kind of, you know, and then I was already after saying I’d do it and thendaddy wouldn’t let me not do it, he kind of made me do it, so.And you didn’t complete it?I did it, I done it and all and I think I even done the exams … only passed twosubjects or something.And do you think the LCA course prepares you to go on tostudy?I suppose, it would, yeah, well it made me think I wanted to do it then when Idid it I thought it was hard, really hard, then I missed so much time then becausemy mother [was sick], I suppose it’s hard to catch up and that. (Alice, 22,completed LCA, home duties)This experience appears to have had a negative impact on Alice’sconfidence and at the time of interviews she was unsure whether she wouldparticipate in further studies again:Would you ever think of going back to study?