Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

PROGRESSION TO FURTHER STUDY AND TRAINING 139even do more courses to head into it, because I, I got ITEC…qualifications out ofit like, so, yeah. 9 (Sarah, 21, completed LCA, employed)At the time of interview Sarah was considering going travelling and didnot rule out going to college as a mature student:I will go back to college again, I mean I’m only twenty one, I’m going to go backagain and do something else like, you know, but not until I, as I said, travelled abit more and that.Okay, so that’s where the goal now is?Yeah, at the moment, yeah. (Sarah, 21, completed LCA, employed)8.4StatesponsoredTrainingProgrammes8.4.1 PATTERNS OF ENTRY TO STATE-SPONSORED TRAININGPatterns of participation in state-sponsored training programmes aresomewhat the reverse of the patterns for PLC participation as shown inFigure 8.3. First, those leaving school prior to completion have high levelsof entry, particularly young people who leave prior to sitting the JuniorCertificate examination. This reflects the objectives of courses such as theYouthreach programme which aim to provide second-chance educationalopportunities for early school leavers. Our LCA leaver group are less likelythan these early school leavers to pursue state-sponsored trainingopportunities on leaving school. However, comparing the LCA group tothe other school completers, they have relatively high levels of participationFigure 8.3: Participation in Post-school State Sponsored TrainingProgrammes40353025%20TotalMalesFemales151050LowNo Quals Junior Cert LCA LCE/LCVPMedium-Low Medium-High HighLCE/LCVP LCE/LCVP LCE/LCVPSource: School Leavers’ Survey, 2002-20079 ITEC is the qualification awarded by the International Therapy Training Council.