Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

140 ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE?and mirror closely the patterns for those who are low performers in theLCE/LCVP examination. Overall, nearly one-in-five young people leavingschool having completed the LCA programme subsequently pursue statesponsored training programmes. Again the gender differential is particularlynotable for the LCA group with 27 per cent of LCA males entering statesponsoredtraining relative to just 8 per cent of females.8.4.2 EXPERIENCES OF STATE-SPONSORED TRAININGOf the seven male respondents who went into apprenticeships when theyleft school, two had dropped out of LCA to take up their positions. Someof this group felt the LCA work experience prepared them for theirapprenticeships; however, others were surprised at the difficulty of theexams (Maths in particular) and their training weeks in FÁS. Andrewstarted an apprenticeship when he completed the LCA and at the time ofinterview was due to qualify. He found the transition to work difficult butfelt he learned a lot from the experience of the people he was workingwith:Yeah, the skills I really learned is when I went off and worked, you know,learned that, you knew that you were going to be working with fellas who weretwenty years working in a career as an electrician, they’re probably not going tolike young lads, they’re going to be hard on young lads coming through, you know,just to let you know you’re not going to have it easy.And do you think the LCA would have set you up for that?When I went off and done the work experience, I knew what was coming, I knewit wasn’t going to be ah howya, thanks for joining, I knew there was going to besome men, some old lads who were going to be … when you start off like,especially if you’re young, they’re very tough on you, they’re trying to, they’veprobably seen it all before with kids coming out of school and they’re gone aftertwo weeks, so they’re not, they’re testing your, probably your discipline as well …that probably helped me big time, yeah, arriving on time, being punctual, becauseyour man was like that, the fella I worked with, if you weren’t on time, there’s nopoint even going to work, you know. That’s the difference out there like, youknow. (Andrew, 21, completed LCA, apprentice)He has found the exams difficult, particularly Maths, but decided towork harder and he has successfully passed everything so far:And how do you think they will go like, do you know?The ones I did there last September were the hardest, they were absolutelymonster, I’ve never seen anything like it. … it’s a ten week course, it took us ayear’s work in ten weeks, this is how heavy it is and you know, there’s no, you’reeither good or you’re not good, you know what I mean, and I knew the challenge Iwas facing … I was going to have to really give it everything, full attention, stopgoing out, never really went out, just stayed in …I don’t know how I did it like,but I suppose the hard work paid off … I remember six weeks into it remembersaying I don’t know if I’m going to get this, because I hadn’t got a clue, you justkeep rehearsing, rehearsing things and it comes to you, it just clicked on the lastweek, I was delighted, and when the exams came I just knew what I was doing,thank god. I was really worrying back then. (Andrew, 21, completed LCA,apprentice)