Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY XVLCA. In addition, young people were positive about the work experienceelement of the LCA in forming their career aspirations, improvingconfidence and decision making skills, and preparing them for the world ofwork.The study also revealed, however, issues around lack of challenge andlimited subject choice in the LCA. Some young people felt that the LCAcurriculum, in particular Maths and English, was too easy and repetitive ofjunior cycle subject content.As the LCA specifically targets young people at risk of dropping out, itis not perhaps surprising that a significantly higher rate of students do notcomplete the LCA when compared with the LCE/LCVP cohort. Availabledata do not allow us to assess the net impact of taking part in LCA on earlyschool leaving. However, for many of the young people interviewed, theLCA appears to have acted as a safety-net by retaining young people in theschool system, with many feeling they would not have been able tocomplete the LCE/LCVP.POST-SCHOOL OUTCOMES FOR LEAVING CERTIFICATEAPPLIED LEAVERSLooking at how LCA leavers fare relative to other groups of leavers meansthat we must clarify the appropriate comparison group. Some of the groupmay have dropped out prior to Leaving Certificate level if the LCA had notbeen available and so LCA leavers can be compared with Junior Certificateleavers. Others may have taken LCE or LCVP but achieved lower gradesand so can be compared with lower-performing LCE/LCVP leavers. Thisstudy allows us to compare the post-school outcomes of LCA studentswith both Junior Certificate and LCE/LCVP students across a range ofperformance levels by examining their status one year after leaving school,their risk of unemployment, and the industrial and occupational sector theyenter in the labour market.The study shows that LCA leavers are more likely to be in the labourmarket one year after leaving school and are less likely than other schoolleavers to be in full-time education and training. Where they do entereducation and training, the typical route for young women is a PLC coursewhile young men tend to enter apprenticeships. Furthermore, LCA labourmarket entrants are found to be at greater risk of unemployment in theimmediate post-school period compared with LCE/LCVP labour marketentrants. LCA leavers are similar to the lowest performing LCE/LCVPgroup in terms of the industrial and occupational sectors they enter, withyoung men commonly working in the construction sector and youngwomen employed in personal service jobs. The gendered nature of thesectors and occupations entered can be seen as reflecting, at least in part,the courses available in the LCA curriculum.