Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

2 ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE?This chapter outlines the policy context within which the LCA wasintroduced. It begins by providing an overview of the LCA programme andthe Irish educational system, drawing parallels with programmes that havepreceded but were somewhat similar to LCA in the past. The chapter thenconsiders theoretical arguments relating to curriculum differentiation in thesociology of education and the final section discusses the researchquestions addressed in the study.1.2An Overviewof theLeavingCertificateAppliedProgrammeThe LCA was introduced in 1995 and developed by the National Councilfor Curriculum Assessment (NCCA) and the Department of Education andScience (DES). Established as a distinct self-contained programme thatoffers students an ‘alternative’ to the established Leaving Certificate, theLCA is a two-year programme, designed to have an innovative modularform of course structure which is completely different to that of theEstablished Leaving Certificate (LCE) and the Leaving CertificateVocational Programme (LCVP). A key aim of the LCA is ‘…to meet the needsof those students who are not adequately catered for by other Leaving Certificateprogrammes or who choose not to opt for such programmes… (DES/NCCA 2000, p.6). Furthermore, its mix of academic and vocational curriculum aims …toprepare students for the transition from school to adult and working life, including furthereducation… (DES, 1995 p. 54). The inclusion of continuing and furthereducation within its remit was a key departure from other vocationallyorientatedprogrammes provided in the past. DES Circulars have explicitlystated that …on successful completion of the Leaving Certificate Applied, students mayprogress to further education through Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses… butthat …in general, direct access to the university sector is not possible… (DES, 2009).In senior cycle, the majority of students take the Leaving CertificateEstablished (LCE) which is a two-year programme, incorporating a rangeof distinct subjects. Students normally study 6 or 7 subjects during thesenior cycle but must take at least 5 Leaving Certificate subjects in theirexaminations. Another option for students is the Leaving CertificateVocational Programme (LCVP) which overlaps with the LCE while alsoproviding three compulsory link modules on enterprise education,preparation for work and work experience. The LCA differs significantlyfrom the other Leaving Certificate programmes in terms of structure,design, content, teaching methodologies and assessment (for a detaileddescription of the LCA see Appendix 1). Its primary aim is to developstudents’ understanding, self-esteem, self-knowledge and sense ofresponsibility.In recognition of its different character, resource allocation is differentfor the LCA programme than for LCE. In the school year 2008/9, schoolswere allocated 1.5 whole-time teacher equivalents for the first group of 20students and 1.25 whole-time teacher equivalents for each group of 20students thereafter. Schools providing the LCA also received an annualresource grant which was calculated on the basis of €158.72 per LCA pupil(DES, 2008). Schools introducing LCA (and/or LCVP) could avail ofonce-off grants for the purchase of equipment for the programme.Budgetary changes in November 2008 resulted in the curtailment ofsupports for schools offering the LCA programme. Specific grants for LCAwere cut and the allocation of teachers reduced to 1.4 whole-timeequivalents for the first 20 students. In the Renewed Programme forGovernment, cuts in grants for LCA were rescinded but it is unclear