Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 11– 29 in-depth interviews with LCA school leavers to provide adetailed understanding of student experiences prior to,during and after they leave LCA.2.2SchoolLeavers’SurveysThe School Leavers’ Surveys have been undertaken at the ESRI since1980. They form a valuable data source on the experiences of young peopleboth in school and in their initial post-school pathways. Each survey isbased on a nationally representative sample of all young people who haveleft the official second-level education system during the course of anacademic year. In so doing the surveys include both those who havecompleted their second-level education and those who left school early.The surveys capture school leavers 18 months to 2 years after theirdeparture from school and ask a diverse range of questions on their schoolexperiences, subjects and programmes taken, their social backgroundcharacteristics and their post-school labour market and educationalexperiences. This report includes analysis of the four most recent surveysof 2000/01, 2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05 school leavers, giving a totalsample size of 9,700 school leavers, 417 of whom left having completed theLCA programme. The analysis is particularly focused on the reasons for theenrolment of young people on the LCA programme; the views of differentschool leaver groups on their schooling and their teachers and theirengagement in truancy; the extent to which LCA and other leaver groupsprogress to post-school education and training (such as PLC courses andstate sponsored training programmes); and the smoothness of their labourmarket integration and the nature and quality of employment secured.Much of the analysis compares the experiences of young people whocompleted the LCA programme with those who left prior to completion ofsenior cycle and young people who performed at various levels in the LCEand LCVP programmes.2.3Post-PrimaryLongitudinalStudy (PPLS)The PPLS draws on data gathered from a theoretical sample of twelvecase-study schools, identified on the basis of a postal survey of all secondlevelprincipals conducted at the beginning of the study. These schoolswere selected to capture varying approaches to ability grouping, subjectchoice and student integration, and encompass a range of sectors, sizes,locations and student characteristics. The study has followed a cohort ofapproximately 900 students from their entry to first year to theircompletion of second-level education (see Byrne and Smyth forthcoming,Smyth et al., 2007, Smyth et al., 2006 and Smyth et al., 2004). Studentscompleted a written questionnaire each year (twice in first year) coveringtheir attitudes to school, their choice of programmes and subjects, and theiraspirations for the future. In addition, in-depth interviews were carried outwith groups of the students, and with key personnel in the school,including principals and guidance counsellors. This is the first suchlongitudinal study in the Irish context and it allows us to identify thecharacteristics of young people who go on to take the different LeavingCertificate programmes. Analyses presented in this study relate to thequestionnaires completed by fifth and sixth year students in the case-studyschools. The number of the cohort taking LCA is relatively small(information was available on 51 junior cycle students who entered LCAbut data on school experiences within LCA relate to 38 individuals) so theresults should be interpreted with some caution. However, these are theonly available data on young people’s experiences of the different Leaving