Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

28 ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE?In sum, around a third of young people taking LCA do not completethe programme. Like other early leavers, they are motivated by a mixture ofthe positive attractions of paid employment and their negative experiencesof school. Analyses in a later chapter indicate that young people aregenerally very positive about their learning experiences and interaction withteachers during LCA. A number of respondents thought that LCA hadfacilitated their staying on in school. However, some young people hadalready formed a view about leaving school before making the transition tosenior cycle. It may be more difficult for the programme to re-engage thisgroup, especially in the (then) context of available employment.3.6ConclusionsThe proportion of schools providing the LCA programme has increasedsince its inception. However, whether a student has access to LCA dependson the school they attend since the programme is more commonlyprovided in larger schools catering to more disadvantaged populations.Provision patterns, therefore, reflect the perceived suitability of theprogramme to the student cohort as well as logistical constraints for smallerschools.Overall around 7 per cent of the Leaving Certificate cohort take theLCA programme. Take-up of the programme varies significantly across theschools providing LCA. Take-up rates tend to be higher in vocationalschools, smaller schools, schools serving disadvantaged populations andDublin schools. The profile of those students taking LCA is discussed inthe following chapter.The LCA programme is targeted at young people who are at risk ofeducational underachievement and early school leaving. It is difficult toascertain the extent of drop-out from LCA and even more difficult toassess whether more young people would leave school early in the absenceof the programme. Many of the young people interviewed for this studyindicated they would most likely have left school before completion if theyhad taken the established Leaving Certificate programme. However, it isclear that a significant number of young people do not complete the LCAprogramme and that they, like other early leavers, are motivated by acombination of a rejection of their school experiences and the attractionsof paid employment.