Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

PATHWAYS INTO LCA 43LCE in order to learn a trade. Eventually he was persuaded by his parentsand teacher to try the LCA for a year:I was planning on finishing school and doing, you know, getting a trade like…Ididn’t know what the LCA was about like and then just the ordinary LeavingCert wouldn’t have done much for me because I didn’t want to go for college, Ididn’t want points like.When you told your parents, how did they feel about it?Ah they weren’t, because I was still so young like, that they didn’t want me toleave like.So were they encouraging you to kind of stay on?And try LCA for a year. (Graham, 22, completed LCA, apprentice)Justin felt that most people who ‘doubted themselves’ chose LCA overthe LCE. He thinks he would have dropped out if there had been no LCAin his school:There’s a good chance if I didn’t do the LCA I would’ve failed the Leaving Certyou know…I say I would have dropped out in fifth year.Did many drop out even when you were there?Well any person that was kind of doubting themselves went to the LCA like...Did they all stick it out?Yeah most of them bar one like. (Justin, 22, completed LCA, employed)Occupational aspirations are also related to the likelihood of enteringthe LCA programme (Figure 4.8). A fifth of those who aspire to manualjobs in third year enter LCA subsequently while this is the case for a tenthof those who aspire to routine non-manual jobs and very few of those whohope to enter professional occupations.Figure 4.8: LCA Take-up by Occupational Aspirations25.020.015.0%10.05.00.0Professional Non-manual Skilled manual Semi/unskilled Not specifiedSource: Post-Primary Longitudinal Study (PPLS) database.The majority of those interviewed who wished to enter the labourmarket when they left school, aspired to manual jobs and saw the LCA as aprogramme which would prepare them for the world of work. Many of themale respondents planned on doing apprenticeships in junior cycle andchose LCA as a way of meeting with employers who could hire them asapprentices: