Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

PATHWAYS INTO LCA 51Leaving Certificate programmes. Linda brought home information sheetsabout the LCA to her mother who knew very little about the programme.She felt her mother trusted her to make her own mind up:I talked to my Ma about it, because none of the rest of them [siblings] done it, myMa didn’t know much about it and she just said are you sure like you want to doit and I just said yeah, I told her like and he gave us like sheets on Leaving CertApplied and that, and I just showed them to her and she said that if you want todo it, you can do it, you know. (Linda, 21, completed LCA, student)Ronan recalled how his parents never tried to influence him and justwanted him to be happy:They just said whatever you want to do, whatever makes you happy kind ofthing…they never try and sway me like, whatever I feel like doing then, youknow, I do it. (Ronan, 25, completed LCA, apprentice)Others felt their parents were simply relieved that they had decided tostay in school after junior cycle:I told them like, but I didn’t explain anything to her like what it was about oranything.Did she mind that?No, she was just happy that I stayed, that I was going back, yeah. (Rebecca,21, dropped out of LCA, home duties)I think he just wanted me to get a Leaving, you know. So that’s what his bigthing was, when he seen I was enjoying it sure he didn’t mind, because I wasenjoying it, it was good. (Andrew, 21, completed LCA, apprentice)Overall respondents appeared to make decisions independently of theirparents even if there was parental involvement. This is not, however, takinginto account that these decisions may be constrained or framed by schoolinfluences, social class or educational attainment levels within the family.Anne and her parents had a long discussion about whether she should takeLCA and she explained how her father had reservations about it. Annemade her own decision about it in the end despite his concerns:Dad didn’t understand it now, he didn’t want me to do it….he thought it was aneasy way out or, it wasn’t the same thing… so we spent about an hour and afteran hour he said yeah, fine, do it.Because you said you wanted to do it?Yeah, I said look like, I’m doing it whether you like it or not kind of thing,because I was eighteen anyway, so I could do it. (Anne, 21, completed LCA,employed)4.4.4 TEACHER/SCHOOL INFLUENCESchool personnel have an important role in shaping educationalexpectations and educating students (Andres et al., 2007). The role ofcounsellors and teachers as brokers of information, support and assistancemay be especially critical when cultural and social capital provided byparents and peers is limited (Andres et al., 2007, p. 156). In this study, athird of students surveyed stated that their reason for taking the LCA was