Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

5. SCHOOLEXPERIENCES ANDLEARNING PROCESSESAMONG LCAPARTICIPANTS5.1IntroductionThe use of active teaching and learning methodologies is seen as a keyprinciple of the Leaving Certificate Applied programme. This chapterexplores the type of learning experienced by LCA participants and theextent to which it differs from learning processes among other LeavingCertificate students. It draws on two sets of data – questionnairescompleted by LCA and LCE/LCVP students during fifth and sixth year,and in-depth interviews with young people who had recently left the LCAprogramme. This enables us to provide a more holistic picture of schoolexperiences and learning processes among participants. Section 5.2examines young people’s perceptions of the content of the programme,while Section 5.3 explores the perceived standards of schoolwork. Section5.4 explores the teaching methods used within the programme whileSection 5.5 examines young people’s views of assessment within LCA. Thenature of social relations with teachers and peers are examined in Sections5.6 and 5.7 respectively. Section 5.8 explores the skills acquired throughtaking the LCA programme while Section 5.9 presents the conclusions.5.2Perceptionsof LCAProgrammeContentThe LCA programme is quite distinct from other Leaving Certificateprogrammes in offering a combination of general education, vocationaleducation and vocational preparation courses (see Chapter 1). As withother Leaving Certificate programmes, there is some variation betweenschools in the courses provided. The majority of schools provide VisualArts and Religious Education as part of the LCA programme (see Figure5.1). Science is provided in around a third of schools. French is the mostcommonly provided modern language in LCA, with access to German andItalian evident in only a small proportion of schools. Variation betweenschools is also evident in the provision of different vocational specialismcourses (see Figure 5.2). Hotel, Catering and Tourism is the mostfrequently provided, being offered in over two-thirds of schools. ICT andGraphics/Construction Studies are provided in over half of the schools58