A SURVEY of local employers, a wooden stool, a metal teapot, an instigation of services available for the disabled, interviews with drug dealers, a dinner for the elderly - this eclectic collection of tasks was accomplished by students of the new Leaving Certificate Applied Programme (LCAP), run in 57 schools this year.

Mr Billy Fitzpatrick, LCAP co ordinator in Pearse College, Crumlin, Dublin, says it is "student centred and student led. If they express a particular interest, then they can go ahead and work on it." Projects can be done alone or in collaboration.

Pearse College caters for adults and its LCAP students would seem to have a particular interest in social problems. Kenneth Nolan and two friends decided to do a project on the adverse effects of various readily available drugs. As well as researching information on the drugs, they decided to interview three local dealers.

"It was very dangerous. They are very suspicious. It takes a long time to get an interview," Kenneth says.

Mary, who is in her 50s, decided to do a project on the elderly. "At first, you feel desperate because nobody will give you any information but I didn't give up," she says. Having left school at primary level, then reared a family, she wants to catch up. "It's wonderful, I'm enjoying it greatly," she enthuses.

Noel, another older class member, wrote his autobiography in longhand, typed it up and hopes to publish it eventually.

The entire class participated in a project to put together Christmas hampers for the Alone charity. In catering, the class cooked a four course meal for the teachers, also served by the students - with Mary proudly wearing the lacey apron she had sewn.

The LCAP is a two year programme which differs radically from the conventional Leaving Cert and which will eventually replace the Senior Certificate and the Vocational Preparation Training programmes. It is built around three main strands: vocational preparation, vocational education and general education. It is modular rather than subject based. Terminal examinations take place at the end of first and second year but account for only a third of the credits that can be earned.

HAT all this means is that the programme can vary widely from school to school. In Beech Hill College, Monaghan, there were two streams this year, with engineering and construction manufacturing offered as vocational modules to one group and office skills, retail distribution and hotel, catering and tourism offered to the other group.

The area has a high employment rate, with many students from the school entering apprenticeships locally. Many past pupils are now employers and Seamus McDermort, LCAP co ordinator and guidance counsellor, explains that this gave rise to the group project on successful past pupils. Students prepared a questionnaire asking these employers who had influenced them, who had helped them and which subjects they felt most encouraged them to become self employed.

When the questionnaires were returned students analysed the data and compiled a directory of local employers that now resides in the school's careers library; Mr McDermott says it will be of use to students seeking apprenticeship

While he is generally pleased with the aims and thrust of the LCAP, Mr McDermott has a number of reservations, particularly in the areas of assessment and reporting on tasks. He says that external assessors can not be aware of the amount of work individual students have put into a group project such as the preparation of a meal for the elderly.

He is worried that the use of interviews and. reports for assessment mean that the better communicator may get higher marks - rather than the person who actually contributed most. There is a case for some teacher involvement, he says.

At Pearse College, Mr Billy Fitzpatrick also cites teachers' feelings that they should give some guidance to the examiner. Mr McDermott is concerned too about the need to write reports on all tasks. Students who have opted for the practical subjects may find this very difficult. This was borne out by the experience of Antoine McKenna, who says that he made a stool in woodwork, then a tea pot and model digger in metalwork. "I didn't mind the tasks," he says. "It's the writing ..." He will not return to the programme's second year if he can get an apprenticeship.

Mr McDermott says that of the 40 students who began the LCAP, there are 23 still enrolled; however, he expects the numbers to drop further as students secure apprenticeships. Three students have also expressed an interest in returning to the conventional Leaving Cert. The high attrition rate is probably due to unusual number of apprenticeships available in the area.

In Davitt College, Castlebar, Co Mayo, LCAP projects have included an investigation of the area's past, present and future development. Students also looked at ways to get started in various careers. The co ordinator, Mr Oliver Moran, says: "It's the first year of the LCA. It's new to us all. The hectic part of the course has been finding out about it, how it's run and how the students are reacting.

"The course is demanding - they have to produce a lot of work to deadlines. It's a good course, revolutionary in the ways it's set up."