Some students who go straight from school to college, are thrown into the deep end and don't survive. For those with institute of technology ambitions, the Post Leaving Cert construction technology course in the Drogheda College of Further Education is a stepping stone to more than employment for students.

Students know what they are getting into, says Gerry Corrigan, course co-ordinator. "It gives them the great opportunity for that year to be able to study on their own - they know what it is like to be in a further education course." The one-year course has NCVA certification and prepares students for employment and apprenticeships in carpentry, joinery and similar trades.

The course "covers most of the construction, basically, from the foundations right up to roof, internal doors, stud partition, thinks like that."

There is an intake of a maximum of 20 students who do a full week's work, spending from 9 a.m. to 3.50 p.m. five days a week in class. According to Corrigan, there is common ground between the construction technology course and the handcrafted furniture course, which is run at the same time. "There is common ground there in relation to NCVA modules like woodturning, marquetry, health and safety, materials and finishes and other modules like that."

This is the first year that the marquetry module has been offered and according to Corrigan, "it is the making up of pictures, like landscapes, things like that, houses and so on, using veneers."

Once students get a pass, they are eligible to apply to an institute of technology through the NCVA higher education links scheme. Those who do opt for employment generally end up in the construction and furniture industries, but those looking for apprenticeships can find it hard to find one, he says, as employers now opt for contract work. Some students drop out during the year, when they find employment. This is dictated by the job situation, not their lack of success on the course, according to Corrigan.

Although the class is predominantly Post Leaving Cert and male, mature and female students are welcome. Female students, he notes perform very well, despite not having studied construction technology and technical drawing in their respective schools. "We are very happy with the skills they turn out," he says. Due to the unavailability of insurance to cover work experience in the construction area, students do work simulation instead. Students take works from Vincent de Paul, restore them and send them back to them. Corrigan insists that work simulation is as close as students can get to work experience. Regardless, he says, "to cover all we have to cover in the one year - to be able to send people out on the three weeks' work experience - is almost not viable because you don't have much time and there is so much to do."

And the course does cover a lot: adhesives, abrasives, construction items and procedure, doors, frames, lining and finishing, windows, joinery fitments, repairs and maintenance formwork, shoring, floors, stairs, temporary arch centre, setting out and levelling, external cladding, casing, falsework, scaffolding, hand tools and equipment, portable tools, woodwork, machines, construction maths, computer aided drawing and wall panelling.

There is a fair mix of practical and theory. Technical drawing or construction studies is an advantage, but students don't often have these to start with. "Past experience is not a problem," says Corrigan" Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses, too."

Corrigan is happy with the NCVA course and says it covers a wide range. There have been some improvements to the handcrafted furniture course and he expects further improvements to both courses.