With almost 3,000 students sitting the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) exams this year, the programme is gaining increasing popularity with both students and employers.
The LCA was first introduced in 1995 as an alternative to the mainstream Leaving Certificate. The programme is aimed at students whose aptitudes are not catered for in the traditional Leaving Cert and who intend following vocational courses or going into the workplace after school.
Unlike the Leaving Cert, the LCA allows students to gain two-thirds of their marks through modules and tasks rather than one exam at the end of the two years.
In 1997, the first LCA examination year, 750 students sat the exam. The following year this had more than doubled to 1,700. The next two years showed a steady increase in numbers and this year 2,928 candidates are entered for the LCA exams.
"It is becoming a very popular choice," says Pat O'Dowd, Teachers Union of Ireland LCA co-ordinator and teacher at Kilinardin Community School in Tallaght, Co Dublin. "There's a high level of practical content and the kids really relate to that."
One major strength of the course, he said, is that it has tasks which involve personal reflection, particularly on the work experience the students do in each year of the course. This allows students to discover exactly what type of further course or career they might be suited to.
The continuous assessments, for which students are given credits, are a central feature of the programme.
"They really relieve the pressure on them. They go into the final exams already knowing how many credits they've earned," says O'Dowd.
However, he cautions that it is still possible to fail the LCA if students don't put in the work. "You're not cramming for a final exam - students must work consistently and aim for at least a 90 per cent attendance to be awarded their credits." O'Dowd believes the traditional Leaving Cert has lessons to learn form the LCA.
"Grind schools have sprung up because the traditional Leaving Cert requires students to regurgitate facts. The LCA encourages students to solve problems and to reason independently," he says.
Figures released last year showed that 90 per cent of LCA students gained employment or entered further education after leaving the course and, O'Dowd says, the programme is gaining increasing recognition with employers.
"We've had employers ringing up to congratulate the school on the standard of the LCA students." The drawback, however, is that students are often attracted out of the course and into the workplace.
Commenting on this years LCA papers, Emer Kelly of Larkin Community College in Dublin's north inner-city, says they have been "very fair". The mini-enterprise section of the English and communication test could have been more challenging but, she said: "Overall, there was great choice in the papers and most students were quite happy with them."
