National Transition Year Co-ordinator Patsy Sweeney says the programme continues to grow and expand.

Transition Year - once referred to as the delicate plant of Irish second-level education - continues to grow and expand and would now more aptly earn the metaphor of a sturdy young oak rather than anything frail or uncertain.

Today, almost 75 per cent of all second-level schools in the State have embraced the Transition Year challenge, and the success stories of those students fortunate enough to have been part of this emerging culture, are testimony to the huge benefits which such participation can bring. Indeed, it is not only here that the potential of Transition Year is being recognised, but much further afield - as evidenced by the number of our European neighbours, e.g. Norway, Sweden, Northern Ireland and Britain, who have recently engaged in Transition Year fact-finding visits here.

The TY programme aims to promote the personal, social, educational and vocational development of students and to prepare them for their role as autonomous and participating members of society. Each school designs its own TY programme - bearing in mind the needs and aspirations of teachers, pupils and parents.

The Transition Year programme is currently supported from within the Second-Level Support Service of the Department of Education and Science service and works in collaboration with individual schools in the design, delivery, assessment and evaluation of each programme. It supports each school in writing a Transition Year programme.

Today's TY programme attempts to respond to the many challenges faced by the post-Junior Cert student, in particular how to successfully manoeuvre the many intricacies of the Leaving Certificate and the "Points Race", managing and maintaining their studies through third level and, finally, successfully moving into the adult and working world. Transition Year has shifted the focus of learning out of the classroom and redefined the meaning of success for students.