TRANSITION Year is now offered in about 600 post primary schools out of a total 780. Since September 1994, Transition Year has been available to all post primary schools in the Republic. Its success has been the result of much hard work by teachers, Transition Year co ordinators, principals, parents, the local community and the 14 members of the Transition Year support team.

In a recent speech, the Minister for Education, Niamh Bhreatnach, said "the setting up of Transition Year in our schools is an example of where we in Ireland have become leaders in the field of learning in Europe...

"It is a pleasant thought that we may be the first European nation to recognise the need to allow our children to grow, to mature in a human way for a year of their lives, away from the competitive atmosphere that study for examinations tends to create.

In its first year, the Transition Year support team, which consists of four core members and 10 regional coordinators, organised 110 subject based workshops and 80 workshops for coordinators, beam members are available to meet schools, identify their needs, help overcome problems, and review programmes. They also develop and disseminate relevant resources and link in with other agencies keen to make a Transition Year intervention.

In mid February this year the Department of Education published the results of an evaluation of the transition Year programme. It found that 89 per cent of schools were following the Transition Year guidelines, laid down by the Department, in a satisfactory manner. There were a number of recommendations including the need for an improvement in assessment procedures and the need for more structured evaluation. More attention to interdisciplinary work was also mentioned.

Gerry Jeffers, a member of the core team, says that the report sharpened the team's focus. "We have responded to the recommendations and schools have begun to focus themselves. Principals took the report, read through it and began to apply it."

Eilis Humphreys, core team member, says schools are beginning to use different forms of assessment with the idea of portfolio assessment becoming popular.

Students gather their work her and, at the end of year, they have a portfolio of projects completed.

Each year, Transition Year must be introduced to a new set of parents and third year student Dermot Quish, core member says that the portfolio helps convince parents of the value of the year. "A lot of parents still have the problem that they think the students are not getting `serious' education in Transition Year."

Mary Anne Halton, the fourth core team member, explains that parents may also be concerned at the apparent lack of homework. She says activity based learning (where for instance a student might interview an old person or assess a TV programme) is different to conventional homework but just as valid.

Jeffers makes the point that in its early stages of development, Transition Year was promoted by focusing on its differences from a normal academic programme - work experience, community service, social awareness and enterprise education were highlighted. "There must be a serious intellectual challenge involved," he says.

Traditional subjects are also taught in Transition Year, says Jeffers, although the approach is different. It is more imaginative and innovative.

Jeffers says that Transition Year has suffered from a false dichotomy. There are sections that will directly contribute to the points needed for college but other "nonacademic" areas are, ironically, the very areas that will enhance students' ability to do well at college where learning is self directed.

"I would encourage third level colleges to undertake some research to compare the third level experience of students who have done Transition Year and those who have not. The anecdotal evidence points to a better experience for those who participated in a good Transition Year," says Jeffers.

Transition Year is not just enriching for students but it presents a terrific opportunity to teachers, according to the support team. "If you have been teaching a predictable syllabus for 10 years, Transition Year gives you an opportunity to approach your subject in a new way," says Jeffers.

As well as an opportunity, Transition Year presents teachers with some difficulties as there are no set texts or curriculum. The Transition Year team recently produced a module on the EU which appears at an appropriate time with Ireland holding the presidency of the EU during the second half of 1996.

The Transition Year support team was initially put in place for a one year period but letters were sent to schools at the end of September this year stating that the initiative would be continued for a further year. With the challenges which Transition Year presents, there may well be a case for a permanent support structure.