The Transition Year Support Team, which has overseen the development of one of the most exciting departures in second-level education in the past decade, is to be replaced by a smaller team from next September.
Among services to schools which the 14 members of the team provided were individual school visits, workshops and networking. During the 1996-'97 period, team members conducted 850 school visits, 79 co-ordination workshops, 194 subject workshops, four TYST conferences, six mini-company trade fairs, four issues of Transition News and was in contact with more than 200 other agencies.
At present 24,600 students in 510 schools are participating in the Transition Year. They will be joined by students from a further 32 schools next September. Transition Year is continuing to grow, both in terms of student numbers and schools' confidence in the programme.
The radical nature of Transition Year comes from its lack of a centrally devised curriculum. Schools are free to devise their own programmes within Department guidelines.
Gerry Jeffers, a member of the Transition Year Support Team, says: "On one hand, it can be a great freedom. On the other hand, it frightens the life out of most of us.
"In the early days lots of schools had no experience in devising programmes. What we've noticed is a shift where schools are now comfortable with the idea and many are re-adjusting their programmes."
Mary Anne Halton of the TYST explains that schools are now embracing change rather than resisting it. There is a greater willingness to experiment which is facilitated by the increased availability of modules which include training for teachers.
New modules address areas such as Europe, the family, information studies and architecture. These were developed in co-operation with other agencies.
For instance, Shaping Space, the architecture module was devised by the RIAI and Blackrock Education, while the European Commission and the Department of Education were involved in the In Search of Europe module.
Modules also arise organically from schools themselves. For instance, Dermot Quish of the TYST says that a visit to Colaiste Dhulaigh in Dublin spawned the idea of a molude teaching French through film. Pairic Madden, a French teacher in Belvedere College, Dublin, was given a "modest sum of money" to research the idea. The module, Lumiere et Action, was the result.
An interesting project is in the offing whereby Transition Year students will give a questionnaire about the points system to sixth year students. The Transition Year students will then develop their own opinions and will be encouraged to make submissions to the Points Commission. "It's very important to involve them in big decisions which are being made about their future," says Jeffers.
And, in the pipeline, there are projects related to the horse, forests, legal studies, Latin and international liturgy.
Quish says that teachers are no longer implementing a received curriculum but are involved in the design and the assessment. One of the great strengths of Transition Year is that it's not exam-driven. However, assessment is important. A variety of modes has been devised including portfolio assessment and report cards where the students have an input. Certification is school-based rather than national.
Feedback from teachers indicates that students who have done Transition Year have a much more mature attitude, according to the Transition Year team. They have learned time management skills and tend to get their homework in on time or else negotiate for additional time.
Self-esteem and independent learning skills are also developed. However, there is undoubtedly an unevenness between the various Transition Years on offer as each is unique to a particular school and the feedback from schools which ask the TYST to visit may be, to a certain extent, a function of self-selection.
