Q: Six months into the job of principal, she is looking forward to the challenge of ensuring the school maintains its pioneering ethos. My son is proposing to take eight subjects in the Leaving Cert with maths and Irish at ordinary level and the rest at higher. Do eight is too many? - Dublin parent

A: Generally speaking, I do feel that eight subjects is too many in the Leaving, Cert and many teachers would advise accordingly. No matter how many subjects your son sits and how well he does in them, only six will be counted for points, so he has to concentrate on six main subjects in which to do well. The majority of students take seven to give themselves an insurance policy.

It stands to reason that if you are spreading your energies and time over eight subjects you are not likely to do as" well as somebody who is concentrating her efforts in six.

However, many students do encounter a problem with this strategy; I think I know what your son's dilemma is. He is probably not terribly good at maths and doesn't like Irish and is thus doing both of those at ordinary level for this reason.

He would probably drop both and concentrate on his six - main subjects for points if he could, but he has to do Irish and he needs at least a pass in maths for most third level entry - so he needs to carry them on, even if only at pass level.

Huge numbers of youngsters find themselves in this dilemma. My argument would be that there are people who have problems with maths, just as there are people who experience difficulties with languages; but these are normally mutually exclusive.

So I simply do not believe that there are thousands of kids who are innately bad at both maths and Irish; I think that what happens is that they have a psychological hang up about one or the other - usually Irish. Is your son doing French at higher level, for example? He probably is. If he is capable of taking French at higher level, he is capable of taking Irish.

I think students just switch off Irish and say "Oh, I'll just take it at pass level because I have to". My advice would be: if you have to do it, then make the most of it, work at it and go for points in it, too, rather than wasting time on eight subjects.

Your son is typical, incidentally literally thousands of bright students who take higher level in other subjects take Irish at ordinary level. It is something which really needs to be looked into.

Q: My daughter is doing the Junior Cert this year and has to pick her subjects for Leaving Cert within a few weeks. She simply does not know what she wants to do career wise and has great difficulty in choosing. What can we do? - Cork city mother

A: I understand from your letter that your daughter is doing the Transition Year next year - in which case it is absurd and undesirable that she should have to choose her Leaving Cert subjects now.

Indeed, it is my understanding that the Transition Year guidelines urge the use of Transition Year as part of the clarifying process for students on career and college choice, which would inevitably include Leaving Cert subject choice.

It defeats one of the main objectives of Transition Year that a student should have to be locked into Leaving Cert choices in advance; if your daughter were going on into the Leaving Cert cycle next year, then, of course, she would have to make her subject choices now; but not if she is going into Transition Year.

You say that the school has told you that major changes in subject requirements for college courses need only be communicated to schools two years in advance. This is generally speaking true; all the more - reason then, for not forcing the students to decide on their - choices three years in advance; the situation could have changed radically in three years time.

Take the matter up with the school and argue strongly that - your daughter should not have to make her choices until next year. If you still have a problem, get the parents' association to take the matter up with the school authorities; or simply write a letter to the Minister for Education outlining your dilemma. She has a whole team of Transition Year advisers who visit schools and out line best practice; she has sent inspectors to reprimand schools last year infringing Transition Year guidelines.

I seem to recall that she may once have urged schools to try to avoid forcing Leaving Cert subject choices on students prior to doing the Transition Year. I think she would be very sympathetic to your plight.

Q: I am writing on behalf of some H.Dip students in UCG; we are not clear if we need to pass both the written and the oral parts of the Ceard Teastas exam in order to qualify for teaching jobs in vocational schools. Could you please put out minds at rest? - Galway student

A: The Department of Education sent me a document which states that "in general" teachers employed in vocational schools must have the Ceard Teastas in Irish at both oral and written level, while teachers employed in secondary and community/comprehensive schools need only have the oral part of the exam.

However, on further querying this, it emerges that where a teacher is in possession of "recognised paedogogical qualification" then only the oral part of the Ceart Teastas is required for vocational school teaching. And clearly the H.Dip is a "recognised" qualification. So if you have an H.Dip you do not need to sit the written Ceard Teastas exam.

However, there appear to be exceptions, and it is perhaps because of this that the UCG H.Dip department have indicated to you that you need both. In the VEC system, teachers are appointed to the full VEC area and can be moved from one school to another within the area. But as Co Galway contains some VEC schools in Gaeltacht areas, then the written Ceard Teastas can be required by Co Galway VEC even if the job is not in a Gaeltacht school (theoretically you could be redeployed into a Gaeltacht school at a later stage).

It seems to me it is all part of the usual hypocrisy which surrounds Irish language requirements.

So the position, as I now understand it, is that provided you do not want to work for a VEC which has a school in a Gaeltacht, you don't need the written Irish test.

The requirement for a written in addition to an oral Irish exam for vocational school teachers arose way back because many vocational teachers were teachers of practical subjects and did not have the H.Dip; the Ceard Teastas was the means of ensuring they had written and oral Irish (the better to show the kids how to drill a hole as gaeilge). In the meantime the vast majority of new teachers entering vocational schools for mainstream teaching either have the H.Dip or are trained in four year integrated degree courses in UL that combine teacher training and subject training.

Officially, the H.Dip is only needed for secondary school and community/comprehensive school teaching, but VECs rarely employ new teachers for mainstream teaching without it anymore. To teach in secondary or community/comprehensive schools you need the H.Dip and the oral part of the Ceard Teastas only.

Q: I am a 23 year old and have done a counselling course. I would like to get a recognised childcare qualification. Can you recommend any? - Co Galway reader

A: Waterford RTC has an applied social studies diploma which trains students for a number of different caring careers, not just childcare. It is a good course and takes quite a few mature applicants, so it would be worth trying. It involves quite an amount of on the job training and the college provides applicants with a list of institutions which take on their students during the training period.

The DIT in Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin, also has a good three year diploma in applied social studies.

Your nearest RTCs offering such courses are Athlone and Sligo, which both have two year certificate courses designed to prepare students for careers in care. There is also one in Cork RTC.

Those three and the DIT also have a follow on one year diploma, again training students for both childcare careers and other careers in caring.