Secondary school students who take transition year achieve higher grades in their Leaving Certificate examinations, a new report confirms.
The Economic and Social Research Institute ( ESRI ) found that transition year students outperformed those who do not take the option by over 1.5 grade points in both English and Maths in the Leaving Certificate.
The year-long programme also led to major benefits in higher education with transition year participants more likely to go on to college.
Around 97 per cent of schools in the programme offered their students employment experience to give them a taste of the working world.
The Minister for Education, Ms Hanafin, who launched the in-depth study entitled The Transition Year Programme, said there were strong benefits from work experience.
"I think it is important that we make school worthwhile for all these young people, that we have a positive environment which will ensure that students feel involved," she said.
However, the study also uncovered negative aspects, with students who worked during the year more likely to continue staying in employment while studying for the Leaving Certificate.
The authors found that part-time employment was particularly high among the 23,000 students taking the fourth-year programme.
Over 70 per cent worked regularly during the year, with some 83 per cent of those who worked during the extra year also in employment in fifth-year.
Ms Hanafin warned that part-time work could lead to people leaving school early.
The report's authors Ms Emer Smyth, Ms Delma Byrne and Ms Carmel Hannan stated:
"It was felt that some students become more lazy and undisciplined during Transition Year."
One teacher told the authors that "they do tend to feel they're on holidays this year".
But students were also critical with one stating that: "I think it's a doss for them as well as us." Another student said: "They [the teachers] are not that bothered because they don't think it is an important year."
The number of schools offering the programme, which was devised to follow the Junior Certificate exams in the 1970s, vastly increased in the mid-1990s. Around 113 schools were participating in 1986 with 513 in 2003 - around 69 per cent of all secondary schools.