OVER 900 students will blaze a trait for the Leaving Certificate Applied programme this year. They will be the first to complete this new two year course. In its first year it was taken on by 53 schools. At this stage almost 3,000 students are doing the programme.
Two years on, Senator Feargal Quinn's commitment to the Leaving Cert Applied he refuses toe call it the LCA since nobody calls the traditional Leaving Cert the LC - is as bright and sharp edged as his ties.
In September 1995, he says, 53 schools started the programme and the students will finish this year. A further 124 schools came in last September. Of the 1,000 students who began the LCA (saving your presence, Senator Quinn) in 1995 about are 900 left, he says. "It's a bad news, good news story," he says. Many students left because they were offered jobs out of their work experience.
Senator Quinn, chairman of the LCA steering committee, says that the proof will be in the eating. "I've visited schools, some of them twice, to see the development of the students," he says enthusiastically. "There is a real sense of achievement. The Leaving Cert only measured students' ability to write but most communication is oral. For the first time ever, oral English will be examined in the Leaving Cert." This is a development which will be appreciated by most employers, he adds.
The LCA measures a range of abilities, not just the academic. "Students who didn't achieve academically tended to spend their time just avoiding failure," says Quinn. "When they found they were good at something they began to blossom and to grow in confidence and to success in other things as well."
Ms Sharon Phelan, LCA promotions officer with the curriculum development unit at the Department of Education, believes that the programme is "another way of approaching the Leaving Cert. It prepares students for two main areas for work and for opportunities for further education. Students can go on to do a Post Leaving Cert course and then to an RTC if they wish.
As for charges that the LCA caters for weaker students, Ms Phelan says that "there may have been initially but not any more." In her own school, she says, "the other Leaving Cert students were impressed no end" by the tasks and projects set for LCA students.
The programme, she says, is not for weaker students. "It's for students who are more practically orientated and interested in specific areas."
THE LCA represents the biggest change experienced at Colaiste Dhulaigh, Dublin, possibly 40 or 50 years, according to Bill Bailey, programme coordinator at the college. Colaiste Dhulaigh has 27 LCA students in sixth year and 18 in fifth year and, says Mr Bailey, the programme is going very well.
Sixth year student Dave Carroll enjoyed the leisure studies option. .He hopes to put his knowledge to good use, by studying for a Post Leaving Cert qualification in outdoor education.
Jason Lane, who wants to be an actor, has already got a place on a PLC in theatre studies. "As part of the course, we had to make a video . . . direct it and write scripts. We also did theatre studies."
The Minister for Education, Ms Bhreathnach, complemented schools on their cooperation and enthusiasm at a recent promotional launch of the programme. "It wasn't an easy one to slot in," she said, "but once again our schools have shown that they can rise to the challenge of change and innovation".
Mr John Mulcahy, president of the ASTI, says that the schools are "doing a good job" in promoting the LCA. However, he believes that "parents are not yet convinced." The main aim of the LCA, says Mr Mulcahy, is to cater for students who have found the traditional Leaving Cert too academic and for some who have dropped out of school early.
He feels that the rigid application of the pupil teacher ratio will make it difficult for all schools to apply to the Department. There should be "greater flexibility" in the ratio rule in this case, he feels, pointing out that the current ratio demands that a school must have 20 students for a course to get the go ahead.
Clodagh McCaffrey (17), who is almost finished the LCA course at the President Convent, Limerick, loved "the work experience and the freedom" on the course. "The pressure is spread out more rather than being concentrated in one area,"
Her classmate, Sarahlee Kiely, agrees: "It's way nicer than the traditional Leaving Cert." Therese Curtis, Jennifer Noonan and Jessica Bennett are also enthusiastic. "You learn what you're capable of doing," says Bennett. The others agree wholeheartedly.
Ms Eileen Chrystal, LCA coordinator at the Mercy College, Sligo, says that "there's absolutely no problem convincing parents" about the course's benefits. "They are totally behind it," she says, "and the employers are behind the work placements." The course represents "every teacher's dream balance of practical and academic, she says.
One of her students, Georgina McLoughlin, "liked the idea of all the practical work and being able to meet the examiners and explain to them about all the work I put into my tasks. I learned the importance of teamwork and of developing my own talents."
Eighteen students will complete the programme this year in Bunclody Vocational School in Co Wexford. One of the most important features of the LCA, according to Mr Kevin Cronin, coordinator at Bunclody, is the method of marking by continuous assessment. "The LCA is not aimed at the weaker student," he says emphatically. "We are aiming it at all students."
One student, Breda Tobin, says she was "not able for all the studying" but that in the LCA "it was broken down over two years" and this suited her. Myles Murphy, another student at Bunclody, was dreading the tradition Leaving Cert - the LCA has suited him more.
Speaking at the launch of a recent promotional campaign to sell the LCA to students, parents and employers who have yet to be convinced of its worth, the Minister for Education said that the programme "has broadened the choices now available to students. It is different in focus, different in structure, different in content and different in its modes of assessment."
LCA students who complete their final exams over the coming weeks will be at an advantage, she said, because many will have already completed two thirds of their assessment.