Taking the pressure off the points race: Tramore Road music and arts courses in Cork

The Performing Arts Department at the Cork college runs courses on traditional music and other areas 

Irish Traditional Music course students at Cork College of FET’s Tramore Road Campus.

“When students are doing their Leaving Cert they’ve a focus on points because that’s what the narrative is the whole way - they have to get great points, they have to go on to university, and they have to do a degree,” says musician Conor Arkins.

There are alternative routes to learning, however, which Arkins, Irish Traditional Music course director at Cork College of FET’s Tramore Road Campus, says take the “pressure off the points race” and make further education in performing arts accessible to all.