IBEC calls for transition year to be offered to all students

ALL schools should offer transition year to students to help them develop skills for the workplace, employers group IBEC has claimed.

The organisation’s assistant director of enterprise Caroline Nash said the transition year option would get much higher public support if revised standards were applied in all schools.

The option is only available to students at around two-thirds of the country’s 750 second level schools and is only compulsory in around 125 schools.

A recent Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) report found that students who take the transition year programme do better in the Leaving Certificate by an average of about 20 points and are more likely to go to third level college.

Ms Nash said employers need an education system that gives young people the skills to be successful both in work and in life.

“The transition year focuses practical, personal and social skills which students may not get the opportunity to focus on during the rest of their time at school,” she said.

“It is not compulsory and in some schools it is not available, while only a number of places are available in others. It is crucial that the opportunities provided to students during transition year are made available to all students in all schools,” Ms Nash said.

IBEC has called for the programme to be broadened and integrated into the senior cycle to allow further development of personal, social and educational skills during the Leaving Certificate programme.

The ESRI report published in January found that schools which did not have transition year or had dropped it blamed lack of resources.

But, while completion of the programme benefited most students, the study found that boys who work part-time or students in disadvantaged areas did not do better in the Leaving Certificate after doing transition year.