Leaving Cert Results: 2,900 students to receive two-year applied results

Almost 2,900 students are getting the results of their Leaving Certificate Applied work over the last two years.

The programme is an alternative to the traditional senior cycle system for students who do not want to proceed directly to third-level, or whose needs and aptitudes are not catered for by the established Leaving Certificate.

The exams they took in June were the culmination of a range of assessments undertaken over the LCA’s two-year duration, which is structured in modules.

The overall credits from each of these are combined to decide what level of LCA award participants receive, with a pass given to those with credits worth 60% to 69%, merit for 70% to 84%, and distinction for 85% to 100%.

The numbers receiving LCA results are down slightly from 2,965 last year to 2,884.

Although this is still more than the 2,810 who completed the programme in 2013, it is down from a peak of over 3,300 in 2010 and has been below 3,000 for each of the last three years.

The 537 students achieving a distinction represents almost 19% of this year’s candidates — down from 20.5% a year ago.

Half of this year’s LCA students are being awarded a merit this morning, with 427 (14.8% of students) achieving a pass.

While the LCA cannot be used for higher education entry through the Central Applications Office (CAO), almost 15,000 students also completed the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme.

Those who achieve a pass, merit, or distinction in the vocational programme can count it for 30, 50, or 70 CAO points, respectively, if that figure is better than one or more of their other subjects.

The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme is an optional two-year course, offered in around two-thirds of the country’s 730 second-level schools.

Students take a range of Leaving Certificate subjects, but also follow a formal and practical Links Modules programme.

It consists of compulsory work experience and enterprise activity together with personal vocational exploration and substantial use of information technology.