Question:
236 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will make transition year compulsory for all second level students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12288/00]
Written Answers. - Transition Year Programme.
I am well aware of the benefits of the programme in terms of increased maturity, enhanced study skills and reflective awareness of the realities of the workplace. The recently-published longitudinal study, carried out for the NCCA – National Council for Curriculum and Assessment by the ERC – Education Research Centre – on 1994 junior certificate students who sat their leaving certificate examination in 1997 provides useful evidence that, not only is the transition year programme proving its worth against its own criteria, it also enhances students' performance at leaving certificate level by 26 points, offsets the handicap of disadvantage and makes students more ready to attempt higher level papers.
Nevertheless, I consider that making the programme compulsory would be inadvisable. The notion of compulsion and obligation runs counter to the spirit of the transition year programme. Schools are free to design their own curriculum within broad parameters set down by my Department. They are also free to decide whether or not to offer the programme to their full cohort of fourth year students or to a sub-set of the cohort. The policy of my Department is to leave schools free also to choose the combination of programmes they offer to students. This may or may not include the transition year programme.