Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 2 May 2001

Vol. 535 No. 2

Written Answers - State Examinations.

Proinsias De Rossa

Ceist:

91 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of students, as a percentage of all students, who have opted for the leaving certificate applied each year since its inception; his views on these trends; if the indications are that retention rates are improving generally; if these are students who would otherwise have taken the ordinary leaving certificate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12326/01]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods):

The leaving certificate applied was first introduced to schools for the school year 1995-96. The following table shows the number of students taking the leaving certificate applied in schools in year 1 of the programme as a percentage of the total cohort from 1995-96 up to the present school year.

1995-1996	1996-1997	1997-1998	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001
1,222	2,778	3,351	3,929	4,054	4,250
1.93%	4.25%	5.16%	6.14%	6.62%	7.31%

The figures have risen from 1,222 or just under 2% of the total cohort in 1995-96 to 4,250 or 7.3% of the total cohort in the present school year. While I do not believe the leaving certificate applied is being taken, as yet, by the full number of students who could benefit from it, the fact that figures have more than tripled since the inception of the programme is very heartening. Efforts are being made by my Department and by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in a variety of ways to increase participation in this excellent programme. These include additional teaching supports, the continued work of the eight person support service in schools, the constant adaptation of the programme to make it more student friendly and the recent launch of a promotional video.

Overall evidence indicates that the leaving certificate applied is impacting positively on retention rates. There is little doubt that in the absence of the programme many students taking it would fail to complete senior cycle.