To cut the transition year programme from the school curriculum would be to deny secondary school students the opportunity of gaining a truly holistic education which will stay with them throughout their lives.
That is my warning to the Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn, for what it’s worth.
As a graduate of transition year myself I would be devastated to think that my children would go through the education system and enter adulthood without ever knowing the benefits of a well run transition year programme.
And that is the key to this whole debate.
Transition year as a programme is an absolute necessity for the rounded education of all second level students.
If, as some people suggest, transition year is a ‘doss year’, then that is the fault of the school, it is management and it is TY co-ordinators and not the fault of the programme.
The scrapping of TY, as is currently being considered as a means to reducing the numbers of secondary school teachers, would be a retrograde step and an injustice to the thousands of students who gain unquantifiable benefits from participation in it.
The only downfall to transition year is the potential cost to parents. But this could easily be counteracted with some imagination and initiative. What adds to this difficulty is the lack of part-time jobs for teenagers, but TY places students in the perfect position to engage in money making enterprises within the school and their local towns as a means to funding school tours and excursions.
The success of transition year hinges on the motivation of the co-ordinator and if the year degenerates into a ‘doss’ then the school needs to investigate what went wrong.
It is fair to say that the abolition of TY would have catastrophic consequences for students nationwide.
The emphasis on the year is on the development of skills from study skills, elearning skills, the ability to work on one’s own initiative, to work in a group, to analyse information, gather information, and develop self confidence. There is also an emphasis on self regulated learning which is vital for students who go on to third level education.
Students get to sample a wide variety of subjects before deciding what to choose for the Leaving Cert, without the added pressure of exams. Work experience enables students to get a taste for what jobs they might be good at and what jobs they thought be would be good at but actually despise.
In fact research has shown that students who do transition year generally do better in the Leaving Certificate and generally continue on to third level education.
During the year students develop their social conscience. They benefit from extended career guidance services. They learn IT skills not otherwise part of the senior cycle curriculum. They are allowed to mature and develop their own personalities without the pressure of State exams. Often times students toying with the idea of dropping out of school engage so successfully with transition year projects that they develop a new found respect for education and learn about the extended learning and work opportunities open to them as a result of completing second level education.
Those who continue on to third level know how to study by themselves, how to work effectively with a group of their peers, are a year older and more mature, they are more confident in their course choice, and they are better equipped to enjoy the social side of college life. The list of positives are endless. I beg you, Minister Quinn, not to deny our teenagers this life changing programme in the name of saving money.
