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Many applicants use the initial CAO application in January as a holding exercise, and it will soon be time to submit a definitive list of options.

Many applicants use the initial CAO application in January as a holding exercise and it will soon be time to submit a definitive list of options.

January and February for 6th year students can be one of the most challenging and stressful times of year. After the Christmas break students are on the homeward stretch to the Leaving Certificate exams, June comes very quickly.

Parents can serve as a major influence in their children’s career decision-making. Research indicates that when students feel supported by their parents, they have more confidence in their own ability to choose a suitable path for themselves. It is a grand generalisation, however, to believe that parents can always influence the level of education or motivation their children have to succeed. The opposite effect can also occur; over-involvement in the decision-making process can undermine parental effects as a positive source of influence. So while parents should show genuine interest for children’s career plans, they must allow adolescents to discover who they are on their own and not impose their own agenda. Key influences include opportunities parents offer their children to learn and develop, the kind of parent-child relationship they develop, and the values they show to their family, friends, and to society.

Congratulations to all the Leaving Cert students who received college offers in CAO round 1 and to those who have planned alternate routes for themselves into other career paths. The hard slog is over and a realisation hopefully that there are myriad pathways nowadays in which to arrive at our preferred destinations through PLCs, apprenticeships, and other access routes. Nonetheless at the moment there are students who remain indecisive about future roads which require prompt decisions. While the vast majority are happy enough to accept their top preferences, others find themselves at a crossroads. Students that have been offered their third or fourth choices (or lower) ask themselves, should they accept a lower choice or repeat the Leaving Cert?

Castledaly native and former Moate Community School student Alan Henson was one of 72 students from around the country to be presented with an excellence scholarship at a special ceremony held in NUIG.

A ‘gap year’ is the popular term for students who take time off to travel or work between secondary school and starting college or apprenticeships. The aim generally is to promote a more mature outlook with the benefit of some insight before taking the next step. Not everyone wants to go straight from school to college but before that decision is made, one needs to seriously consider what one wants want to achieve or it could end up being a wasted year. So what are the pros and cons of this choice?

It is that time of year when students start to consider their options before the central applications system opens in November. It may be particularly worrying for students with disabilities as they question their suitability for certain courses based on what they feel may be a restriction.