Bottom of the class? The leaving certificate applied programme and track placement in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

Across many countries, young people are differentiated into academic and vocational tracks, a pattern that is closely related to their social class background. The Irish secondary system has been largely undifferentiated, but the introduction of a pre-vocational programme, the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), has brought an element of tracking into upper secondary education. This article explores whether allocation into the LCA track reflects processes similar to those highlighted in international research. It goes further than these studies by explicitly recognising the role of school organisation in influencing student's learning careers and educational decisions. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the determinants of track placement in the Republic of Ireland. Using in-depth qualitative case study interviews with students from Irish post-primary schools, this paper examines the factors influencing students' decisions to enter the LCA programme. This paper explores the extent to which individual agency and school-level factors influence track choice by focusing on the learning careers of individual students within specific school contexts.

Keywords:

• tracking
• student choice
• inequality
• educational trajectories

Notes on contributors

Joanne Banks works as a Research Analyst in education at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Ireland. A major focus of her work has been on student experiences in post-primary education. Using mixed methodologies, she has worked on student experiences of their final year in school and is particularly interested in student transitions from school.

Delma Byrne is a Lecturer at the Departments of Sociology and Education, Maynooth University. Her research focuses on social stratification and the sociology of education in particular. This work spans examination of inequality at the primary, secondary and higher education levels as well as post-secondary education and training; transitions between education and the labour market and the evaluation of educational interventions.

Selina McCoy is an Associate Professor and Joint Education Programme Co-ordinator at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin. Her research interests include gender and social differentiation in educational outcomes, the experiences of students with special educational needs and post-school transitions, particularly the transition to higher education.

Emer Smyth is a Research Professor and Head of the Social Research Division at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin. Her research interests centre on school effects, school to work transitions, gender and comparative methodology.