Students at risk of getting lost in CAO options

THE forecast is good for exam students and it’s not just on the weather front. Employment and education opportunities have never been better for Leaving Certificate candidates, the vast majority of whom will be back studying in the autumn.

The national monthly unemployment rate for April was 5.9pc, down from 6.8pc a year earlier, and also down is the emigration rate for graduates, more of whom are getting work at home.

The prospects for young people nowadays are in sharp contrast with those of their parents when they left the education system a couple of decades ago. Nearly all are benefiting from the pick-up in the economy and in consumer sentiment.

This year’s cohort of exam students is also benefiting from the reforms which are kicking in slowly at Junior Cert level and quicker at Leaving Certificate, where a new grading and points system was introduced last year. Fears that the revised system would be too confusing and lead to new anomalies in deciding who gets to college have proved largely unfounded.

But it’s early days yet on the road to reform and we are still awaiting a drastic reduction in the number of CAO options to make the application process easier for applicants, as has been sought by successive education ministers. There is a well-grounded suspicion that in the past some colleges subdivided courses so that they would have lower student intakes and higher points.

A number of higher education institutions, notably UCD and Maynooth University, have introduced more broad-based entry that allows young people to postpone specialisation until second year. But there is still a bewildering choice for students in the CAO handbook.

At the turn of the century, applicants had 761 CAO course choices to wade through – 387 level eight honours degree courses and 374 levels six and seven (higher certificate courses and ordinary degrees). This year, there are 1,397 courses in the system – 919 honours degree courses and 478 at levels six and seven.

The number of colleges in the system is pretty much the same; there are now 41 colleges compared with 44 in 2000, so where are all the new courses coming from and are they all necessary? Much of the growth is in the private colleges sector but some publicly funded institutions are not always behind the door either in starting new programmes.

Granted, new specialisations are needed to prepare students for a rapidly changing work environment, but can the colleges not introduce students to a broad entry first year before asking them to choose a particular area that interests them and may help them in their subsequent careers?

The end result is that 17 and 18-year-old applicants are still expected to choose from a lengthy and sometimes perplexing array of courses. Just type the word ‘accounting’ into the courses section of the CAO website and up pops around 120 choices. And that’s before a student starts looking at engineering or the sciences where there are also myriad options.

While most Leaving Certificate students will be back at the books come the autumn, not all of them will be studying full time – an increasing number are signing up for the expanding range of apprenticeship courses where they can learn and earn at the same time.

In the old days, apprenticeships were largely confined to the building, engineering and motor trades. Now there are 36 different apprenticeships with more in the pipeline. The new crop includes insurance practice, accounting technician, international finance associates, ICT associate professionals in network engineering and software development, while professional bar manager and farm management programmes are in development.

In threading their way through the maze of choices available after their Leaving Certificate, students rely to a large extent on their guidance counsellors who need to keep up to date with what the workplace is demanding now and for the future.

Most of the counselling posts lost during the financial emergency have been restored and there is some concern that students are not always getting the best advice.

Certainly, the high drop-out and non-completion rates from some college courses that were reported recently by the Higher Education Authority point to the need for better preparation for the realities of college life for many students.

Earlier this year, Education Minister Richard Bruton announced a review of career guidance in post-primary schools, further education and training centres and higher education institutions.

The purpose of the review is to ensure that we are providing a high quality, relevant career guidance support service to all students from post-primary level up to further and higher education.

The key word here is “relevant”. Prof Tom Collins, chair of the governing bodies in the institutes of Dublin and Blanchardstown, heads up the review to determine the best sources and the best kind of information and advice to give to students.

Advice and last-minute suggestions of all kinds are not in short supply for those beginning their exams today. But as the temperature hots up the best tip for students is still: drink plenty of water.

Applicants are expected to choose from a lengthy and sometimes perplexing array of courses. Just type the word ‘accounting’ into the courses section of the CAO website and up pops around 120 choices