Allow students time and space to decide on their future careers

IT has been a week of anxiety and anticipation for the 52,000 or so students’ anxiously awaiting their first round CAO offers. It’s also an emotionally draining time for students as they come to terms with disappointment and delight in equal measure as course choices are revealed. Added to this emotion is the final deadline for applications to view Leaving Cert exam scripts, as some students try to decipher where precious points were lost.

While exams time is a most challenging time for students, results time is equally fraught with stress as decision-making reaches a climax.

This year more than 4,000 students failed Leaving Cert Maths – almost 10 per cent of Ordinary Level Maths entrants failed – meaning that they will be unable to secure a place on countless courses that require a pass as a basic entry requirement.

The statistic once again sparks the debate over proficiency in teaching the subject. Meanwhile, more and more students are now looking abroad as Mathematics is not an entry requirement for many universities in the UK and other parts of the EU.

This raises the question of whether or not we are approaching the subject in the right way and prompts calls for more ‘user friendly methods’ of teaching.

Of deeper concern, though, is the rising drop-out rates, particularly among first year college students. This is a trend that is largely ignored at this time of the year as competition for places intensifies.

But this approach lets some students down later on when they suddenly realise that their choice of course doesn’t suit them.

There will always be students for whom the course fits perfectly, but with a deluge of degree courses coming on board, as well as rising competition between Universities and Institutes of Technology to attract students, selecting the right course has never been more important.

Added to the mix is society’s ‘ paring down’ of CAO choices. This is when media, universities and, at times, parents drive the narrative that course choices should be driven by economic and job necessity, an approach that can often funnel students into courses driven by expectation rather than personal choice.

CAO trends this year see a surge in Business, Computers and Construction-related courses with thousands of students opting for such courses in the hope of job security. It is reflected in the need for more housing and the high-tech acceleration in keeping our economy competitive.

What the economy demands of students has merit, but only to a point. What each student, individually, wants is what matters most.

Students with their heart genuinely set on a course, and who come up a few points short of the total, need better recourse to a more flexible and sympathetic system.

A greater emphasis on interviews, for example, to help determine a student’s choice of course might better reveal the applicant’s willingness and aptitude than the current points system.