Professional Development Service for Teachers
Issues in Implementing the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme in Schools
Coordinator Perspectives
Harry Freeman
May 2014
1. Introduction
The Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme was introduced in 1995 for students
whose needs, aspirations and aptitudes were not being adequately catered for by the Leaving
Certificate Established (LCE). It is currently being implemented in 341 schools and centres.
It is a comprehensive programme that offers a range of 30 courses (subjects), recommends a
wide variety of teaching methodologies and involves an innovative assessment system.
Whilst it has been enormously successful in addressing the needs of its many students over
the years, the programme is currently facing some challenges. These include:

A decline in the numbers of students completing the programme. (The numbers of
students completing the programme declined by 13% in 2013 from 3,228 in 2012 to
2,805 in 2013)

A reduction in the number of schools implementing the programme (approximately
35 schools and centres who implemented the programme in the past now no longer
offer it). It must be acknowledged, however,that schools offering it for the first time
have increased slightly over the past 3 years and every year some schools who had
ceased to offer it return to the programme.

Many schools amalgamating year one and year two classes for all or some of the
curriculum (38% in this survey).

A high annual turnover of coordinators and teachers (in the academic year 2013201446 new coordinators and 762 new teachers attended in-service).
There has always been a cohort of students who do not benefit from the LCE. Historically
these have either dropped out before completion, or endured a negativesenior cycle
experience. Due to insufficient numbers of studentsapplying, and a reduction in the teacher
pupil ratio allocated to the programme, some schools have found it more difficult to offer
LCA. As a result many students have missed the opportunity to reach their full potential.
2. Rationale
A decrease in the profile of the programme within schools and nationally, together with
increased demands on already limited resources within schools is increasing the vulnerability
of LCA. This paper will outline current issues for the programme that impact on the
implementation of the programme in schools. It will be document the perspectives of LCA
coordinators. It will present their voice.
3. Leaving Certificate Applied - Benefits to Schools
There are undoubted benefits to offering LCA.Unsurprisingly, many responses highlight the
opportunities afforded to a cohort of students that would have struggled or dropped out if the
school/centre did not offer the programme:
 Provides an environment "in which each student achieves her full potential".
 Improves life chances for students who might leave school without a recognised
qualification.
 Improves self-esteem of students by emphasising their strengths rather than
compounding their weaknesses.
 Allows students who would be totally overwhelmed and frustrated with learning to
finish school and have a positive and worthwhile learning experience.
These comments capture the student centred ethos of the programme and reflect the pastoral
focus of coordinators, a factor that has contributed in a major way to creating a positive senior
cycle experience for its student cohort.
Other benefits highlighted by coordinators emphasise the improved climate experienced by
the LCE classes as a result of having less students in them who are unsuited to the traditional
academic curriculum:
 Helps the teachers in mainstream lc deliver the programme without being held back
by students who are struggling.
 Great for the students, great for teachers who don't have to cater for these students in
fifth year classes.
 Less behavioural issues in mainstream leaving cert classes.
This is an interesting outcome, as schools who offer LCA may actually improve overall
average results in the LCE relative to schools not offering the programme. This offers food
for thought to those schools that have either ceased to offer the programme or have decided
not to introduce it based on the argument that they are trying to promote a school profile that
strives for academic excellence.
Some coordinators pointed out the Continuing Professional Development (CPD)benefits that
teaching the programme brings to their teaching staff. The experience gained by teaching a
practical curriculum to a cohort of students with a diverse range of talents and aptitudes was
highlighted as being a worthwhile benefit:
 Opens the eyes of teachers to a wider variety of students needs and allows them to use
many different methodologies and dare I say become better teachers.
 It encourages, in fact demands a greater awareness of teaching staff of the need to
consider a different approach to teaching and learning which can be enlightening and
very rewarding. Forces us as teachers to have a look at how we teach and expect our
students to learn
It is also worth commenting that teaching LCA, because of the reduced emphasis on
academic achievement, offers some latitude to teachers to explore a variety of non-traditional
teaching methodologies.
4. Challenges in coordinating Leaving Certificate Applied in schools
ImplementingLCA can present a diverse range of demands on coordinators. The following
issueswere raised:
4.1 Perceptions of the Leaving Certificate Applied within the school community
Many referred to the negative profile that the programme experiences. This negativity comes
from many quarters including employers, parents, other students, teachers and occasionally
senior management. Terms that highlight this negativitythat appeared in the replies include:
‘stigma’, ‘dumping ground’, ‘for weaker students’, ‘low self-esteem’, ‘discipline issues’. The
following comments capture this negativity:
 It has a poor public profile, and is off putting for a number of potential students:
"Let's Count Apples".
 The main problem is the impression that this is the 'weak' class, that you do L.C.A.
because you are 'stupid'.
 Perception of LCA as a dumping ground. All students that are in LCA are labelled as
a particular type of student.
 The greatest challenge is getting those that really need to do into the course. They
often don’t see the benefits.
 The programme not suiting the 'academic' image that the school wants to promote.
These comments highlight the difficulty that many schools have in attracting students suited
to the programme toapply. Indeed it is common forstudentsto apply to change to LCA during
the academic year having realised that they had erred originally in opting for the LCE
programme. Many students, despite advice from their teachers, insist on following the LCE
because of the negative profile of LCA. Not only should this problem be addressed at national
level but coordinators can also do much to promote a positive image for the programme at
school and local levels. This can be pursued by strategies such as celebratingand sharing
excellence in their current LCA classes, presenting an outline of the programme to the
broader student cohort, keeping the full teaching staff up to date through inputs at staff
meetings and informing parents through newsletters and presentations at senior cycle options
nights.
4.2 Students
Many students who join the LCA have not enjoyed success in the traditional academic
curriculum of the junior cycle. Thus, students with a track record of poor motivation, poor
attendance and poor behaviouroften join LCA. In addition many students with special
education needs (SEN) join LCA:
 Many LCA students come from families where education is not valued and these
parents do not fully support their child's education
 The academic standard of the student is the main challenge - if students were left to
produce the written work themselves no written work would be produced
 Questionable whether we can continue managing students' emotional situations - life
outside of school is impacting greatly on students' application in the classroom:
alcohol, drugs, finance, family break-up, personal relationships, pregnancies .......
It can be argued that one of the more important aspects of the role of the coordinator is the
pastoral one. Many coordinators state that they are unhappy when teachers complain about
behaviour of students to them rather than to the year head. Coordinators generally prefer to
act as advocate for their students. It may be worthwhile for coordinators to communicate this
to colleagues either at staff meetings or through the school’s relevant policy documents.
4.3 Teachers
Leading the teaching team is a key elementof the role. Teaching LCA presents many
challenges and the high turnover of teachers evidenced above points towards a reluctance
amongst teachers to teach it:

Some members of staff very negative towards the programme and feel it eats into the
timetabling hours for such a small cohort of students.

Most teachers think LCA is a great idea but don't want to teach it

Constant change of teachers teaching the courses, Teachers involved in programme
who don't quite understand the rationale that LCA is about keeping kids at school
(teach LCA as just another fifth year group- no allowance made for difficulties)

Staff who, having no experience of the programme are often critical of it and think it a
waste of resources in the present climate.
Motivating a teaching team to engage with an innovative curriculumthat requires alternative
methodologies with some challenging students does require a wide range of leadership and
management skills. The high turnover of both coordinators and teachers has resulted in many
inexperienced coordinators and a significant number of inexperienced teachers. In fact 38%
of respondents to this survey have been in the role for less than 3 years. This is a cause for
concern as knowledge and experience are important for coordinators in being effective in
their role.
4.4 Parents
It is widely accepted that parents are key partners in the education of their children. It is
therefore important that parents have an informed opinion of LCA and are able to relate this
to responding to the educational needs of their children:
 Many LCA students come from families where education is not valued and these parents do
not fully support their child's education.
 Also parents & other students believe they know what the programme is about, when, in fact
they've very little knowledge of its advantages - very often, as I have found recently, people
who have had no experience of the programme are the most critical!
 It is often difficult to convince parents that the programme is best suited to the needs of their
child.
This suggests that coordinators have an important role in building and maintaining positive
lines of communication with all parents in their school and more particularly in building
positive relationships with parents of their LCA class. The job of keeping everyone informed
is an important one.
4.5 Time to Coordinate
Coordinating LCA is a key middle leadership role in schools and the role can be both
complex and broad. Duties include: administration of credits and tasks, planning and
implementing the curriculum, communicating with all partners and supporting students and
teachers. Appendix 2 provides greater detail of these duties. With the current embargo on
Posts of Responsibility, many coordinators who move on (through retirement or career
advancement) are being replaced by teachers who are being given less time to coordinate.
Table 1 below shows the significant variance in resource allocation to coordinating the
programme in schools:
Table 1: Coordination Allowance (n= 129)
Full programme coordinator post
Part of programme coordinator post
Full Assistant Principal Post
Part of Assistant Principal Post
Full Special Duties Post
Part of Special Duties Post
No post but time allowance of 2 hours or more
No post but time allowance up to 2 hours
No post and no allowance
I am the Principal
I am the Deputy Principal
Other
18
18
7
13
20
3
8
19
11
4
2
5
14%
14%
5%
10%
16%
2%
6%
15%
9%
3%
2%
4%
It is worth noting that 30% of respondents do not have a post of responsibility for the role and
9% have no time allocation either. Of concern also is the fact that in 5% of schools the
programme is being coordinated by either the principal or deputy principal. This significant
variance in allocation of time/remuneration points towards a very unequal level of resources
to coordinate the programme in schools:
 I am given two hours per week to co-ordinate 2 class groups. These class groups are
probably the most needy in the entire school. I use up two hours a day in my role as
co-ordinator and it's still not enough.
 To have structured LCA meetings. So far, this year, there has only been one meeting
and that was attended by only part of the LCA team.
 All my time is taken up with admin and discipline. This leaves little time for planning
and meeting with students
When the complexities of coordinating the programme are considered in the light of the
reduction in resources it is not surprising that there is such a high turnover of coordinators.
As mentioned above, 38% of coordinators are in the role for less than 3 years. It can be
argued that this further diminishes the expertise available, particularly when it is widely
accepted that it takes several years to develop the level of knowledge required to coordinate
the programme effectively. This programme advisor has observed an increase in queries from
coordinators and teachers that raise concerns about the dearth of ‘on the ground’ knowledge
about assessment requirements. This can result in students under-achieving. Furthermore, the
fact that CPD for the 7 student tasks has moved to evening time in recent years, means there
is a substantial reduction in the number of teachers receiving support. This further puts the
onus on the coordinator to be the ‘expert’ within the school in supporting teachers in
completing the student tasks.
5. Leaving Certificate Applied at National Level
The perspectives of coordinators about issues for the programme nationally offer cause for
concern. It is important to acknowledge the broader context before considering these issues.
The following points are worth noting:



The numbers of students completing the programme declined by 13% in 2013 despite
the fact that school completion has reached 90%.
Retention rates in DEIS schools are still at 80.39% (DES, 2014).
9.2% ofstudents who sat LCE in 2013 did not attain 5 grade Ds. This confirms that
the LCE is not meeting the needs of a substantial number of students.
These statistics represent a significant cohort of students leaving post primary education
without achieving a reasonable level of success. The following issues were highlighted by
respondents:
5.1 Resources
Resources for LCA have been cut in recent years. The extra teacher allocation to support
schools offering the programme is now only available to all new schools joining the
programme (an additional allocation of 0.5 of a post). Comments from coordinators include:
 If schools are forced to drop LCA due to lack of resources students will suffer,
dropout rates will rise again, discipline in schools will suffer as students not able for
the traditional LC Curriculum will have no options.
 How are schools supposed to justify giving all those hours, to small groups of
students? LCA classes tend to be small, as they should be, but without extra support,
i.e. special allocations, it is hard to see a future for it.
This reduction in resources has been cited as the reason why many schools have either ceased
to offer the programme or are amalgamating both years. The number of schools
amalgamating both years is continuing to increase despite the fact that it is a less than ideal
model that requires adaptability, good will and commitment on the part of teachers to make it
succeed. Some courses (e.g. Social Education, VPG and some Vocational Specialisms are
particularly problematic because of the required sequencing of modules and the examination
of the Student Task. Coordinators need support in deciding the timetabling options and
teachers need support in methodologies to be able to teach a split group in the same
classroom and cater for two groups in the same classroom at different phases of the
assessment cycle. A significant amount of the work of this advisor involves helping schools
keep the programme alive either through innovative timetabling of the curriculum or
improving the profile at school level to encourage students most suited to LCA opt for it.
5.2 Progression
As opportunities for direct entry to the workforce on completion of LCA decreased in recent
years, schools now commonly direct students towards the Further Education sector. However
this is not always a smooth transition as recognition for LCA can be an issue. Most colleges
of Further Education clearly state in their entry requirements whether or not LCA
isacceptable as an entry requirement and it is listed on a significant majority of courses:
 I feel a number of colleges discriminate against students who do the LCA programme.
I have experienced students not getting a place in certain institutions because they
don’t have leaving cert maths. Also on a number of occasions I’m asked what the
equivalent would be at leaving cert especially in maths!!!!
 Recognition at national level - it is not given enough status as a stepping stone to
further education
Suggestions for improving progression opportunities include:
 Work on plc institutions to raise the profile of LCA students and promote their
abilities, experience of project writing and interview skills.
 Create the definite links between LCA, FETAC and the 3rd level institutions. It is easy
to recommend a PLC course for students to but is often harder to guide them onto 3rd
level.
Anecdotally, many students who complete LCA progress successfully to Further Education
Level 5 programmes(Post Leaving Certificate courses) and afterwards to Higher Education.
However, there are no current statistics available for this. Perceptions about LCA can militate
against LCA students gaining access to some courses. Options to address this include:
promoting the LCA more proactively with Further Education Colleges, reviewing the
programme to make it more acceptable for progression routes and for the DES to explore
progression options to third level education.
5.3 Review of Programme
The LCA was introduced in 1995 and reviewed in 1998/1999. The education system and the
jobs market has moved on significantly since then. The National Qualifications Framework
(NQF) was introduced in 2003 and was subsumed intoQuality and Qualifications Ireland
(QQI) in 2012. It is important that LCA continues to fulfil the necessary criteria for
recognition in this changing landscape. Coordinators articulated concerns around the current
relevance of the programme. Whilst many called for a general modernisation of LCA, the
course areas directly referred to most frequently were English and Communications,
Mathematical Applications and Information and Communications Technology (ICT):

I feel that the LCA Module Descriptors need to be updated if LCA Programme is to
continue to deliver in an ever changing society. The language in some of these
descriptors is very dated yet, unlike established Leaving Cert subject areas like
Project Maths, Geography, Irish..., these have not been reviewed. This is crucial if we
want employers and third level institutions to take our Programme seriously.

A few past pupils have come back to us as regards their maths levels & have struggled
with their FETAC courses, so as a result we have to supplement their coursework with
additional topics (depending on where they plan to be after LCA) The seemingly
apparent lack of recognition & status given to LCA by people outside of the
programme has a very damaging effect.
Suggestions to improve the programme are also worth recording:

Instead of English and Communications, develop an English course that follows on
from the JCSP English course

Also, the new Junior Certificate will lend itself nicely to LCA but there is no sign that
this is being put out there to parents who may already know the challenge they will
face to keep their kid in school beyond Junior Cert.

I always wondered about the possibility of amalgamating some parts of LCA with
traditional LC for those students who would be capable of doing some academic
subjects.
When one considers that the ICT course was last revised in 1998, it is not surprising that
teachers of the programme so regularly ask why it has not as yet been revised. Likewise with
the development of Project Maths over the past few years much concern has been expressed
by LCA teachers about the relevance and currency of the Mathematical Applications course.
These concerns impact significantly on perceptions of the programme by the partners in
education.
5.4 Profile of LCANationally
Asis evidenced by the commentary so far in this report, considerable anxiety and a degree of
frustration exist around the profile of theprogramme. Many students are opting to follow the
LCE even though they may not be academically suited to it. A significant number of
respondents captured this:


The image among parents and students. Parents feeling that their child’s progress to
Third Level will be limited because they may be unable to go directly from LCA to
Third Level
Needs better promotion nationally for parents, businesses, colleges and employers to
understand and take it as seriously as the traditional leaving certificate. Making it
more attractive to students and parents. Convincing students and parents that LCA is
not for the 'slow' students.
A second major concern expressed focussed on recognition by employers. Although the
programme has been offered for almost 20 years, there is considerable lack of knowledge on
the part of employers about the programme:



Proper information getting out to the media about the benefits of same - also
educating employers about the benefits of employing an LCA student in their
workforce
We find a lot of employers have never heard of it, but when they take students on
placement they are generally very impressed with them.
At national level employers are not familiar with what the course has to offer and
what strengths LCA students have gained from doing the programme.
This programme advisor regularly receives calls from employers who do not understand the
structure of the programme or the meaning of the certificate. This is a concern that can be
addressed at national level by actively promoting the programme. However significant
progress can be made through the relationships that develop between schools and employers
at local level.
Many respondents highlighted their concerns that the programme needed to be more
proactively promoted through the media:

We need to continue to promote the LCA qualification as a DIFFERENT rather than a
LOWER and less important Leaving Cert qualification

More awareness in the media - last summer during State Exams LCA was not
mentioned in the daily exam round up – not once
There is always a lot of talk in the media about the leaving cert. Maybe LCA could be
included in these discussions. e.g. on leaving cert study tips radio programmes in May
or in the independent education supplements.

The power of the media must not be underestimated in keeping the general public informed.
In the early years of the programme NCCA organised high profile national events that
celebrated excellence in the LCA. However this ceased in 2000. On a positive note, the
Leaving Certificate Applied National Association (LCANA), does organise an annual awards
ceremony for the highest achieving students in LCA, produces newsletters and has developed
a website that promotes the programme (http://www.lca-association.com). It must be
congratulated for its commitment to and support of the programme. However the programme
would benefit from further coverage in the national press.
5.5 Programme Support
As was stated in the introduction of this paper, LCA is a complex Leaving Certificate
programme that offers a range of 30 courses, demands innovative teaching approaches and
involves a varied and school based assessment system. Indeed many of these courses have not
historically been offered widely in main stream schools. It is therefore important that teachers
new to the programme receive adequate CPD in the ethos of the programme, the course
content, the required teaching methodologies, recommended resources and the assessment
system. In terms of assessment, particular emphasis needs to be placed on the Student Tasks
which are linked closely to day to day teaching and require a departure for teachers from the
traditional preparation of students for final examinations. Support personnel have been
reduced from 8 with 2 joint national coordinators in 2000 to one advisor currently. This
advisor is seconded to the Professional Development Service for Teachers PDST. The
support programme currently consists of:








Two ‘one-day’ courses for coordinators newly appointed to LCA (one in Sept and one
in January)
a ‘one-day’ subject based in-service programme for teachers new to LCA in
September
Regional evening workshops for current coordinators (2 per year)
Regional evening workshops for each of the tasks for teachers new to these tasks
Telephone and email support
Regular email update bulletins
School visits when requested
Website offering a wide range guidance and resources
The relationship between coordinators and the LCA programme advisor is very positive.
However concern is expressed regularly about the reduction in support that has occurred due
to retirements in recent years:

Hopefully the government in their infinite wisdom will not see fit to make any further
cutbacks i.e. (*** ****) does a fantastic job but only one person to offer support
nationwide?

Lack of refresher in-service for those who have stayed with the programme

In-service times. As there is now more time outside school time taken up with all sorts
of meetings etc, it can be sometimes hard (& tiring) to get to these meetings.

Support - there seems to be a greater funding of and support of the JCSP programme
Indeed many calls to the support line are from teachers who have not attended in-service and
it can be worrying when the resulting lack of understanding of the assessment process
impacts negatively on the results of some students. Another concern worth raising is
planning for continuity of support. The complexity of the programme requires significant
depth of knowledge and experience and it can take a number of years to train a programme
advisor to have an in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the programme. Recommendations
for further development of the support programme by coordinators include:

More in-service in schools for groups of LCA teachers

If in-service was provided during the day, or as a definite part of Croke Park hours,
more teachers would attend and thus benefit.

More up-to-date promotional resources would be useful.
To date the programme advisor has been able to respond to all requests for school visits to
support principals, coordinators and teachers in implementing the programme as effectively
as possible. Support through email and phone calls is also successful. However, the capacity
to produce resources such as newsletters or organise events such as trade fairs has been
significantly impacted on due to the reduction in support personnel over the past few years.
6. Recommendations
This paper presents the voice of coordinators of LCA. Their passion and commitment to their
students shines through. The following general recommendations for the future consolidation
and development of the programme are offered:





NCCA to formally review and update the Leaving Certificate Applied curriculum. (It was
last revised in 1998). Courses of particular concern are Mathematical Applications, English
and Communications, and Information and Communications Technology.
DES to take whatever steps are necessary to promote the programme at national level
DES to ensure Leaving Certificate Applied is recognised appropriately for progression to
employment and Further Education courses
DES to reintroduce the extra teacher allocation to facilitate schools running the
programme with small class groups
The PDST to continue to offer its programme of support to principals, coordinators and
teachers in schools offering LCA and interested in introducing LCA.
7. Conclusion
The LCA is entering its twentieth year and has proved to be enormously successful for a large
cohort of students not suited to the traditional academic curriculum. Students with alternative
talents and skills will continue to enter senior cycle into the future. The LCA plays a
significant role in keeping at-risk students in education. The economic cost of early school
leavers is substantial. The social and personal cost is incalculable. The European Parliament
Report: Reducing Early School Leaving in the EU states that:
“In Ireland, the annual cost to the state in benefits, together with lost tax revenue
per male early school leaver, has been estimated at EUR 29,300, even before
costs associated with health or crime are considered” (P.12)
This is of economic concern when the numbers completing the programme are seen to be
dropping despite an increase in the number of students completing Post Primary Education.It
is important that their needs are met for future economic and societal reasons, but far more
importantly to offer them a route though the education system that recognises and celebrates
these talents and skills and offers them a positive future.
References:
Department of Education and Skills, Retention Rates Of Pupils In Second Level Schools,
2007 Entry Cohort, 2014 (http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/StatisticalReports/stats_retention_report_2007_cohort.pdf )
European Parliament, Reducing Early School Leaving in the Eu, 2011, Brussels.
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Checklist of Duties of Co-ordinator
The following list may be of some assistance to the LCA coordinator in establishing and
clarifying the role. They are offered as guidelines only.
Administration:

Record-keeping

Checklist of Key Assignments to teachers

Storage of Key Assignments and Tasks

Arrangements for examination of Tasks

Arrangements of out of school activities

Claiming credits

Attendance

Appeals
Planning:

Overview of the programme

Delegation

Planning tasks

Planning timetable

Planning teaching team

Monitoring tasks

Team meetings

Finance, resources

Curriculum management
Communicating:

Teaching Team

Students

Principal

Parents

Employers

Support Service

Department of Education and Science
Supporting:

Team building

Perception/ morale (within and outside school)

Trouble shooting

Ongoing monitoring