From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School: A Longitudinal Study of Sixth-Year Students

Current debates about senior cycle education in Ireland have raised a number of crucial questions:

What effect does the Leaving Certificate exam have on young people's learning experiences?

What helps students to do well in the Leaving Certificate exam?

How do young people make decisions about their future life after school?

This book provides an important evidence base for answering these questions by examining the experiences of young people in their final year of second-level education. It explores how the impending exam colours student experiences of teaching and learning, and raises important questions about the current Leaving Certificate model. It provides crucial insights into the kinds of information and advice young people use in planning for the future, placing their decisions within the context of their overall schooling career.

From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School is part of a series about the lives of young people as they move through the schooling system. It should be of interest to principals, teachers, guidance counsellors, higher education institutions, policymakers, parents, teacher educators, and the wider academic community.

Published in association with the Economic and Social Research Institute.