Official guidance on transition year is 30 years old. How should we reimagine it?

When educationalists from abroad visit Ireland, the transition year (TY) programme is often a source of curiosity. Some even come specifically to find out more about the programme with its unique focus on creating space and opportunities for 15- and 16-year-olds to mature, particularly in their personal, social and emotional development.

TY was slow to catch on. However, uptake has grown, particularly since the mid-1990s. Now almost all schools offer TY and three-in-four students take part. For 30 years, schools have been supported by Transition Year Programmes: Guidelines for Schools (1993). This slim document from the Department of Education maps out key possibilities and requirements. We have been well served by this imaginative and far-seeing outline. However, the contexts in which today’s teenagers are growing up are different. Teachers and schools have also learned a lot about devising and implementing successful TY programmes. Something new is needed.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has come up with a new draft statement to guide schools in developing TY programmes for the 2020s and beyond. This initiative is part of the overall revision of senior cycle education and, importantly, the NCCA has opened a public consultation about the new draft statement on TY. This public consultation will run until October 20th.

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From the outset, TY has been challenged to perform difficult balancing acts. Following students’ interests needs to be weighed against the pragmatic reality of a school’s resources. Tensions between freedom and structure, between novelty and continuity, between breadth and depth are not easily resolved. Most schools work hard at walking these various tightropes and some are particularly good at adjusting and tweaking the programme each year to maintain freshness and relevance. The great freedom given to schools to shape their individual TY programmes can be a two-edged sword. Without regular renewal, programmes can become tired, stale, and even boring.

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In a system that tells students and their parents how important it is to achieve well in their terminal school examination, TY’s emphasis on exploring dreams, on learning how to work as part of a team, on reflecting on one’s interests and identity, on becoming active citizens may seem contradictory. But the evidence is strong that freedom from examination pressure enables young people to thrive during TY, with many parents stating unequivocally how much their sons and daughters “grew up” during the year, some remarking how they had developed new perspectives on “learning”.

There is much we don’t know about TY, particularly which features of the programme contribute most to promoting maturity. This current consultation process – an online survey in which anyone can participate as well as webinars for teachers and parents (www.ncca.ie/ty) – is a great opportunity for anyone with views and insights about TY to express them. It’s one of the benefits of living in a democratic society. There is an attractive flexibility about the online survey as responses can be brief or more detailed.

The opinions of parents who have seen at first hand the benefits and limitations of TY should be especially interesting. We know that work experience and community service placements are highly rated by students. We know little about the views of employers and other placement providers who have, by and large, been generous in enabling students to avail of new learning experiences. This public consultation gives them a chance to tell how they see such placements and, particularly, what developments might take place in future. And, of course, there are the 700-plus school communities all with their own ideas about how TY might be reimagined, adjusted and refreshed to meet the needs of future students. Their perspectives – including those of students – will be critically important in the consultation.

The NCCA’s draft statement is subtle and nuanced, sensitive to the various tensions associated with TY. It seeks to maintain a strong focus on the developmental and learning needs of young people during mid-adolescence. The relative autonomy given to each school and to teacher creativity is respected. The orientation to engagement with workplace and local community realities is unequivocal.

[ Should I organise work experience for my daughter in transition year? ]

The statement might be stronger on the supports schools need to design and implement effective TY programmes. The absence of any national reporting on TY – for example: how satisfied are students with it?; which modules, activities or experiences work well?; what have particular schools done to improve and re-energise their programme? – has been a major weakness for many years. Regular reporting from the Inspectorate of the Department of Education on aspects of TY nationally should be a normal feature of the educational landscape. Such reporting would be a great support to schools in shaping the evidence-based TY programmes that young people deserve.

Dr Gerry Jeffers is an educational researcher and author of Transition Year in Action (Liffey Press)