One of the main reasons why up to 15,000 young people leave school annually without taking the Leaving Certificate is that the State has an insufficient career guidance service, a conference will be told today.
The poor provision of career guidance in Irish schools is also a factor in the failure of 900 to 1,000 students to reach second-level education, the president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, Ms Roisin Kelleher, says.
In a speech to be given at the institute's annual conference in Dundalk, Co Louth, today, she says figures from the evaluation unit of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show that 3,200 students leave second level without any qualifications - having left school before taking the Junior Certificate.
She says the lack of access for many students to career guidance means they cannot make properly informed choices about their welfare and education. "It is appalling to think that little progress has been made over a considerable number of years."
She states that the complexity and number of courses offered at Leaving Certificate level has increased vastly in recent years, but without an equivalent increase in resources to career guidance.
"It is not realistic to expect one guidance counsellor to cater for the needs of up to 799 students in such circumstances," she states.
She will tell the conference that the Department of Education is preparing a circular on career guidance, which should be ready shortly. "I hope this circular will state clearly that funding and allocation of hours for guidance and counselling will be used specifically for the purposes intended," her speech states.
She adds that a guidance and counselling service promised in the Department of Education's package of measures to deal with disadvantage - the New Deal - is necessary in second-level schools.