Q&A

Your education questions answered by Brian Mooney

I would be glad of your advice about my son, who is in Transition Year.

He does quite well in subjects that he finds interesting (maths, science, music), but is impossible to motivate in subjects that he perceives to be dull (unfortunately, Irish).

Is it at all possible that he might sit ordinary level Leaving Cert Irish at the end of TY, and then proceed to the Leaving Cert programme, focusing on his other subjects? If he does pass ordinary level Irish at the end of TY, will this satisfy the entry requirements of the National University of Ireland (NUI ) for entry after his Leaving Cert in two years' time? If his school does not support this idea could I organise it with the Department of Education myself?

Even though his father and I both retain a grá for Irish, we have to agree with our son that music is probably a more viable life-skill. If he has to include Irish for Leaving Cert, then music - a course that he adores - will have to be dropped.

So many university entrants for the high-points courses achieve their places based on their repeat Leaving Cert - and I believe this is because many can focus on their strengths during the repeat year, having achieved the compulsory pass in Irish at the first sitting.

Compulsion is not fostering any love of our language heritage, especially when young people see it as costing a year of their lives if they believe they would have got a higher points score without it at the first sitting.

I am old enough to have studied compulsory Latin for NUI entry purposes and remember its virtual disappearance after the removal of compulsion. I suspect that the same fate would befall Irish if compulsion were removed, with the tyranny of the points race sweeping all other considerations before it. For that reason, I believe that Irish should retain its status as a core subject to Leaving Cert level.

The points you make are all valid. Many students repeat six subjects in the year after their Leaving Cert, strictly to maximise their points without having to study any particular subject. There are a number of students exempted from Irish, because they entered the State after their 12th birthday or because they are deemed to be too academically weak to study Irish following an assessment by a psychologist.

I believe that it must be possible for your son to continue with music, but he cannot do it instead of Irish. Under Department for Education rules, it is not possible for a candidate in Transition Year to sit the Leaving Cert examination in any subject. To be eligible for admission to the established Leaving Cert exam, a pupil must have followed an approved, established course as a recognised senior pupil in a secondary, vocational, community or comprehensive school for not less than two years. Pupils who leave a recognised secondary school at the end of the junior cycle or Transition Year may not sit the Leaving Cert until two years after they leave. This means that no candidate may sit the Leaving Cert any earlier than they would have had they remained a recognised pupil.

Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. E-mail questions to bmooney@irish- times.ie