Teachers give LCA mixed marks

Early results of a teacher survey on the Leaving Cert Applied programme indicate that information on it is not getting to every member of staff in individual schools. According to the TUI, one of the most striking results of the survey is the high level of variation in satisfaction levels within schools. According to Rose Malone, education officer with the TUI, this is "much greater than variation between schools".

Completed questionnaires were returned to the TUI last spring by 107 teachers in 30 schools. Each school supplied completed questionnaires from a number of staff members involved with the programme.

Preliminary results indicate an overall response of "fairly satisfied" with the programme as a whole, but there is considerable variation within schools.

The Leaving Cert Applied programme was introduced to 53 schools in September 1995. This year 900 students, having studied for two years, completed their exams and graduated. There are now more than 3,000 students studying the LCA.

The programme emphasises forms of achievement which the established Leaving Cert has not recognised in the past. It offers vocational education and preparation as well as general education.

The lowest levels of satisfaction recorded by teachers in the survey were with "resource provision" for the programme and also with "time available for planning". The highest levels of satisfaction recorded were for "benefit to students" and "content of programme".

"The indication is that the information is not getting to everybody on the staff," Malone says. "If people have not been prepared it will be essential to address that."

Teachers having insufficient time for planning may be "having a negative impact on the programme", she said.

According to one teacher's comments, the programme is "very time consuming on teachers who put many hours of work into research of materials . . . Modules in some areas are too broad and with tasks to be done as well, especially in practical areas, people run out of time."

There are "too many assignments/ tasks happening together", another teacher wrote. "As it was, our first year was not evenly spread - students tend to panic when faced with deadlines."

"There are far too many elements to be assessed and too much pressure on students," another opined. "Orals and practical exams should not be run together and students should not be expected to run from one exam to another, up to as many as three in one day. Not appropriate for weak students!"

A full report of the survey is expected to be submitted to the TUI executive later this term.