Scrap 'self-indulgent' transition year, urges elderly lobby group

IN WHAT might be seen as the first salvo in an inter-generational war, Friends of the Elderly has called for the scrapping of transition year.

The organisation, which provides 400 volunteers to befriend elderly people living on their own, described the senior cycle “gap year” as “self-indulgent” and “a luxury we can’t afford” and said it should be replaced with a community service year.

Transition year, which is taken by fourth-year students in secondary school, was first piloted in 1974.

It is designed to offer experiences outside the narrow academic curriculum, is taken by most secondary pupils and is generally popular.

However, a report in 2007 on teachers’ attitudes found students were poorly motivated during that year and found it difficult to adjust to the Leaving Cert syllabus.

The gap year is also under pressure because of its estimated annual cost of €104.6 million. The Department of Education and Skills put forward the option of scrapping it ahead of the budget three years ago.

Friends of the Elderly spokesman Dermot Kirwan said the curriculum had not responded to the worst recession in living memory. “We are losing tens of thousands of our young people to emigration and yet our educators carry on regardless,” he said.

“At the same time we have huge social needs; the plight of the elderly struggling to live independently has reached crisis proportions.”

He said young people were our “greatest resource” and should be deployed to help in the community.

“The first step should be to make transition year a community service year, for it to be compulsory and for every second-level student to do compulsory community service hours,” he said.

However, the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland pointed out transition year students were already heavily involved in the voluntary sector, particularly in the young social entrepreneurs initiative.

Spokeswoman Gemma Tuffy said transition year co-ordinators were frequently inundated with resource packs from various charities, but could only pick a few because of the commitment involved.

Transition year was an essential part of the intellectual and academic development of students and those who did it performed better in the Leaving Certificate than those who didn’t, she added.