Transition Year
Encyclopedia
Transition Year is an optional one-year school programme that can be taken in the year after the Junior Certificate
in Ireland
and is intended to make the senior cycle a three year programme encompassing both Transition Year and Leaving Certificate
. Transition Year was created as a result of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress which called for a six-year cycle of post-primary education. The mission statement of the Transition Year is:
Transition Year was introduced as a pilot project in September 1974, however it was not until September 1994 that the programme was introduced mainstream. Transition Year is not examined, but rather is assessed, and is intended to be a broad educational experience which assists in the transition from the school environment by encouraging creativity and responsibility for oneself. Approximately 75% of second-level schools offer the programme and it consists of both education and work experience. Schools generally set admissions criteria and design the programme based on local needs in accordance with departmental
guidelines.
The year focuses on many non-academic subjects, such as life skills including: First Aid
, cooking and typing. A lot of sport goes on, with many different types including: rock-climbing, hill-walking, kayaking and orienteering
. Voluntary Work is a requirement in many schools, with students helping out in local communities and charities. It is not possible to fail Transition Year overall: all students continue to their next year of education no matter what their results. However, if a student does not do the set work or is absent for a large amount of time, there is a chance that the school will request that they leave.
Many consider it to be a break from the pressure of examinations. However most teachers would agree that Transition Year gives students a valuable opportunity to engage in a wide variety of interesting, diverse, and challenging areas of their subjects which do not normally make the curriculum.
, mountain climbing, and mini-company encourage growth and teamwork within the student body.
New skills will also be learned through a 28 week skill programme where the student must learn a new skill such as playing a new instrument
or learning a life skill such as sign language
.
asserted that most teachers and principals are not really challenging students in Transition Year, based on official figures from a WSE report: "There was evidence that the content of certain subject areas lacked substance and that students were not being sufficiently challenged. It is strongly recommended that a root and branch review of the programme be undertaken."
In 2009, businessman Bill Cullen
dismissed Transition Year as a “doss year.” He also said it was absolute nonsense to suggest that students were getting work experience during the year.
“They’re not getting any work experience, they’re usually dossing,” he said. “They can fall into bad habits and bad company, and get into a habit of just being lazy. It’s a disaster . . . it’s not working at all in the way it was supposed to be. “Whatever job I got when I was working during the school holidays, I did it better and quicker than anyone else: that was my focus all the time. And in that context the young people are not doing anything,” he told Sean Moncrieff
on Newstalk.
Junior Certificate
The Junior Certificate is an educational qualification awarded in Ireland by the Department of Education to students who have successfully completed the junior cycle of secondary education, and achieved a minimum standard in their Junior Cert. examinations...
in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and is intended to make the senior cycle a three year programme encompassing both Transition Year and Leaving Certificate
Leaving Certificate
The Leaving Certificate Examinations , commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert is the final examination in the Irish secondary school system. It takes a minimum of two years preparation, but an optional Transition Year means that for those students it takes place three years after the Junior...
. Transition Year was created as a result of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress which called for a six-year cycle of post-primary education. The mission statement of the Transition Year is:
- To promote the personal, social, educational and vocational development of pupils and to prepare them for their role as autonomous, participative and responsible members of society.
Transition Year was introduced as a pilot project in September 1974, however it was not until September 1994 that the programme was introduced mainstream. Transition Year is not examined, but rather is assessed, and is intended to be a broad educational experience which assists in the transition from the school environment by encouraging creativity and responsibility for oneself. Approximately 75% of second-level schools offer the programme and it consists of both education and work experience. Schools generally set admissions criteria and design the programme based on local needs in accordance with departmental
Minister for Education and Science (Ireland)
The Minister for Education and Skills is the senior minister at the Department of Education and Skills in the Government of Ireland.The current Minister for Education and Skills is Ruairi Quinn, TD...
guidelines.
The year focuses on many non-academic subjects, such as life skills including: First Aid
First aid
First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...
, cooking and typing. A lot of sport goes on, with many different types including: rock-climbing, hill-walking, kayaking and orienteering
Orienteering
Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...
. Voluntary Work is a requirement in many schools, with students helping out in local communities and charities. It is not possible to fail Transition Year overall: all students continue to their next year of education no matter what their results. However, if a student does not do the set work or is absent for a large amount of time, there is a chance that the school will request that they leave.
Many consider it to be a break from the pressure of examinations. However most teachers would agree that Transition Year gives students a valuable opportunity to engage in a wide variety of interesting, diverse, and challenging areas of their subjects which do not normally make the curriculum.
Available subjects
Below are the list of subjects available to Transition Year students, though most schools only offer a limited number.Modern languages
- EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
- IrishIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
- FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
- GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
- SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
- ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
- JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
- RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
Sciences
- Agricultural ScienceAgricultural scienceAgricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. -Agriculture and agricultural science:The two terms are often confused...
- MathematicsMathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
- PhysicsPhysicsPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
- ChemistryChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
- BiologyBiologyBiology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
Applied Sciences
- Applied MathematicsApplied mathematicsApplied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with mathematical methods that are typically used in science, engineering, business, and industry. Thus, "applied mathematics" is a mathematical science with specialized knowledge...
- Construction StudiesConstruction managementConstruction Project Management is the overall planning, coordination and control of a project from inception to completion aimed at meeting a client’s requirements in order to produce a functionally and financially viable project that will be complete mingement is project management that applies...
- EngineeringEngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
- Home EconomicsHome EconomicsHome economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...
- Technical drawingTechnical drawingTechnical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
Arts and Humanities
- Art, Craft & DesignArtArt is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
- GeographyGeographyGeography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
- HistoryHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
- MusicMusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
- Religious EducationReligious EducationReligious Education is the term given to education concerned with religion. It may refer to education provided by a church or religious organization, for instruction in doctrine and faith, or for education in various aspects of religion, but without explicitly religious or moral aims, e.g. in a...
- Physical EducationPhysical educationPhysical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
- Social, Personal and Health Education
- Career Guidance
- Information TechnologyInformation technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
Advantages of Transition Year
Transition Year could be considered to be a year for maturity and development. Activities such as work experienceWork experience
Work experience is the experience that a person has been working, or worked in a specific field or occupation.- Volunteer work and internships :...
, mountain climbing, and mini-company encourage growth and teamwork within the student body.
New skills will also be learned through a 28 week skill programme where the student must learn a new skill such as playing a new instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
or learning a life skill such as sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
.
Criticism of Transition Year
In 2004, the Department of Education and ScienceDepartment of Education and Science
The phrase Department of Education and Science refers to government departments in the UK or Ireland* For the former Irish government department, see Department of Education and Skills...
asserted that most teachers and principals are not really challenging students in Transition Year, based on official figures from a WSE report: "There was evidence that the content of certain subject areas lacked substance and that students were not being sufficiently challenged. It is strongly recommended that a root and branch review of the programme be undertaken."
In 2009, businessman Bill Cullen
Bill Cullen (businessman)
William 'Bill' Cullen is an Irish businessman, philanthropist, reality TV & media personality. He is the former owner of the Renault Ireland franchise until it was taken under more direct control by Renault in 2007. A well-known figure in Ireland, Cullen has made numerous appearances on RTÉ's The...
dismissed Transition Year as a “doss year.” He also said it was absolute nonsense to suggest that students were getting work experience during the year.
“They’re not getting any work experience, they’re usually dossing,” he said. “They can fall into bad habits and bad company, and get into a habit of just being lazy. It’s a disaster . . . it’s not working at all in the way it was supposed to be. “Whatever job I got when I was working during the school holidays, I did it better and quicker than anyone else: that was my focus all the time. And in that context the young people are not doing anything,” he told Sean Moncrieff
Seán Moncrieff
Seán Moncrieff is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and writer. He currently presents the weekday afternoon radio show Moncrieff on Newstalk. His television credits include his own Raidió Teilifís Éireann chat show Good Grief Moncrieff!, comedy panel show Don't Feed the Gondolas, and The...
on Newstalk.