!
In schools where TY is
‘optional’, some uncomfortable
questions can arise. For
example, who is selected and
who is rejected? How fair are
the selection criteria? Why was I
chosen or not chosen? 5 th year
and 6 th year classes made up a
combination of students who
did TY and others who did not is
just one area of TY that deserves
closer research and
interrogation.
!
Selection
Current debates about school
admission policies, inclusion,
discrimination and so on tend to
focus on points of intake.
However, surely the same
principles of justice and non-
discrimination are relevant to
admission to TY? Once the
impending legislation regarding
school admissions becomes
operative, it seems likely that
someone will test non-selection
for TY in the courts.
!
This brings up some crucial
questions: do all students have
the right to do TY? What might
be legitimate grounds for a
school not offering TY to the full
cohort of students? Maybe for
schools where TY is ‘optional’
need to re-examine their
policies.
!
Further questions
Exploring a rights-based
approach to TY and to schooling
in general almost inevitably
highlights tensions between the
individual and the group.
!
Realistically, school planning
prioritises learning activities for
students in groups, usually class
groups. In TY programmes like
work experience, a more
individualised methodology is
evident. Such perspectives also
inform subject sampling
modules with a view to
informing choices for Leaving
Certificate subjects. Some
schools strongly encourage TY
students to undertake individual
project work, further
emphasising a differentiated
approach.
and creative problem-solving
skills’ and develop the
‘awareness of the value of
education and training in
preparing them for the ever-
changing demands of the adult
world of work and relationships’
that the Guidelines speak about
so eloquently? Conversely,
would more customised TY
programmes lead to
fragmentation, to greater
differences between those who
can afford worthwhile
excursions near and far and
those trying to benefit from TY
on the proverbial shoestring?
!
Gerry Jeffers
!
Are more individualised TY
programmes the way forward?
Would closer mentoring to
assist students discover
activities they might pursue
individually nurture the
‘maturity’, the ‘greater
responsibility for their own
learning’, the ‘critical thinking
References:
Department of Education (1993) Transition Year Programmes:
Guidelines for Schools, Dublin: DE.
Fleming, D (2016) ‘Student Voice in Irish Schools: An Increasing
Acoustic’ in ETBI Magazine, Issue 2, Spring, p.40 – 43. Naas: ETBI.
Jeffers, G (2105) Transition Year in Action, Dublin: The Liffey Press.
Jeffers, G (2014) ‘Schooling through a Human Rights Lens’, in A
Child’ World, Contemporary Issues in Education edited by Malcolm
Thomas, Aberystwyth: CAA Aberystwyth University, p. 1-20.
United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child, New
York: UN.
T Y UPDATE MAY 2017
www.tyireland.com
Anyone who has engaged in
meaningful consultation with TY
students or, indeed, 5 th year or
6 th year students, about their TY
experiences, will be aware of
how frank and direct they can
be. This is especially evident
when the consultations take
place in contexts of trust and
respect. If aspects of the
programme don’t meet their
expectations, many TY students
don’t hold back. In a number of
semi-structured conversations
with senior cycle students in a
range of schools, I have often
been struck by how ‘fairness’ is a
frame through which many view
TY - as well as their schooling
generally and, indeed, the wider
world.
INCLUSION AND
TRANSITION YEAR