Professor Barbara Dooley:

The Chair is absolutely right that one of the biggest transition phases is moving from second level into third level or post second level education. As he pointed out, it is the age where the issues come to a peak. We have evidence globally, not just in Ireland, that it is in and around the age of 20. What all of the institutions need to do at that time is make sure robust peer support programmes are in place. That is not to substitute for all the other professional things we can do but identifying with a peer who has transitioned successfully can serve as a role model. There are different types of peer-led transition programmes across the country but that is one of the key things that can be successful. Unfortunately, that has been disrupted for the past couple of years because of the delayed leaving certificate results. Normally, what we have done collectively in our institutions was bring our incoming first years to campus before other students returned. It would been a time where they could be in that space themselves navigating, meeting people, seeing the size of the campus, particularly somewhere like UCD which is a large campus, and orientating themselves to that. With the delayed leaving certificate, our peer mentoring programmes began three weeks in for the other students who had started and they are trying to navigate their own work. That is my phone ringing; I apologise.