Ms Elaine Sheridan:

Apprenticeships are very important.

To build on the commentary about the leaving certificate applied or LCA, we have all referenced our work into the future in terms of the redevelopment of the senior cycle. One of the first big steps towards that, for the apprenticeship pathway and the LCA, has been the breaking down of barriers. As part of the LCA programme there is a mathematical applications module, which would not allow a student to take an apprenticeship position in certain areas because a person must have attained a minimum of ordinary level maths. While over the years we have had local arrangements in the SAC to facilitate a candidate taking ordinary leaving certificate mathematics while studying the LCA programme, this has now been formalised. The Department, the NCCA and the SAC have worked together to revise the programme statement for the leaving certificate applied. The barriers to growth have been broken down so that a student who is studying for the leaving certificate applied has access to studying leaving certificate established mathematics at ordinary or higher levels, which opens up a range of apprenticeships. If a person is trying to undertake an apprenticeship that requires the attainment of ordinary level maths then he or she will now be able to do so. We are in the early years of that but the plan is to make that more open, easier and flexible. The provision does create timetable challenges in the school environment. This is the first year of the scheme and it is a strong, tangible example of how we are building STEM skills for students and then, in working on that, opening up opportunities for them that they would not have had previously.