Ms Caitríona Murphy:

Our authorised officers visit all of our schools in TY or fifth or sixth year. It is not just about higher education but all of the options that are available to them. We have 31 post-primary schools in DDLETB, so we reach those, while all the other schools have direct links into our training centres and further education and training colleges. The links between the guidance staff in schools and the recruitment or authorised people in the training centres and colleges are a big outreach for us. We see that many people picked the wrong thing. It is not that they cannot do it. Rather, they did not do what they really loved or wanted to do. We have a route then where they come back into guidance in our further education and training service.

It depends on when they leave their current courses. I do not like the phrase "drop out". If they leave higher education in first year, whether they can join in or have to start the following September depends at what point they leave. Some of the programmes will be modularised and so on. It is a priority for us to make sure that with the very high rates in higher education, we are there and ready to assist people with the guidance, support and help to succeed. They might then go back into higher education when they have done a year or two. That is what we find and what evidence shows.