Mr. Andrew Brownlee:

I think we should move on from an either-or scenario. Many people might benefit from an further education-first type of approach before they go into to higher education. There are schools where 100% of school leavers go directly into higher education and surely, one or two of those individuals would be better suited to a more technical or vocational route. As we reflected, they do not get exposure to those kinds of technical or vocational options. Transition year is one part of it and in a way it is quite easy to build in taster and foundation courses but we need to look at real reform of the senior cycle and the leaving certificate and maybe look at, say, the Scottish model where further education colleges actually deliver those level 5 and level 6 modules and students get credit for them as part of the equivalent of the leaving certificate there.