Mr. Michael Gillespie:

We welcome the LCA developments. One of the problems with the LCA was the pathways, namely, the pathways into apprenticeships, which we discussed earlier. One of the issues the LCA struggled with was maths. Integrating maths, or being able to do both sets of maths for the LCA, is a huge advantage. The problem, which is a problem across all the subjects, is that we have the biggest class sizes in Europe. Even though the Department has said we should integrate maths, we do not have the capacity in our schools to do so because class sizes have not changed since the austerity years. Our allocation models are too tight to work on what we would like to achieve.

Transition year is a fantastic programme if working right in a school, but, again, we have an allocation issue.