Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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240. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 375 of 17 January 2017, if his Department will intervene and ensure that the course is made available to students for the 2017 to 2018 academic year in schools in north and south Leitrim; if he will address the discrepancy which currently exists in County Leitrim; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5727/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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The Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme is one of a number of options made available by my Department for Senior Cycle students which schools can choose from, based on the education needs and interests of their student. The LCA is a two-year programme designed for those students who do not wish to proceed directly to higher education or for those whose needs, aptitudes and learning styles are not fully catered for by the other two Leaving Certificate programmes.

It is the responsibility and choice of each individual school to decide to put in place the LCA programme, including the admittance of a student to the programme, in their school and therefore not a matter for my Department to decide. I am aware that the number of schools offering the programme has declined. I have asked that the LCA will form part of the review of Senior Cycle that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) will shortly commence.