Transition Year (TY) (Irish: Idirbhlian) is an optional one-year school programme that can be taken in the year after the Junior Certificate in Ireland and is intended to make the senior cycle a three year programme encompassing both Transition Year and Leaving Certificate.[1] Transition Year was created as a result of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress which called for a six-year cycle of post-primary education.[2] The mission statement of the Transition Year is:
Transition Year was introduced as a pilot project in September 1974, however it was not until September 1994 that the programme was introduced mainstream. Transition Year is not examined, but rather is assessed, and is intended to be a broad educational experience which assists in the transition from the school environment by encouraging creativity and responsibility for oneself. Approximately 75% of second-level schools offer the programme[4] and it consists of both education and work experience. Schools generally set admissions criteria and design the programme based on local needs in accordance with departmental guidelines.
The year focuses on many non-academic subjects, such as life skills including: First Aid, cooking and typing. A lot of sport goes on, with many different types including: rock-climbing, hill-walking, kayaking and orienteering. Voluntary Work is a requirement in many schools, with students helping out in local communities and charities. It is not possible to fail Transition Year overall: all students continue to their next year of education no matter what their results. However, if a student does not do the set work or is absent for a large amount of time, there is a chance that the school will request that they leave.
Many consider it to be a break from the pressure of examinations. However most teachers would agree that Transition Year gives students a valuable opportunity to engage in a wide variety of interesting, diverse, and challenging areas of their subjects which do not normally make the curriculum.
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Below are the list of subjects available to Transition Year students, though most schools only offer a limited number.
Transition Year could be considered to be a year for maturity and development. Activities such as work experience, mountain climbing, and mini-company encourage growth and teamwork within the student body.[5]
New skills will also be learned through a 28 week skill programme where the student must learn a new skill such as playing a new instrument or learning a life skill such as sign language.[6]
In 2004, the Department of Education and Science asserted that most teachers and principals are not really challenging students in Transition Year, based on official figures from a WSE report: "There was evidence that the content of certain subject areas lacked substance and that students were not being sufficiently challenged. It is strongly recommended that a root and branch review of the programme be undertaken."[7]
In 2009, businessman Bill Cullen dismissed Transition Year as a “doss year.” He also said it was absolute nonsense to suggest that students were getting work experience during the year.
“They’re not getting any work experience, they’re usually dossing,” he said. “They can fall into bad habits and bad company, and get into a habit of just being lazy. It’s a disaster . . . it’s not working at all in the way it was supposed to be. “Whatever job I got when I was working during the school holidays, I did it better and quicker than anyone else: that was my focus all the time. And in that context the young people are not doing anything,” he told Sean Moncrieff on Newstalk.[8]