Transition Year Information

 

The Transition Year Programme is in Mercy Secondary School since 1986. For the past few years three to four groups of students has opted to follow this programme.

The Department of Education and Science guidelines for Transition Year states as its mission "to promote the personal, social and vocational development of pupils and to prepare them for their role as autonomous, participative and responsible members of society".

Transition Year is a one year programme. It provides a bridge to enable students make the transition from Junior to Senior cycle. It encourages personal and social development and recognises the need for students to grow in independence. Transition Year fosters academic achievement as students prepare for a Leaving Certificate Programme, further study and adult and working life. It encourages the development of a wide range of transferable critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.

There is growing evidence that students who have taken Transition Year Programme are more self-reliant learners when they enter third-level education than their peers (Commission on the Points System - Final Report & Recommendations, 1999).

The ESRI study "The Transition Year Programme - An Assessment " 2004 has established that students who had taken the TYP had a higher Grade Point Average in the Leaving Certificate as well as increased entry level to higher education. Students were also found to take a broader range of courses at third level than non TY students.

The NCCA conducted an Independent longitudinal study on the performance of Leaving Certificate students and found that those who had taken the Transition Year Programme "were likely to be educationally adventurous than those who chose not to follow the programme. That is, they were more likely to retain subjects at Higher level, to move up from Ordinary to Higher level and from Foundation to Ordinary level. They were also more likely to take up subjects which they had not taken before."

Transition Year has many benefits for students. It helps them:

  • discover more about their personal strengths,

  • develop maturity and self-confidence,

  • improve their self-esteem,

  • build interpersonal and team skills,

  • make wiser subject choices for Leaving Certificate and further education,

  • extend the learning experience beyond the classroom,

  • catch up with remediation and compensation,

  • developstudy skills for Leaving Certificate,

  • develop entrepreneurial skills,

  • explore the working world,

  • extend their repertoire of learning skills,

  • achieve improved Leaving Certificate results.