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Inclusion as Lived and Felt in the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme: A case study exploring spatial discourses of inclusion
Curneen, Annmarie
Curneen, Annmarie
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Abstract
Parity of esteem has long been an enduring theme of
educational discourses of inclusion. This article examines
parity of esteem through the lens of the Leaving
Certificate Applied (LCA) programme by focusing on
spatial discourses of inclusion. For this article, parity of
esteem relates to issues of value and recognition of
difference and the resulting experience of inclusion as
something that is lived and felt in school contexts. The
article draws on research conducted by the author over a
10-month period with four case-study schools in the
north-west of Ireland.
The LCA programme is a distinct, modular, self-contained,
two-year Leaving Cert pre-vocational programme. It
‘emphasises forms of achievement and excellence which
the established Leaving Certificate has not recognised in
the past. It offers a specific opportunity to prepare for and
progress to further education and training’. (PDST, 2019,
p.7).
The programme incorporates work experience and
learning that takes place outside the classroom. It is ringfenced,
meaning it is separate from but equal to the
Leaving Certificate Established (LCE) programme and is
not part of the CAO points system. However, recent
changes announced as part of Senior Cycle
redevelopment mean that since September 2022 LCA
students ‘have the opportunity to take Leaving Certificate
Mathematics and, where possible, a Leaving Certificate
Modern Language’ (DoE, 2022).
Description
Publication Date
2024
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Education Matters
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Keywords
inclusion, Leaving Certificate Applied programme, LCA, parity of esteem, Post-primary school