My son is in transition year and is trying to decide on his 5th year subject choices. His older siblings completed aptitude tests during transition year but the school currently has no guidance counsellor (even though the principal says he has advertised the position twice). Can you advise how he might go about selecting the right subjects for his Leaving Cert?
The acute shortage of teachers across all subject areas is a very serious problem right now, driven in part by the cost and lack of supply of affordable housing.
In the area of guidance counselling, the problem is further exacerbated by the loss of half of the course providers in Ireland during my 25 years as a member of the profession.
When I secured post graduate qualification in 1996, all but one of the then seven universities in Ireland educated serving teachers to become guidance counsellors.
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Currently, only DCU, Maynooth University and University of Limerick offer the qualification. Principals are, therefore, finding it almost impossible to secure the services of qualified guidance counsellors to meet the needs of their students if their existing staff member retires or goes on leave.
Given the current absence of careers service in your son’s school, how can you support him to select his Leaving Cert subjects?
There are lots of aptitude tests online to help focus where his interests and passions may lie. For example, Careersportal.ie has a good tool to or assessing aptitudes which will provide your son with a summary of his career interests, along with some occupations that match his interest profile.
As for subject choices, take it as read that unless he is exempted from the study of Irish, he will be taking it along with maths and English.
So, the first question he must address is whether he should select a foreign language from his options. The requirement to secure a H6 in a third language is currently a requirement in 159 courses within the CAO system.
You can see the full list of those degree programmes on Qualifax.ie by clicking on the “minimum subject requirements” logo on the home page; selecting Leaving Cert; and then choosing “third language required”.
As your son will normally be studying seven subjects for his Leaving Cert, that leaves him with three further subjects to select.
It is worth checking to see if any subjects apart from a language form art of the minimum entry requirements for courses that match his interest in the CAO system. Again, you can check this out using Qualifax.
Although it is a common belief that you should always select a science subject, this is only a requirement in 124 courses, with a possible requirement in 87 others. Chemistry is a requirement in just seven medical/paramedical programmes. There are a total of 1,370 other CAO degree programmes which do not require a minimum of an O6 in any recognised science subject.
