Trinity gets the point of LCVPs
Thursday January 22nd 2004
Students who are taking the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) in their Leaving Certificate this year - and almost one in three may do so - will be pleased to hear that Trinity College has joined the other universities and the DIT in the decision to increase the points they award for LCVP results.
Regular readers of this column may remember that in autumn, after discussions in the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU), six of the universities - University College Cork, University College Dublin, NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, University of Limerick and Dublin City University - announced that they were increasing the points they awarded for the LCVP Link Modules.
The points' increase brought nearly all the universities in line with those awarded by the institute of technology sector. At a meeting just before Christmas, the Board of Trinity College, Dublin approved the same points increase.
Now all third-level institutions, whether university or institute of technology, will award 70 points for a distinction, 50 for a merit, and 30 for a pass in LCVP Link Modules. (Up until 2003, the universities and the DIT awarded 50 points for a distinction, 40 for a merit and 30 for a pass.)
The LCVP programme, which is normally taken by students alongside the established Leaving Certificate programme, was not originally designed with university entrance in mind.
However, the programme has been reviewed and revised over the years since it was introduced. In particular, the course work has been strengthened, making it more consistent with the level of study that students will encounter in universities and other institutes of higher education.
The revised LCVP Link-Modules syllabus was introduced into schools in September 2002 and is being examined for the first time in the 2004 examination.
But the focus of the LCVP remains unchanged with the programme geared towards self-directed learning and teaching students to be innovative, enterprising and to acquire the attitudes and skills appropriate to adult life and the world of work. The LCVP originally consisted of three Link Modules; Enterprise Education, Preparation for Work, and Work Experience. Under the revised programme, the Preparation-for-Work and Work-Experience modules have been replaced by a single module entitled; Preparation for the World of Work. Although the number of links modules is now two instead of three, this does not represent any reduction in the work load.
The Link Modules are built on the premise that enterprising skills and attitudes are best fostered through involvement in activity-based learning which is fundamental to the LCVP. Information and Communications Technology is also now a major part of the programme.
The two Link Modules are treated as one unit for assessment purposes which is at a common level. There are also two elements in the assessment of the Link Modules: one is a terminal written examination accounting for 40pc of the total mark; and the other is a portfolio of course work which accounts for 60pc and is assembled over the two years of the programme.
Results are issued at three different grades - a distinction, a merit or a pass.
Typically students take the LCVP Link Modules along with four, five or six subjects in the Leaving Certificate. They may count the points awarded for the LCVP as one of their six best subjects.
Given the amount of debate that takes place about the unfairness of an examination system that puts all the emphasis on one three-hour school-leaving examination, it is surprising that more schools do not offer the LCVP programme with its high percentage of marks allotted to the portfolio of course work.
Apart from the real-life skills the programme helps foster in students, it is more valuable from a points perspective than results from an ordinary-level Leaving-Certificate paper where points range from 60 for an A1 to 5 for a D3. Points for higher-level papers range from 100 for a grade A1 to 45 for a grade D3.
Information sessions:
Today - Careers Open Day, Agricultural College, Mountbellew, Galway 9.30am-3pm
Tonight - CAO information evening, Tipperary Institute, Thurles Campus, 6p-8pm.
Mary O'Donnell
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