School-leavers, jobless in scramble for courses
SCHOOL-leavers and redundant workers are scrambling for places on post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses.
Colleges are inundated with requests and now there are only half enough PLCs available to applicants.
A lack of jobs and apprenticeships has pushed the demand for these courses to unprecedented levels.
The PLC sector is also under pressure from disappointed third-level applicants, many of whom didn't get an offer through the CAO this year because of the record level of applications for a place.
In one day last week Ballyfermot College of Further Education interviewed 1,500 applicants for its PLC courses.
"It was unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it," said principal Maureen Conway.
The college has 1,200 places, but was overwhelmed by 5,800 applicants this year.
Ms Conway said there was "definitely a change in the profile" of candidates. "I was struck by one applicant last week, a young man with two children in a buggy, who had recently become unemployed. We have a crèche here, so it was an attraction for him."
There were 78,982 applications to the CAO -- up 7.5pc on last year. Yesterday, a total of 44,481 places had been accepted.
Meanwhile, further education colleges have processed 60,000 applications for 31,688 PLC places. And they say they must be allowed to take in more students where they have the capacity.
Some colleges are reporting a significant increase in demand from mature applicants, reflecting the huge increase in the numbers who have lost jobs.
PLC courses, typically of one to two years in duration, prepare students for work in a range of careers and also act as a stepping stone to third-level.
Colleges in the Vocational Education Committee (VEC) sector are the main PLC provider and entry to courses is usually by way of an interview.
The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), which represents teachers in the VEC sector, say the trend is the same all over the country.
The union is urging unsuccessful PLC applicants to lobby their local political representatives to put pressure on the Government to concede more places.
Waiting
"Whether it is Cavan, Cork, Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, Drogheda, Limerick, Sligo or Galway, colleges have long waiting lists of applicants who now have little hope of obtaining a place on a PLC," said TUI president Don Ryan.
The union yesterday produced a sample list of colleges with the capacity for more students, if extra teachers were sanctioned, and identified about 1,200 potential places in seven colleges.
The TUI president said PLCs were a cost-effective way of up-skilling the population and restrictions on places made no economic, social or educational sense.
- KATHERINE DONNELLY
