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The Pros and Cons of Transition Year

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  • 17-02-2015 4:51pm
    #1
    Mr Rhode Island Red
    Registered Users Posts: 746 ✭✭✭


    Chances are that if you're visiting this forum for the first time, you are searching for advice and opinions on Transition Year. So I thought it would be a good idea to compile the opinions scattered across the boards into one sticky for easy access and viewing (something I wished there was last year when I had to decide between Transition Year and Fifth Year)
    So here goes: A no-nonsense list of the positive and negative aspects of Transition Year:)

    NOTE: Transition Year is different in every school. What applies to one TY programme will be non-existent in another; that's just the nature of the year. The success and enjoyability of a Transition Year programme depends on various factors including, but not limited to, the students in your particular year, the TY co-ordinators, and the school itself. You have been warned. :)

    PROS

    You will have more free time to spend doing things you may not have had the chance to do in other years due to study and homework etc. eg. BT Young Scientist, Gaisce Award, European Computer Driver's Licence.

    Boosts self-confidence. Chances are you will find yourself having to deal with people more in TY, whether it is through community work, work experience or public speaking which will do wonders for your confidence if you give it half a chance.

    You get an extra year to choose subjects for your Leaving Cert It's amazing how an extra year can allow you to get a much clearer view on what you want to do for your Leaving Cert subjects wise, and also you will have your Junior Cert results to hand should you do TY, which may or may not be important to you when you are choosing your subjects

    You get a break from academia which can be great to prevent burn-out/getting fed up during the Leaving Cert and give you a well-deserved rest from the books, but on the other hand, it can stunt your flow following the Junior Cert and could make it harder to re-adjust to fifth year (see cons).

    Like it our not you are going to mature with TY. Combine being a year older and having more experience with people and you will find yourself being more mature for the Senior Cycle.

    You get an opportunity to try out Careers which will be very beneficial and advantageous when it comes to picking subjects for the Leaving Certificate. It will also help you get an idea of what you would like to do after school.

    It's great craic. I can't really elaborate on this one, but it has been said time and time again, so it's worth a mention here.

    New Experiences and Trips. Many TY programmes involve doing a school musical which can do wonders for your self-confidence and also develop an interest and talent that may otherwise lay dormant. Not to mention it's great craic. But it's not just limited to musicals. TY involves plenty of trips to here, there and everywhere (often abroad) which provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences, especially when you consider you get to go with your friends.

    You make new friends. Transition Year is great for bringing everybody in the year together and it really gives everybody a chance to develop and expand their social circles.

    CONS:

    Expensive All these trips, modules and events add up quickly. Transition Year can be done on the cheap but you probably won't enjoy it as much and will probably be excluded to a certain degree eg. if friends are going etc. You can expect to pay at least €600+ over the course of the year...but probably a fair bit more.

    You will lose contact with friends that skip TY and go straight on to fifth year. It's a sad fact of life. You won't see much of each other during the school day which isn't helpful for maintaining friendships. Like it or not, you will probably drift away from them over the course of the year.

    Possibility of falling into a lazy routine. Emphasis on "possibility". A year away from study, homework, and conventional classes has a negative side also. TY does cause some students to lose focus and become lazy bums. People have reported their brains being reduced to cotton wool and never really being able to get back into the swing of things for fifth year. It only happens to a minority of people though and generally, if you were motivated at JC level, you will still maintain that at LC level.

    Pointless Projects. There are quite a few of these to do over the year. The majority will be boring. The majority will be a chore to do. The majority won't actually see completion because there isn't any proper deadlines or anything set and teachers are way more lax about Transition Years completing "homework".

    There will be idle time. Have no illusions: There will be occasional/regular slow weeks (again, this depends on your own school). There will be times when you wonder why you even bothered to come in. It is up to you, however, to either take such weeks in your stride and make use of them one way or another, or just sit back and complain while you take unnecessary days off...the choice is yours.

    NOT REALLY A PRO AND NOT REALLY A CON EITHER

    Transition Year is another year in school. Plain and simple. Whether you view this in a positive or a negative light depends on your circumstances. Your age and your attitude towards school all come into play here. If you don't particularly enjoy school and want to get out of there fast, then spending an extra year in TY may or may not be a wise move. However, being a year older doing your Leaving ain't a bad thing either. As I said, it depends on your own circumstances.

    Whatever you decide to do, I hope that this post has been of some help to you.

    Sources:
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=3525577
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=1215307
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=55124813
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=57665697

    Could a Mod possibly sticky this?:)


Comments

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    #2
    Bored_lad
    Registered Users Posts: 920 ✭✭✭Bored_lad


    I would agree with everything above.

    However another pro I would say would be the opportunity to try out different subjects such as photography that you wouldn't otherwise be able to do.

    On the cons I think that the cost one is a really important one. Its definitely something you need to consider before you chose to do TY. I'd say my parents have probably easily spent over a thousand so far between the €600 that covers the cost of all the mandatory activities in TY, then another €500 on the trip abroad, €200 on an optional activity and then another couple of hundred on spending money on the different trips and thebtrip away. So definitely consider the financial strain that TY is going to put on your family if you have money issues.


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    #3
    smiles_1998
    Registered Users Posts: 336 ✭✭smiles_1998


    This is such a good idea! Another piece of advice would be to talk to the current TYs in your school about Transition Year and see what they think of it. It's all very well to hand out a leaflet about Transition Year and list all the activies the TYs do but the real truth about TY in your school will come out by speaking to the current TYs about the year.
    If you are still undecided about doing TY or moving straight to fifth year, get talking to some of the fifth year students about fifth year; the workload, the subjects etc. and see if- after the workload of Third Year- you would be able to handle the workload of Fifth Year.


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    #4
    thesimpsons
    Registered Users Posts: 1,694 ✭✭✭thesimpsons


    remember that there is little point in talking to TYs outside of your own school as every school has a completely different approach to TY, just as make sure you speak to a cross section of students about their experiences within your own school's TY year. In the same class, you will have kids who say it was a waste of a year and others who will have tried each and every opportunity offered to them. the schools my kids were in have journals and projects with deadlines which are adhered to. attendance is monitored and it is certainly no doss year compared to what other schools are doing. not all schools do expensive trips away either - so far this year for our second child we have paid max of 450e with numerous trips outside of the school included in this price including adventure trips, camping, days out (eg cooking schools, orienteering, chinese experience, etc) at no extra costs.


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    #5
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,142 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    thesimpsons wrote: »
    remember that there is little point in talking to TYs outside of your own school as every school has a completely different approach to TY, just as make sure you speak to a cross section of students about their experiences within your own school's TY year. In the same class, you will have kids who say it was a waste of a year and others who will have tried each and every opportunity offered to them. the schools my kids were in have journals and projects with deadlines which are adhered to. attendance is monitored and it is certainly no doss year compared to what other schools are doing. not all schools do expensive trips away either - so far this year for our second child we have paid max of 450e with numerous trips outside of the school included in this price including adventure trips, camping, days out (eg cooking schools, orienteering, chinese experience, etc) at no extra costs.

    Many schools also get the TYs to direct themselves. If you want a trip and you want to pay no more than x for it, then you have to find a way of making money to make up the shortfall. Encourages budgeting as well as personal responsibility. It's terrible that some schools still hand TYs things on a plate - it was always meant to be student driven.


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