Ireland was transformed as a society by the introduction of free second-level education almost 60 years ago. It enabled children to build careers based on the pen rather than the shovel but left in its wake an unhealthy focus on the third-level academic pathway through the CAO application system as the preferred option of most parents for their children.
For those parents who followed the third-level route themselves or who did not in their youth have the opportunity to do so, the desire to see their children follow that path remains a very powerful driver of how our post-second-level education system is viewed.
Many of these parents now want their own children to progress automatically through higher education to honours degree, master’s and PhD levels.
To date the belief in Ireland that academic success directly relates to career success in a high status job, making any option other than securing a CAO place in a prestigious third-level institution unacceptable to many, is now under serious question due to the growing effect of AI on graduate employment prospects.
The current education enrolment figures are impressive at first sight. More than 90 per cent of children remain in full-time education until the Leaving Cert. 80 per cent of that number aspire to a college place through the CAO every year and more than 65 per cent of each year’s cohort progresses on to colleges through that route, making Ireland among the highest participants at third level in the entire Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD ).
Making the right match
A significant number of students who achieve modest Leaving Cert point scores (300 points or fewer ) who choose to progress into low points CAO courses will end up dropping out of college.
As their Leaving Cert results may have indicated, many were not suited to academic learning in secondary school and the academic curriculum associated with third level may have been mismatched with their natural learning style.
Our university system is structured around a proficiency around linguistic and mathematical ability. Successful students will probably have high levels of competency in language skills and will often have highly developed auditory skills. They will think in words, like reading, play word games and compose poetry or stories.
Third level also rewards logical-mathematical reasoning, abstract and conceptual thinking and those who can see and explore patterns and relationships and can form concepts before tackling the details.
So, what are the appropriate progression options for those young people who have struggled with linguistic and mathematical subjects in our academically oriented second-level Leaving Cert system, but may be hugely talented across a wide range of other skills and competencies?
Would they not be better served to progress their learning in an environment where other learning styles are the medium through which teaching and learning take place?
Where should such students gravitate towards?
This is where our system of further education (FET ) and enhanced and expanding apprenticeship programmes (where ongoing training and part-time study are built into the job ) come into their own.
These routes from school into adult life provide many options for the tens of thousands of young people who wish to develop their abilities and skills in a way that is best suited to their learning style.
For a significant cohort of those leaving second-level schools each year the option of studying for a QQI level five or six award at the local FET college or starting an apprenticeship, which mixes working in employment alongside study, is by far the most appropriate choice, even if a CAO place happens to be available to them.
Minister for Higher and Further Education James Lawless is promoting a hugely expanded range of options on offer through the FE, Tertiary degrees, and apprenticeship routes.
But for his initiative to succeed, there will have to be a major change in the outlook of Irish society regarding the relationship between education/training and social-class status.
We are not Germany. Ireland has not previously had a history of developing a high-skilled apprenticeship-rooted workforce that is recognised to be of equal standing to those who progress their careers through traditional universities. With the development of our high-tech economy over the past 20 years, that reality is changing rapidly and the nature of our high-skilled apprentices across many sectors may well protect jobs currently under threat from US tariff policies.
Further Education programmes are the perfect progression option
It may once have been the case that Ireland’s further education (FE ) sector was commonly perceived to be the place where students who did not secure the points for their favourite CAO course in the Leaving Cert gravitated towards the following year.
If that was ever true, it is completely false today. Further education is at the cutting edge of Ireland’s tertiary education system. Data provided by our third-level institutions show higher retention rates among FET graduates than among those who progress directly from school to university.
Small class sizes in the FET sector and the project-based assessment methods through which students are assessed, along with the prevalence of work placements with local employers, (many programmes are designed in conjunction with local employers and are attuned to the employers’ needs ) are particularly suitable to many of our young people.
In 2025, 30,508 learners started on PLC programmes for the 2025/2026 academic year on over 1,700 courses nationwide. Many students on FE programmes are now active participants in Erasmus programmes throughout Europe during their level five and six programmes developing their skills in an international context. Therefore, the skills developed during the course are relevant to both the domestic and wider international labour market.
FE courses are provided in colleges countrywide through the network of education and training boards (ETB ). They offer courses that are designed to consolidate the learning of those who excel in disciplines such as science, business and art, but who may need the year to acquire the skills to navigate their way successfully through a more formal degree programme in their area of interest at university or at an institute of technology.
Up to 20 per cent of places in many of the highest CAO points score courses in the country are reserved for graduates of FET courses each year, which means applicants secure places and thrive in those courses even though 12 months previously they were hundreds of CAO points short of the required entry score.
Apart from those who now use FET as a backdoor to college, many other courses are designed to prepare students to enter directly into high-quality employment immediately on completion of their one- or two-year course. Over 91 per cent of the 2021/2022 PLC graduate cohort were either in employment or education or both one year after course completion.
The links between FET courses and CAO programmes, where reserved places are allocated to students based on the quality of their award, are available through careersportal.ie Details of every FET course on offer in Ireland are available through the fet.ie and qualifax.ie website.
Studying in Europe after an FET award
Much publicity has been given over recent years to the growth of degree programmes taught through English in western European traditional universities, and universities of applied sciences, particularly in the Netherlands.
What is less well known is that the universities of applied sciences are more than happy to offer places to Irish FE students based on their level-five and six awards.
I have met many Irish students who are progressing successfully through physiotherapy degrees in a number of Dutch universities of applied sciences.
The EU programmes taught through English that offer places to those holding FET awards are available on eunicas.ie
Tertiary degrees
Tertiary degrees are co-designed and co-delivered by the ETB’s and higher education institutions to provide seamless pathways from further education to higher education.
Tertiary degrees are driven by the career you want, not the points you get – they look beyond educational attainment and grades and are focused on acknowledging a learner’s full talent and potential, supporting personal growth, the development of innate talents and lifelong learning.
The transition from a student’s study at further education to higher education will be completely seamless, with no application process required once the student has successfully completed his FET studies, before moving on to the university campus.
Both institutions collaborate before the launch of each degree offered through nto.ie in the development of shared curriculum, teaching collaboration, programme co-design and co-delivery within shared space and shared student experience.
Applications can still be made to secure a place on a Tertiary degree programme for the coming academic year.
