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Resource & Research Guides Vol. 2 #7 2011
Why should we teach Science in Transition Year?
Sarah Hayes
Background to the Transition Year
The Transition Year Programme (TYP) is a
one year optional programme offered to
students in their fourth year of second level
education, between the junior and senior
cycles. Schools are not obliged to offer the
programme, and if they do, pupils are not
required to take it. Table 1, below, indicates
the current trends in the numbers of pupils
taking the programme, and schools offering it.
Table 1: Percentages of schools and pupils offering
the Transition Year
The core layer includes subjects such as
English, Irish, Mathematics, Physical
Education and Religion. Science may be
offered in either the subject sampling layer
with other subjects such as Spanish, Business
Studies etc or as a modular programme in the
TY specific module and subject layer. The
calendar layer is designed for once off events,
such as field trips, work experience, outreach
and visiting speakers.
Unfortunately, as in junior cycle and senior
cycle, science is not a core subject in the
TYP, and it is entirely up to the school
whether or not to offer it.
Benefits of the Transition Year
How schools offer the TYP varies from
school to school, with each school having the
autonomy to design and implement its own
curriculum in line with the Transition Year
Guidelines. (Department of Education and
Science 1993) Figure 1 illustrates the ‘onion
model’, which indicates the main areas of the
Transition Year (TY) course that schools
should offer.
Figure 1: The Transition Year Curriculum
(Transition Year Second Level Support Service
2007)
The four areas of the TYP are the core subject
layer, the subject sampling layer, the TY
specific module and subject layer and the
calendar – ‘once off’ layer.
Figure 2: The benefits of the Transition Year.
Several national studies of schools by the
Economic and Social Research Institute
(ESRI) have looked at the Transition Year.
One of the key studies is that of The
Transition Year: An Assessment by Smyth
and Hannon (2004), who found that TY
participants gain higher grades in their
Leaving Certificate than non-participants, the
average difference between the two being just
over two grade points per subject. (A grade
point in this study involved scoring each
examination grade, i.e. A1 – F from 0 to 28
and averaging the total scores over the
number of examination subjects taken).
The research showed on average that students
who took TY were more likely to get higher
grades in their Leaving Certificate. These
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© Sarah Hayes & NCE-MSTL 2011
Resource & Research Guides Vol. 2 #7 2011
findings are in line with those of a
longitudinal study carried out by Millar and
Kelly (1999), for the National Council for
Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), on
1994 Junior Certificate candidates who took
the Leaving Certificate in 1997. This a
valuable source of information on the benefits
of the TYP. Those who took TY also scored
higher Leaving Certificate points than those
of their peers who did not take TY, with a
difference of 46 CAO (Central Applications
Office) points between the two groups. Smyth
et al. (2004, p.187) noted that it would appear
“that taking part in Transition Year has an
important influence on young people’s
subsequent route through the senior cycle.”
The NCCA report noted that students who
took the TYP were more educationally
adventurous than those who did not; they
were more likely to retain subjects at a higher
level, and were also more likely to take up
new subjects in fifth year. Following on from
these findings on TY students being more
educationally adventurous, Smyth et al.
(2004) noted that these students were also
more likely to go on into higher education.
The TYP may also have a positive impact on
students in disadvantaged schools, with those
who have taken TY doing significantly better
than expected and better than those in similar
schools who did not take the programme,
particularly when viewed in the context of
prior results. (Smyth et al. 2004, pp. 222-223)
Another, perhaps less examined, yet
nonetheless important benefit of TY, is the
opportunity for the students’ psychosocial
development, which can be seen in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Erikson’s psychosocial stage at T.Y.
Erikson proposed 8 stages of psychosocial
development; the stage that best relates to
adolescence and students in Transition Year is
that of Identity versus Role/Identity
Confusion. The TY occurs at a time in
student’s life when they begin to “question
beliefs, attitudes and value systems that they
had internalized previously without much
thought.” (Good and Brophy, 1990, p.101).
TY, with its relaxed curriculum and emphasis
on the emotional development of the student,
is an opportune time for adolescents to
develop their own identity.
The adolescent and their peers face working
together in groups in a way which they may
have never experienced before, essentially
becoming a part of a unique TY community
within the school. The year also offers an
opportunity for students to become a part of
the senior cycle, being treated more like
adults by school staff, thus improving future
classroom relationships. “Transition Year
was seen as facilitating improved relations
between teachers and students” (Smyth et al.,
2004, p.166).
Jeffers notes that the TYP has shown that
Education for Maturity is something that it
does very well, and it was also noted that “A
consistent thread through the data from all
informants is that students are more mature
as a result of the TY experience” (2002, p.2).
Perhaps this is because students take note of
TY activities as they involve “learning
beyond conventional classrooms”. The
students “value classes in which their
opinions are sought and listened to.” (Jeffers
2007).
Why do Science in the Transition Year?
“Transition Year is an opportunity for pupils
to become familiar with a broad range of
Science activities. Pupils should be
encouraged to study areas of Science not
heretofore encountered.” (Department of
Education and Science, 1993, p 10.).
TY is a year with no prescribed syllabus and
no curriculum other than some broad
educational guidelines. This freedom offers
teachers the opportunity to contextualize
science in terms of its role in students’ life
and society. TY science sampling offers an
opportunity for students to make informed
decisions about their subject choice at senior
cycle. The Association of Secondary Teachers
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© Sarah Hayes & NCE-MSTL 2011
Resource & Research Guides Vol. 2 #7 2011
in Ireland believe that TY should aim to
develop students’ “scientific skills and to
promote a greater awareness of the role of
science in their lives.” (A.S.T.I. 1991, p.16).
Schools can choose what they offer as a
Science taster programme. Generally TY
schools either offer a taster course in one or
more of the Sciences offered at senior cycle
or they offer a general science course, similar
to the Junior Certificate programme (Hayes,
2009a). The most common taster courses
being offered are in Physics, Chemistry and
Biology.
The ‘narrow’ scope of the science syllabi at
both Junior and Leaving Certificate leaves
little opportunity for teachers to contextualize
science and explore the role of science in our
everyday lives and in society (Smith and
Matthews, 2000). The TY can be viewed as a
unique opportunity to really bring science
alive and open students’ minds to the real
world applications of the subject, rather than
the limited scope of traditional school science.
Studies have shown that it is students’
attitudes to school science that declines NOT
their attitudes towards REAL science and the
usefulness of science (Osbourne cited in
Barmby et al., 2008, p.1078). In the main,
students view the work of a scientist as
“difficult, complicated and boring, as well as
poorly paid” (Department of Education and
Science, 2002, p.iv). Traditional school
science frequently fails to tackle current and
relevant issues (Osborne, 2002; Childs et al.,
2010).
Science needs to be appreciated for the
intrinsic pleasure it can offer an inquiring
mind and it should be taught in this fashion.
TY is a unique opportunity to do just that,
with the freedom and autonomy it offers to
schools and teachers. This allows students
who might have otherwise not have
appreciated science, to learn to become
excited by it and to love it. A good science
sampling programme in TY can lay the
foundations for a rich and rewarding scientific
career for many students, a lifelong interest in
the subject and help develop a level of
scientific literacy. Scientists read for 553
hours per year and 58% of scientists’ time is
spent
working
on/in
communication
(Osborne, 2010). Students at second level
often do not realise that communication skills
are necessary for science. Skills such as team
work and good communication skills are vital
to a fruitful career in science. School text
books present science as a truth, with little or
no argumentative text (Penney et al., 2003).
Science must be discussed, argued and
discussed further. It is through this process of
peer review and discussion that the
boundaries of science are challenged and that
we progress further in the field. Often both
the public and our students fail to see the
relevance of science research, and hold
incorrect views.
http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=13
389
In his report on the Relevance of Science
Education (ROSE) project, in relation to
Ireland, Matthews (2007) noted the following:
• Students’ highest degree of interest is in
themes involving health, sex, genetics,
natural disasters and the origin of life, space
and the universe.
• Students are convinced of the importance of
science and technology for society.
• Students do not believe science is ‘helping
the poor’ or that it will ‘eradicate poverty
and famine in the world’.
• Students want to make use of their
individual talents and seek personal
involvement and some degree of autonomy
in their future careers.
• Students value personal and social relations
as much, perhaps more, than material
rewards in their careers.
• The great majority of students do not want
‘to become a scientist’ or ‘to get a job in
technology’.
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© Sarah Hayes & NCE-MSTL 2011
Resource & Research Guides Vol. 2 #7 2011
• Girls’ and boys’ preferences for careers
related to science were dominated by
activities that had a biological/ medical/
health theme.
• Understanding of key areas in science
• Understanding of the applications of science
• Awareness of careers in science
References:
The ROSE study, which was completed in
November 2003 by 688 TY or fifth year
students, is of particular interest to TY
science teachers. It offers a rare glimpse into
the attitudes of TY students towards science.
The study was designed to gather information
about students’ opinions and attitudes towards
schools science and science-related issues.
The ROSE study notes that science needs to
be relevant for the learner. They note that “if
one wants to attract more young people into
science, it is essential to engage them with the
human context of science” (Matthews, 2007,
p.87).
It also appears the there is a clear difference
between student interest and motivation.
While students may be interested, as “even
the most mundane of practical tasks” will
readily awaken a student’s interest, it is much
more difficult to convert this into long term
motivation (ibid).
There appears to be a contradiction in terms,
in that Science, a subject aimed at making the
world clearer and developing awareness is
considered by many students to be too
abstract and complicated. The TY is an
opportunity for both teachers and pupils alike
to move away from traditional school science
and to explore what a career in science would
have to offer them through a context based
approach. For many this may not lead to the
further pursuit of science, but one can hope
for a sound general understanding of the
subject and its importance in many
applications, both in industry and in everyday
life. This is the basis of scientific literacy.
There are many resources available which
utilise the teaching of context-based science
through an inquiry-based approach, as
discussed in previous research and resource
guides (Hayes, 2009b; Hayes, 2010)
Ideally a TY science programme should
develop the following skills in the students:
• Scientific literacy
• Communication skills
• A.S.T.I., (1991) ‘The Transition Year Option A Teacher’s
Handbook’, A.S.T.I.: Dublin.
• Barmby, P., Kind, P.M., Jones, K. (2008) 'Examining Changing
Attitudes in Secondary School Science', International Journal of
Science Education, 30(8), 1075-1093.
• Childs, P. E., Hayes, S., Lynch, J. and Sheehan, M. (2010)
‘Developing scientific literacy: TY science and science
scrapbooks’ in Eilks, I. and Ralle, B. eds., ‘Contemporary Science
Education – Implications from Science Education Research about
Orientations, Strategies and Assessment’, Bremen, 27 -29 May,
Aachen: Shaker.
• Department of Education and Science, (1993) Transition Year
Guidelines for Schools, Dublin: Department of Education and
Science.
• Department of Education and Science, (2002) Report of the Task
Force on the Physical Sciences, Dublin: Statement in conjunction
with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment
Department of Science and Education.
• Good. T. L. and Brophy, J. E. (1990) Educational Psychology: A
Realistic Approach, 4th ed., New York: Longman.
• Hayes, S. (2009a) ‘A critical examination of the place of science
in the Irish Transition Year’, unpublished thesis (Transfer from
M.Sc. to Ph.D.), University of Limerick
• Hayes, S. (2009b) ‘Transition Year Science Resources’, NCEMSTL Research and Resource Guides, 1 (2)
• Hayes, S. (2010) ‘Transition Year Science Resources: Resources
from the U.K.’, NCE-MSTL Research and Resource Guides, 2 (8)
• Jeffers, G. (2002) 'Transition Year Programme and Educational
Disadvantage', Irish Educational Studies, 21(2), 47 — 64.
• Jeffers, G. (2007) Attitudes to Transition Year Summary of a
Report to the Department of Education and Science, Department
of Education and Science.
• Matthews, P. (2007) The Relevance of Science Education in
Ireland, Dublin: The Royal Irish Academy.
• Millar, D. and Kelly, D (1999) From Junior to Leaving Certificate,
A Longitudinal Study of 1994 Junior Certificate Candidates who
took the Leaving Certificate Examination in 1997, Final Report,
Dublin: ERC/NCCA.
• Osborne, J. (2002) 'Science Without Literacy: A ship without a
sail?', Cambridge Journal of Education, 32: 2, 203 — 218
• Osborne, J. (2010) ‘Science without Literacy: A Ship without a
Sail?’ presented at Science and Mathematics Education
Conference (SMEC10), 16 September – 17 September
• Penney, K., Norris, S. P., Phillips, L. M., & Clark, G. (2003) ‘The
anatomy of junior high school science textbooks: an analysis of
textual characteristics and a comparison to media reports of
science.’ Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and
Technology Education, 3(4), 415–436.
• Smith, G., and Matthews, P. (2000) 'Science, technology and
society in transition year: A pilot study', Irish Educational Studies,
19(1), 107-119.
• Smyth, E., Byrne, D., and Hannon, C. (2004) The Transition Year
Programme: An Assessment, 1st. ed., Ireland: The Liffey Press.
• Transition Year Second Level Support Service, (2007) ‘Transition
Year Curriculum’, [online], available:
http://ty.slss.ie/curriculum.html [accessed 21 Oct 2008]
Ms Sarah Hayes
Project Officer for Teaching and
Learning -Physical Sciences
NCE-MSTL
E-Mail: [email protected]
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© Sarah Hayes & NCE-MSTL 2011