This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources.
This chapter covers statistics on the outcomes of Post Leaving Cert (PLC) learners. PLC courses are typically one or two-year module-based programmes of study and take place in further education colleges around the country, mainly offered by Education and Training Boards. Most PLCs offer QQI qualifications at NFQ Levels 5 and 6 known as major awards. The learner can also obtain minor awards for each module successfully completed.
Since 2016, PLC activity is recorded on the Programme Learner Support System (PLSS), the centralised database hosted by SOLAS. Therefore, the period analysed for PLC learners is different to the honours and general degree chapters. For calendar years 2017 - 2021, a total of 99,496 unique learners (Full Completers, Partial Completers, and Early Leavers) finished at least one PLC course. SUSI provides a maintenance grant to eligible applicants pursuing approved PLC courses but does not provide support for fees. Over 28% of the learners received a SUSI maintenance grant.
The number of unique individual learners who finished courses over years 2017 to 2021 combined are shown, along with their certificate and destination outcomes. However in this section, due to very small numbers of learners in certain breakdowns, no model-based estimation on the those who did not receive SUSI support is presented. Descriptions of the outcome definitions are provided in the Background Notes.
'Major award with distinction' was achieved by 39% of PLC learners.
For learners of all ages, 24% did not achieve an award. For those that received SUSI support, this figure drops to less than 19% and for those that did not receive any support the figure rises to 26%.
For all mature learners, 61% achieved a major award. Of those who received SUSI support 71% got a major award compared with 61% for those who did not receive SUSI support.
Some 67% of PLC learners were found to be in either 'Employment only' or 'Employment and Education' one year after finishing their course.
For all learners that received SUSI support, 49% were active in education ('Education only' or 'Employment and Education') one year after finishing their course which compares to 40% for those who did not receive SUSI support.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.