Since its introduction in 1995 the number of schools offering the Leaving Certificate Applied has increased, the National Association of Leaving Certificate Applied Coordinators was set up in May 2002 to promote and support the professional role of the LCA Coordinators. It also sought to address issues of concern to LCA Coordinators.

The association has a very active council, which meets six times a year. In 2003 the association highlighted the major crisis, which coordinators faced as a result of cutbacks by the department of education and science. There was no in-service for new subject teachers or coordinators.

Cutbacks in Support
Letters were sent to the key people in the department of education and science including the Minister Noel Dempsey expressing our concern and outlining the consequences of these cutbacks. The council succeeded in highlighting the cutbacks in an article in the Irish Times.

SLSS
The council met Mr. Michael Garvey, Director of the SLSS and Ms. Sheila O’Driscoll, National Coordinator of the LCA on two occasions. As a result of these meetings there was a dramatic improvement in the level of in-service available to subject teachers and coordinators in September 2004.

The SLSS has provided practical support to the association this year by way of organisational support for regional meetings and our AGM. We would like to thank Mr. Michael Garvey and Ms. Sheila O’Driscoll for this assistance.

 With new challenges facing education, it is vital that our association is seen and heard.