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The new ‘Intro to Ag’ short course was launched at last weekend’s Tullamore Show, and will be piloted in nine Laois Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB) schools for the incoming academic year.
It will be available to schools nationwide for the 2025-2026 year.
The programme was developed to encourage the take-up of agriculture science at Leaving Certificate level, which has seen a decline in the number of students studying the subject at second and third-level.
The aim of the programme is to give a flavour for the subject in the hopes that students will choose to study it for the Leaving Certificate.
It is important to show young people, the career path ways and opportunities in the sector according to Joe Cunningham, LOETB’s chief executive.
“The unique connection with the country’s largest indigenous industry sets Leaving Certificate agricultural science apart,” he says. “Current challenges are starting to affect the broader industry, including potential recruitment to the sector.”
Speaking at the launch of the ‘Intro to Ag’ programme at Tullamore Show in Co Offaly, Agri Aware chairman Shay Galvin said: “Filling what we saw was a gaping hole in the TY space to encourage the take-up of agriculture science was a long-standing priority for us.”
Shay believes Junior Cert students get an opportunity to study all subjects that they can continue to study at Leaving Cert, apart from agriculture science.
“A student who knows nothing about agriculture does not get the chance to learn about it until they reach senior cycle and that’s if, and a big if, they decide to take it on as one of their optional subjects to study,” Mr Galvin says.
As a result, students don’t have an opportunity to see what the subject entails and the importance of having that basic understanding of agriculture and food production.
“This is exactly why the ‘Intro to Ag’ short course is being rolled out, to enhance agricultural literacy among those from a non-farming background and to give these students a flavour for what it would be like to study agriculture science for the Leaving Certificate,” said Shay.
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