‘My son is considering a trade or apprenticeship option, but should he make a CAO application too?’

Question

My son is feeling increasingly isolated at school as all the conversation from his peers is about their CAO applications and which college courses they are seeking to secure enough points for next September.

He is a very hands-on young man and was considering exploring a trade or apprenticeship option.

He now feels that maybe he should reconsider and make a CAO application.

Answer

The peer group is a very powerful influence on all teenagers, and many have a highly romanticised notion that the entire group will somehow decamp to a specific university and continue to socialise and support each other there.

Bigger childcare subsidies available to more families under plan to increase income limits

‘It used to be you sent in something small’: Christmas presents for teachers in Ireland

Where CAO points are likely to settle in 2026

I receive distressed calls from parents every autumn whose sons and daughters accepted offers on courses which they had chosen to be on specific campuses where they are struggling with the daily grind of attending lectures and tutorials, submitting project work, and engaging fully with a specific body of knowledge, which is not, nor ever was in tune with their genuine interests aptitudes and abilities.

December/January is the peak season for conversations in schools among sixth years about where we are all aspiring to be in September. For a student who perceives their strengths to lie elsewhere other than the academic route, it can be very isolating.

It’s not just the going to college experience that school leavers gravitate towards; it’s all the elements of the three-to-four-year experience. They visualise their engagement with clubs and societies, going on Erasmus programmes abroad, travelling and working abroad during the summer holidays, and working abroad in Australia or the Middle East for a period after graduation.

It’s hard for a young person to step away from all those elements of the transition to adult life which being a full-time college student involves.

They often don’t factor in the challenges which living college life to the fullest involves. Having the money to pay for often scarce accommodation, having to spend hours commuting daily to college removing the opportunity to engage in any extracurricular activities, and having to work evenings and at weekends just to survive.

[ Where CAO points are likely to settle in 2026Opens in new window ]

My advice would be to let your son apply to the CAO now, or by the January 20th deadline, for early application costing €35. He has up to July 1st, 2026, to complete his course choices. Then, if he receives an offer of a course - or two courses in the case that he is offered a level 8 and a 7/6 programme - he can, in the privacy of your own home in late August next, decide if this is the best option for him.

He can also over the next seven months explore alternative more practical pathways to advance his career progression options. There is a myriad of practical work oriented one year PLC programmes on offer through your local ETB colleges. Applications to these programmes is directly through the local colleges own website and in most cases are cost free, with a minor charge if a place is offered and accepted.

The apprenticeship route has now expanded to the entire spectrum of all parts of the economy, offering up to 80 distinct programmes, all clearly explained in the apprenticeship section of the SOLAS website.

Your son should discuss all these options with his school’s guidance counsellors so that come September next he has the widest range of career option choices to select from.