P-TECH TY Student Work Placement Showcase

A total of 118 P-TECH Transition Year students from Larkin Community College, St. Joseph’s Fairview and Marino College have spent the past five weeks on work experience placement across P-TECH Industry Partners, Cisco, Deloitte, IBM, Irish Life, Uisce Éireann, Virgin Media, and SAS. On Friday 22 March 2024, these students marked their achievements at the showcase event, held at the National College of Ireland, where they presented on their work and shared their experiences of the programme.

Some of the students also participated on a panel, hosted by Dr Niamh Shaw, Space Communicator, along with P-TECH students from fifth and sixth year, to discuss their P-TECH experiences.

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD said;

“The P-TECH placement is a fantastic opportunity for these students to develop new skills and knowledge in a real-world experience, working with the P-TECH Industry Partners to develop their projects.  While working on these projects, the students are also building key transversal skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, decision making and confidence, and all in a fun environment. I would like to congratulate the P-TECH Transition Year students on the completion of their work placement and the showcasing of their fantastic projects. I hope that every student is extremely proud of the work they have achieved and their accomplishments over the last five weeks.”

Students worked on a wide range of projects including Digital Media, Data Analytics, Sustainability & Environmental, Digital Technology, Video Editing, Recruitment Campaign and Legal.

The P-TECH School Model, pioneered by IBM, is an education initiative that combines post primary school with elements of further education (with modules which serve as credits if students choose to continue a specific level 6 P-TECH course after Leaving Certificate) and workplace experience.

P-TECH requires a three-way partnership between school, higher/further education institution and industry partners, with each required to commit to the success of the school and its students. It includes a structured workplace learning strand with mentoring, worksite visits, speakers, project days, skills-based and paid internships. Whilst the acquisition of relevant IT skills in key areas are included in the course work, P-TECH also seeks to encourage and develop student’s problem solving and creativity and places emphasis on teamwork, collaboration and communication skills.

P-TECH is now in operation across five NEIC schools - St. Joseph’s Fairview, Marino College, Larkin Community College, Rosmini Community School and O’Connell Secondary School - and has multiple industry partners supporting the programme, including A&L Goodbody, Cisco, Deloitte, IBM, Irish Life, Irish Rail, Uisce Éireann, Virgin Media, SAS and Salesforce. The National College of Ireland is the P-TECH academic partner.