Young people at age 15-16 in schools in the Republic of Ireland have the option of taking a Transition Year. This is a one- year, ‘stand-alone’ programme, designed by individual schools within the framework of national guidelines, that builds on the idea that mid-adolescence is very much a time of transition. It occurs after the compulsory three-year Junior Cycle (age 12-15) and Junior Certificate Examination, and before students embark on a Leaving Certificate programme for the final two years of their schooling. In the Transition Year there is a strong focus on the transition from the dependence of childhood towards the relative independence of adulthood. Within school structures, young people at that stage are in transition between the three- year Junior Certificate programme, and a two-year Leaving Certificate programme.