Accounting

Leaving Certificate accounting provides students with the knowledge, understanding and skills in accounting and financial management necessary for managing personal and basic company accounts. The learning experiences in accounting develop students’ organisational, logical thinking, planning and problem-solving skills for their future life, work, and study. It also develops their numeracy skills within the context of business and enterprise. The syllabus is for students in the Senior Cycle of post-primary education and is assessed at Higher and Ordinary Levels.

Agricultural Science

Leaving Certificate agricultural science involves the study of the science and technology underlying the principles and practices of agriculture. It aims to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that promote the sustainability of agricultural resources, and places emphasis on the managed use of these resources. Plants and animal types associated with agriculture are studied, and investigations are undertaken into such aspects as soil, ecology, plant and animal physiology, farm crops, farming practices, genetics, and microbiology.

Art

By its nature, Art is the language we use that gives our ideas form. Studying Art gives the learner diverse knowledge, skills, and values by experiencing a wide variety of ideas, practices, and media. Art enables learners to develop many skills that are conceptual and practical. It promotes creative and critical thinking, supports the development of problem-solving skills, and strengthens the learner’s ability to communicate ideas through their own work to an intended audience. This encourages them to develop a respect for their fellow learners and the wider community; to become more empathetic. In learning to express themselves, learners also make connections in their learning across other subjects at Senior Cycle.

Biology

A new Leaving Certificate Biology specification will be introduced for Fifth Year students in September 2025 and will replace the current Leaving Certificate Biology syllabus.

Leaving Certificate Biology aims to develops students’ curiosity, enthusiasm, and enjoyment for the scientific study of life. It seeks to nurture students to become scientifically literate citizens and life-long learners, supporting the development of a wide range of key competencies, and equipping students for the challenges and opportunities of their futures. More specifically, Leaving Certificate Biology aims to empower students to build knowledge and understanding of specified core concepts and fundamental principles of biology; apply this knowledge to explain, analyse, solve problems and predict events in a variety of biological systems and interactions; demonstrate inquiry and practical skills consistent with the principles and practices of biology and understand how society and science are interwoven, the everyday relevance and the ethical implications of biology.

Business

A new Leaving Certificate Business specification will be introduced for Fifth Year students in September 2025 and will replace the current Leaving Certificate Business syllabus.

Leaving Certificate Business develops students’ awareness of the significance of business for the Irish and international economy and helps to foster an understanding of how the world of business works. Students learn how business is relevant to their own lives, develop financial and business literacy, appreciate business in the world around them and how business is shaped by those who work, lead, and manage within the business environment. The study of Leaving Certificate Business supports students in becoming informed decision-makers and supports the development of a wide range of key competencies.

Chemistry

A new Leaving Certificate Chemistry specification will be introduced for Fifth Year students in September 2025 and will replace the current Leaving Certificate Chemistry syllabus. 

Leaving Certificate Chemistry aims to develops students’ curiosity, enthusiasm, and enjoyment for studying Chemistry. It seeks to nurture students to become scientifically literate citizens and life-long learners, supporting the development of a wide range of key competencies, and equipping students for the challenges and opportunities of their futures. More specifically, Leaving Certificate Chemistry aims to empower students to build knowledge and understanding of specified core concepts and fundamental principles of chemistry; apply this knowledge to explain, analyse, solve problems and predict events in a variety of chemical systems and interactions; demonstrate inquiry and practical skills consistent with the principles and practices of chemistry and understand how society and science are interwoven, the everyday relevance and the ethical implications of chemistry.

Economics

Leaving Certificate Economics aims to stimulate students’ curiosity and interest in the economic environment and how they interact with it. It develops a set of skills, knowledge and values that enables students to understand the economics forces which affect their everyday lives, their society, and their economy at local, national, and global levels, making them more informed as decision-makers

French

Leaving Certificate French follows a common syllabus framework for the teaching and examining of modern languages in the Leaving Certificate. The syllabus aims to develop learners’ communicative skills in French, to develop their strategies for effective language learning and raise their awareness of cultural, social, and political diversity.

Geography

Leaving Certificate geography will help students develop an understanding of the changing relationships between the physical and human worlds. Through their study of geography, students will develop geographical skills that will help them to make informed judgements about issues at local, national, and international levels.

History

Leaving Certificate history deals with the experience of human life in the past. The study of history involves an investigation of the surviving evidence relating to such experience. It brings students into contact with human experiences that are often very different from their own and fosters their developing understanding of the human condition and human motivation. Through its focus on the evaluation of evidence, it contributes significantly to the development of students’ skills of critical thinking. Through its focus on research, it allows students the opportunity to develop their skills of independent learning.

Home Economics

Leaving Certificate home economics provides students with knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes necessary for managing their own lives, for further and higher education and work. The learning experiences in home economics develop flexibility and adaptability in students, prepare them for a consumer-oriented society, and provide a learning foundation for a wide range of careers in food, textiles, science, design, social studies, and tourism.

Music

Leaving Certificate Music involves a series of interrelated musical activities within each of the three core areas of musical experience – performing, composing, and listening. In performing, students choose from a variety of individual and/or group performing activities. In composing, students develop an understanding of musical structure and form, while the listening component provides for rich aural experiences through exposure to music of different periods, styles, and genres.

Physical Education

The aim of Leaving Certificate Physical Education is to develop the learner’s capacity to become an informed, skilled, self-directed, and reflective performer in physical education and physical activity in Senior Cycle and in their future life. Learners’ physically active participation is central to teaching and learning in Leaving Certificate Physical Education. To enable this to happen, students learn about the different theoretical perspectives through their participation in three different physical activities. These activities are selected from six distinct physical activity areas which reflect the activities more commonly included in school physical education programmes currently.

Physics

A new Leaving Certificate Physics specification will be introduced for Fifth Year students in September 2025 and will replace the current Leaving Certificate Physics syllabus. 

The aim of Leaving Certificate Physics is to provide students with an experience that develops their interest in and enthusiasm for physics. In doing so, it aims to build the knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions necessary for students to become scientifically literate citizens who are well-prepared for the challenges and opportunities of their future, embracing life-long learning and sustainable living, as citizens in a technologically developing society. More specifically Leaving Certificate Physics, aims to empower students to, build knowledge and understanding of specified core concepts and fundamental principles of physics, develop the skills, values and dispositions needed to apply this knowledge to explain, analyse, solve problems and predict events in a variety of systems and interactions in the physical world, demonstrate inquiry and practical skills consistent with the principles and practices of physics, understand how society and science are interwoven, the everyday relevance and the ethical implications of physics.

Religious Education

Leaving Certificate religious education promotes tolerance and mutual understanding. It is a broad course which seeks to develop the skills needed to engage in meaningful dialogue with those of other or of no religious traditions.

Spanish

Spanish follows a common syllabus framework for the teaching and examining of modern languages in the Leaving Certificate. The syllabus aims to develop learners’ communicative skills in Spanish, to develop their strategies for effective language learning and raise their awareness of cultural, social, and political diversity.

Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP)

The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) is an intervention designed to enhance the vocational dimension of the Leaving Certificate (established). The programme was introduced in 1994 in response to the challenge placed on Ireland’s education system by a changing work and business environment. The LCVP combines the academic strengths of the Leaving Certificate (established) with a new and dynamic focus on self-directed learning, enterprise, work and the community.

This two-year programme is part of an expanded provision that aims to cater for the diversity of participants’ needs at senior cycle. The primary goal of the LCVP is to prepare young people for adult life by ensuring that they are educated in the broadest sense, with an ability to cope and thrive in an environment of rapid change. Participants in the programme are encouraged to develop skills and competencies fundamental to both academic and vocational success