Leaving Cert pupils to study politics and society

A new Leaving Certificate subject, called politics and society, has been launched as part of a pilot scheme, which will be introduced to the second-level curriculum by 2018.

More than 40 schools have signed up for the pilot, which was launched yesterday by Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan at a meeting in Limerick, organised by the National Council of Curriculum and Assessment.

Ms O’Sullivan said she had received the backing of the two teaching unions, Asti and the TUI, to introduce the subject.

“This is the pilot, but it is really exciting because we are, for the first time, introducing politics and society as a Leaving Cert subject, so this will enable students to learn about their own community, the country they live in, and about the world,” said Ms O’Sullivan.

She added that the subject will also aim to help students “develop skills of critical thinking, and engaging with how what everybody does has an effect on others”.

Ms O’Sullivan said there is not a problem with teaching unions, and that teachers will receive full training in the new subject.

“We’ve had a huge enthusiasm from schools, because we only wanted 40 schools for the pilot but we actually had more than 100 applications,” she said.

“The pilot will be starting in September this year, and then after that, we will roll it out at a later stage to the rest of the country.”