Barbie added to Leaving Cert English syllabus for 2026 exam

Barbie has received nine Oscar nominations.

Greta Gerwig's Barbie has been added to the Leaving Certificate English curriculum for 2026. 

While the blockbuster film pulled in over €9m at the Irish box office over the summer it was snubbed at the Baftas in London on Sunday night. 

The film has received nine Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera have also received nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively, with the winners of the Oscars due to be announced next month. 

Students will be asked to compare and contrast various aspects of the film with other films in the syllabus which now includes Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin. 

This includes examining the relationships between characters as well as social contexts. 

The syllabus was published by the Department of Education in a circular on Monday and contains the selected novels, poems, and plays that students will be required to study for the Leaving Cert English exam in 2026. 

New novels added to the list include The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui, a graphic novel about a family's journey from war-torn Vietnam, and Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, which is about how a chemist became a cooking show host.

Bram Stoker's Dracula has also been added to the list for the 2026 exam. 

Students doing higher level English will need to do a Shakespeare text which will be Macbeth — replacing King Lear. 

While a list of texts has been published, no text is compulsory, allowing students to choose from a variety. 

The texts are chosen by a working group of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.