Q&A: What's changing with the Leaving Cert and when? 

Long-awaited reforms have been announced by the education minister

Under the new model, Leaving Cert subjects will be assessed by 60% traditional written exams and 40% teacher-based continuous assessment

Minister for Education Norma Foley has announced long-awaited reforms of the Leaving Certificate and senior cycle for secondary school students.

What exactly is changing, and when?

Under the new model, Leaving Cert subjects will be assessed by 60% traditional written exams and 40% teacher-based continuous assessment.

Changes will also see students sitting English and Irish first papers at the end of fifth year.

While the exact details of the 40% teacher-based assessment are not yet ironed out, Ms Foley emphasised this wouldn’t create a “series of mini-Leaving certs” over the two years of the senior cycle.

Teacher-based assessment will be externally moderated by the State Examinations Commission (SEC).

Oral examinations and the music practical performance will take place during the first week of the Easter break of sixth year.

What are the changes to subjects?

Two new subjects are being introduced to senior cycle: Drama, Film and Theatre Studies, and Climate Action and Sustainable Development.

The curricula for all other subjects will also be revised.

A revised transition year programme will also be established, and the minister has said she wants to see transition year made available to all students.

What about other programmes, such as Leaving Cert Applied and Leaving Cert vocational?

The new senior cycle will break down the barriers between different Leaving Cert programmes to allow students greater flexibility, for example, Leaving Cert Applied students will have access to Maths and modern foreign languages.

For students with special educational needs, a new qualification will be introduced at level one and two on the National Qualification Framework to provide an appropriate level of assessment, building on the equivalent programme at junior cycle level.

What are network schools?

A group of ‘network schools’ will be invited by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to participate in early implementation of the changes, to provide feedback on the new model and support its rollout to schools.

When will the changes come in?

In September of this year, Leaving Certificate Applied students will have the options of Maths and foreign languages available to them.

In September 2023, incoming fifth years will be the first to sit English and Irish Paper One at the end of fifth year.

By September 2023, the NCCA will publish a schedule of dates for when individual subject specifications will be completed and delivered.

In September 2024, network schools will roll out the two new subjects, Drama, Film and Theatre Studies and Climate Action and Sustainable Development, and revised curricula for Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Business, Latin, Greek and Arabic, to fifth year students.

Level one and two qualifications will be implemented and made available for children and young people with additional needs for 2024.

A revised transition year programme statement will also be published by the NCCA in 2024.

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