Senior Cycle Redevelopment – What it means for me

Over the next five years, Senior Cycle – what some might refer to as the Leaving Cert years – is being updated and improved for Irish students. It applies to all aspects of Senior Cycle: Leaving Certificate Established, Leaving Certificate Applied, the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, Transition Year, and the introduction of Senior Cycle Level 1 and Level 2 Learning Programmes.

This page illustrates the impact this announcement will have on current students, depending on when they begin fifth year.

If you began fifth year in 2025, the following changes apply to you:

• The following subjects will have a revised curriculum (called ‘specifications’): Business, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Arabic, Latin, and Ancient Greek (Tranche 1 subjects).
• These subjects will feature an externally assessed component(s).
• Additional component(s) will not be a traditional written exam.
• Additional component(s) will be externally assessed by the State Examinations Commission.
• Two new subjects will be introduced in some schools in 2025. For later years, it will be introduced to more schools on a phased basis. These subjects are (1) Drama, Film and Theatre Studies, and (2) Climate Action and Sustainable Development. If you will be entering fifth year as an LCA student, please see “I am a Leaving Certificate Applied student/I will be a Leaving Certificate Applied student” section below
• Final specifications, as well as Guidelines for the completion of the Additional Assessment Component, are available here.
• Sample examination papers for the new and updated subjects are available here.

If you are starting fifth year in 2026, or after, the following changes apply to you:

• Tranche 2 subjects will be introduced to the curriculum for all schools in 2026: Construction Studies, Engineering, Geography, LCVP Link Modules, Physical Education. English and Accounting, which were due to be introduced here in Tranche 2, have been delayed by at least a year. This is due to the need to further examine, in consultation with schools, planning, implementation and enactment aspects of both subjects.
• Tranche 3 subjects will be introduced to the curriculum for all schools in 2027: Agricultural Science, Computer Science, Design and Communications Graphics, History. Home Economics, Mathematics, Music, Physics and Chemistry
• Tranche 4 subjects will be introduced to the curriculum for all schools in 2028: Art, Economics, French, Gaeilge, German, Italian, Politics and Society, Spanish, Technology
• Tranche 5 subjects will be introduced to the curriculum for all schools in 2029: Applied Mathematics, Classical Studies, Japanese, Lithuanian, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Religious Education*, Russian
• These subjects will feature an externally assessed component(s).
• Additional component(s) will not be a traditional written exam.
• Additional component(s) will be externally assessed by the State Examinations Commission.

If you will be entering fifth year as an LCA student, please see “I am a Leaving Certificate Applied student/I will be a Leaving Certificate Applied student” section below.

If you are entering fifth year as a Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) student, the following applies to you:

• You may access LCE Mathematics and an LCE Modern Foreign Language (MFL), subject to your school’s timetabling
• You may study LCE Mathematics either in addition to LCA Mathematical Applications, or instead of LCA Mathematical Applications.
• You may study an LCE MFL in addition to the LCA programme.
• An updated LCA Programme Statement reflecting these changes is available at curriculumonline.ie .

Your school is responsible for the timetabling of the changes above and for identifying, along with you and your parents/guardians, the current Leaving Certificate programmes best suited to you.

Your ability to engage with LCE Mathematics and/or the LCE MFL will be central to decisions relating to your access to the subject.

If you are entering fifth year as a Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) student, the following applies to you:

• You can access the LCVP Link Modules (Preparation for the World of Work and Enterprise Education) without meeting the vocational subject grouping criteria or the Modern European Language (MEL) requirements set out in Circular Letter 0040/2013.
• All requirements for participation in the LCVP apply, including the Irish language requirement. The LCVP Programme Statement is available at the following link: curriculumonline.ie

Your school is responsible for the timetabling of the changes above and for identifying, along with you and your parents/guardians, the current Leaving Certificate programmes best suited to you.

If you are entering fifth year in 2025 or later as an LCVP student, additional changes to the Leaving Certificate will apply to you. Please see ''I am starting fifth year in 2025” or “I am a starting fifth year in 2026 or later” sections of this webpage, as applicable.

Level 1 and Level 2 Learning Programmes

Senior Cycle Level 1 and Level 2 Learning Programmes have now been developed and can be offered in schools. The programmes are personalised programmes, aimed at the individual learning needs of the young person. Through the programmes, students are prepared for life beyond school, enabling them to be lifelong learners and live more independently.

The programmes will be certified by the State Examinations Commission.

The Level 1 and Level 2 Programme Statement, as well as curriculum areas and electives, can be found here.

Former President of the Irish Second–Level Students' Union (ISSU), Shari Irfan (2023) interviews the Deputy Chief Inspector, Orlaith O’Connor on what the changes to Senior Cycle mean for students.