Leaving Certificate

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The Leaving Certificate (Irish: Ardteistiméireacht) (commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert (Irish: Ardteist) is the final course in the Irish secondary school system and culminates with the Leaving Certificate Examination. It takes a minimum of two years preparation, but an optional Transition Year means that for those students it takes place three years after the Junior Certificate Examination. Most students taking the examination are aged 17-19; in excess of eighty percent of this group undertake the exam, although between socio-economic groups this varies greatly. Examination is overseen by the State Examinations Commission.

Contents

[edit] Programmes

There are three distinct programmes that can be followed. While the outcomes of each programme are quite distinct, each is intended to reinforce the principals of secondary education; to prepare the student for education, society and work.

  • Established Leaving Certificate: The Established Leaving Certificate, introduced in 1924, is the most common programme taken. A minimum of five subjects is presented, including Irish[1]; most students take six or seven subjects. Additionally students will present in English and Mathematics; these have become de facto compulsory subjects, primarily due to college and university admission policies. In recent years a modern European language is often studied by many students as, increasingly, universities require it.
  • Leaving Certificate Applied: The Leaving Certificate Applied, introduced in 1995, is taken to prepare the student for adult and working life. It consists of three elements. These are General Education, Vocational Education and Vocational Preparation. It is designed to emphasize areas of achievement and excellence which are not catered for by traditional academic programmes.
See also: Leaving Certificate Applied
  • Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme: The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, introduced in 1989, is similar to the established programme. The student takes at least five traditional subjects, one of which must be Irish[1]. Two of the student's subjects must be part of one of a list of Vocational subject groupings. They must also study a modern European language and two Link Modules, Preparation for the World of Work and Enterprise Education. The programme is designed to help the student find their potential for self-directed learning, innovation and enterprise.
See also: Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme

[edit] Undergraduate admission

[edit] Republic of Ireland

School leavers who want to attend undergraduate courses in Irish colleges and universities have to enter the clearing house run by the Central Applications Office (CAO). Admission is based solely on examination results, usually from the Established Leaving Certificate. Six subjects are scored for the purposes of admission, each grade is translated into "points" - this can vary from 5 to 100 such points depending on the results thus a maximum of 600 can be obtained. Institutions can also set minimum grade requirements in specific examination subjects for each of their courses.

[edit] United Kingdom

Traditionally relatively large numbers of Irish students went to university in the United Kingdom, particularly in Northern Ireland and larger British cities - this has tailed off somewhat since the expansion of education in the Republic. Increasingly students from the Republic of Ireland attend university in Northern Ireland, and indeed vice-versa.

In recognition of this the Established Leaving Certificate underwent a process with UCAS to gain entry to the UCAS Tariff for direct entry to United Kingdom universities[2]. This introduced the examination directly onto the UCAS Tariff, allowing it to be compared more easily with other qualifications on the UCAS Tariff. On June 8th, 2004 it was decided that a Leaving Certificate (higher) subject will be worth two-thirds of an A-level (UK).

The University of Dublin, Trinity College was among the first education institution in Ireland to adjust their evaluation of the A-level in line with the report[3], using it as a benchmark, albeit in reverse to the original intention.

[edit] Grading and available subjects

Below are the list of subjects available to Established Leaving Certificate students, though most schools only offer a limited number. There are three levels in the Irish exam system Higher (commonly referred to as Honours), Ordinary (commonly referred to as Pass), and Foundation. Foundation level may only be taken in two subjects: Irish and Mathematics. All other subjects may be sat in only Ordinary and Higher levels. Percentage ranges are given on the table to the right, along with the points given for each grade.

Percentage Range Grade Points for Higher Points for Ordinary
90 or over A1 100 60
85 but less than 90 A2 90 50
80 but less than 85 B1 85 45
75 but less than 80 B2 80 40
70 but less than 75 B3 75 35
65 but less than 70 C1 70 30
60 but less than 65 C2 65 25
55 but less than 60 C3 60 20
50 but less than 55 D1 55 15
45 but less than 50 D2 50 10
40 but less than 45 D3 45 5
25 but less than 40 E 0 0
10 but less than 25 F 0 0
Less than 10 NG 0 0
  1. Accounting
  2. Agricultural Economics†
  3. Agricultural Science
  4. Ancient Greek†
  5. Applied Mathematics
  6. Arabic
  7. Art
  8. Biology
  9. Business
  10. Chemistry†
  11. Classical Studies†
  12. Construction Studies
  13. Design and Communication Graphics
  14. Economics†
  15. English
  16. Engineering
  17. French
  18. Geography
  19. German
  20. Hebrew
  21. History
  22. Home Economics
  23. Irish
  24. Italian
  25. Japanese
  26. Latin†
  27. Mathematics
  28. Music
  29. Physics†
  30. Physics with Chemistry†
  31. Portuguese
  32. Religious Education
  33. Russian
  34. Spanish
  35. Technical Drawing
  36. Technology

†Subject exclusions - candidates may not take any of following subject combinations:

  • Agricultural Economics and Economics
  • Classical Studies and Ancient Greek
  • Classical Studies and Latin
  • Physics with Chemistry and either of the separate subjects, Physics or Chemistry.

Additionally under the Nice Treaty the state is obliged to provide language support for as many official EU languages as they can, and currently offers:

  1. Czech
  2. Dutch
  3. Danish
  4. Estonian
  5. Finnish
  6. Greek (Modern)
  7. Hungarian
  8. Latvian
  9. Lithuanian
  10. Polish
  11. Portuguese
  12. Slovakian
  13. Swedish

The above additional languages are, however, based on the European Baccalaureate of their respective languages.

The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme is an additional option which may be taken along with the other optional subjects. It is a more life-oriented selection. Students intending to apply to third-level institutions often choose to ignore it, however, as it provides a maximum of 70 points (see below).

[edit] Exam Format

Each subject is examined with at least one written paper (English, Mathematics, Irish and some of the optional courses contain two written papers). Some subjects such as Art and Technology involve a practical exam which is supervised by an external examiner. Language courses are examined through both oral and aural-known as 'tape'- methods, as well as the written. The oral exams take place some months before the written exams, and the aurals take place in the same weeks as the written. Some subjects, such as Chemistry, and Agricultural Science, involve the keeping of a 'book' by students, or the creation of a project. However, not every book or project is examined, with inspectors being sent to a small few, randomly selected schools each year, or simply examining a small selection of projects from each class to check the standard.

[edit] International usage

Only one school outside Ireland offers the Leaving Certificate exam to their students. Since 1997 students at the ISM international school in Tripoli, Libya take the Leaving Cert, with Arabic being substituted for Irish. The School's principal said, "We have students from 42 countries studying at our school; the Irish Leaving Certificate programme offered us the kind of academic standard and subject spread that we were looking for".

On the other hand, many believe that the Leaving Cert exam is a poor measure of intelligence or college suitability; 'crammer' or grinds schools flourish because of the rigid 'learn by rote' structure of the exam. The course material is also regarded as out of date and irrelevant for progression to third level, or other routes such as direct employment.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Exemption to the Irish language is detailed in Circular M10/94 (Department of Education, Ireland, 1994) and can be acquired under time spent abroad or learning disability
  2. ^ The Irish Leaving Certificate, Expert Group Report for Awards Seeking Admission to the UCAS Tariff, November 2003 2186 KB PDF file
  3. ^ BBC News, Northern Ireland, June 10, 2004 Changes to affect NI students

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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