| Leaving Certificate |
Article Index for Leaving |
Website Links For Leaving Certificate |
Information AboutLeaving Certificate |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT LEAVING CERTIFICATE | |
| school qualifications | |
| education in the republic of ireland | |
|
PROGRAMS 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.
UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSION 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. 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 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 reportBBC News, Northern Ireland, June 10, 2004 Changes to affect NI students , using it as a benchmark, abeit in reverse to the original intention. GRADING AND LIST OF 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 Maths. All other subjects may be sat in only Ordinary and Higher levels. Percentage ranges are given on the table to the right. #Accounting #Agricultural Economics† #Agricultural Science #Ancient Greek† #Applied Mathematics #Arabic #Art #Biology #Business #Chemistry† #Classical Studies† #Construction Studies #Design and Communication Graphics #Dutch #Economics† #English #Estonian #Engineering #French #Geography #German #Hebrew #History #Home Economics #Irish #Italian #Japanese #Latin† #Lithuanian #Mathematics #Music #Physics† #Physics with Chemistry† #Polish #Portuguese #Religious Education #Russian #Spanish #Technical Drawing #Technology †Subject exclusions - candidates may not take any of following subject combinations:
The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme is an additional option which may be taken instead of one of the other optional subjects. It is a more life-oriented selection. Students intending to apply to third-level institutions rarely choose it, however, as it provides a maximum of 70 points (see below). EXAM FORMAT Each subject is examined with at least one written paper Maths, 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. INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION Only one school outside of 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 the exception of Arabic being substuted 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. As a Canadian myself, I consider the Irish secondary education curriculum to be far superior to the Canadian, US or UK models." The Irish Times, May 5, 2005 REFERENCES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|