Context
NCCA advises the Minister for Education on curriculum and assessment for early childhood education, for primary and post-primary schools. As part of the broader reform of senior cycle, it is envisaged that a revised specification for Leaving Certificate Business will be introduced in schools from September 2025. The Development Group for Leaving Certificate Business will have a key role in this work. The Group will include nominees of the education partners, the Department of Education and other key education agencies.
The first phase of developing the specification involves convening of a development group and a consultation on the background paper. You can find out more about this below.
The first step in the redevelopment of Leaving Certificate Business was the development of a Background paper and brief for the review of the subject.
A public consultation on the Background paper and brief took place from 5th of September 2022 to 28th October 2022 and a report on the consultation was published in December 2022.
The development group for Leaving Certificate Business was convened on 27th September 2022 and progressed the development of the new specification guided by the brief and the findings of the consultation on the Background paper.
- Meeting 1:27th September 2022
- Meeting 2: 27th October 2022
- Meeting 3: 24th November 2022
- Meeting 4: 13 December 2022
- Meeting 5: 18 January 2023
- Meeting 6: 21 February 2023
- Meeting 7: 15 March 2023
- Meeting 8: 25 April 2023
- Meeting 9: 17 May 2023
- Meeting 10: 10 October2023
- Meeting 11: 16 November 2023
- Meeting 12: 12 December 2023
- Meeting 13 10 January 2024
- Meeting 14: 9 April 2024
- Meeting 15: 23 April 2024
- Meeting 16: 14 May 2024
The Draft Specification for Leaving Certificate Business was made available for consultation from Friday 2nd February until Friday 5th April..
The consultation involved in-depth engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders across Ireland. NCCA also contacted schools to participate in school-based focus groups involving teachers, students and school leaders.
The feedback from this consultation helped to inform the work of the Development Group for Leaving Certificate Business in refining the draft specification prior to final approval and publication.
The report on the consultation is now published and is available to download below.
A new specification for Leaving Certificate Business has been developed, to be introduced for fifth year students in September 2025, replacing the current Leaving Certificate Business syllabus which will be examined for the last time in June 2026.
Both the new specification and current syllabus can be found at https://www.curriculumonline.ie/senior-cycle/senior-cycle-subjects/business/