Leaving Cert Subjects
Leaving Cert | Leaving Cert Applied (LCA)
Practical Group
These subjects are 'hands-on' and involve working with tools and machinery on physical things like wood, metals and plastic. They may involve designing, planning and building things.
Science Group
These subjects demonstrate how to explore nature using carefully planned methods, and teach the basic methods and findings of scientific investigation.
Artistic & Creative Group
These subjects involve developing creativity and the appreciation of the work of others. This involves learning the methods and techniques of the subject and producing your own work using these skills.
Humanities Group
These subjects explore the ways in which humans live and communicate in the world. Human life is examined by looking at our past, our present and into our future. These subjects help people to express themselves clearly and develop their reasoning ability.
Social Group
These subjects explore common issues faced by all people living in society. They develop the skills and knowledge used to manage personal resources and guide human behaviour.
Michaela Musilova, Mission Control Space Services
What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?
Since I love diversity and learning a range of things, I on purpose studied a lot of different subjects at school. As I explained above, in high school I decided to focus on sciences (biology, chemistry, maths and physics). However, I also loved arts and humanities, so I pursued studying history of art, history, geography and languages (French, German, Italian and English) as well.
My decision to have a varied education had a huge impact on my career. It allowed me to be able to tackle a number of multidisciplinary challenges and do the work that I do today: not just pure science, but also running international projects and representing my country at worldwide meetings/conferences.
Nicola O'Higgins, Fishmonger
What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?
I left school before my Leaving Certificate, which I would not advise. I worked hard at everything I did and constantly tried to up my game.
I would advise to never take no for an answer, to get your foot in the door and work your way to where you want to go. My son is now twenty and is in college and he got great advice from career guidance in school.
Jonathan Pugsley, Energy Manager
What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?
Science Subjects: Maths, Physics, Biology, Tech drawing, Chemistry - I loved these and they are very applicable for my current career path.
Data analysis and problem solving - it's all about number crunching at the end of the day when working on technical problems.
Arts, English, English Literature and French are subjects I was never really interested in at school, but have become more interested in the last 10 years, as they are very useful for communication purposes, and that is now a very big part of my job.