An examination of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme: Origin, Policy and Practice - A Contextual, Relational, Discursive and Spatial Analysis Employing a Critical Theory Approach.

The purpose of this study is to examine the Leaving Certificate Applied programme (LCA) as it is lived out and experienced today and to investigate whether or not these experiences continue to marry with the original aims of the programme. The Leaving Certificate Applied Programme is a distinct, self-contained two-year Leaving Certificate programme. It is modular based and ‘emphasises forms of achievement and excellence which the established Leaving Certificate has not recognised in the past. It offers a specific opportunity to prepare for and progress to further education and training’. (PDST, Leaving Certificate Applied, Teacher Handbook, 2019, p.7). The central research question asks how the policy of the LCA programme is being lived out in practice today and whether this lived experience continues to marry with the original aims and rationale upon which the programme was conceived and developed. This study will examine the LCA programme from the perspective of those who live the programme, namely students and teachers, as well as from the perspective of policy makers and school leaders. The study will place these voices at the heart of the analysis