History is the study of events and people in the past.

​

At Leaving Certificate level the new syllabus in history with its wide choice of topics provides the student with the opportunity for wide reading, information gathering, cogent reasoning and sustained argument, clear essay writing, research and the whole background to western culture, politics and the human condition.

 

It is a balance to other subjects and a basis from which other areas can develop – it is interesting to note just how many figures in public life, responsible positions, such as in law, the media, in management and education have qualifications which include history.

​

Methodology used in all classes from first to sixth year is drawn from various sources; text books, documents, specialist books, primary material where available, videos, use of the local library and the internet. Individual research projects are a common feature of the work in both first and fourth, and in the senior classes. Class discussion is common to all years, with lively exchanges of points of view.

 

The principle underlying the syllabus for Leaving Certificate is that the study of History should be regarded as an exploration of what historians believed to have happened, based on an enquiry into the available evidence.