Teacher CPD · Secondary Schools

Teaching Leaving Certificate Life, Community and Work

Leaving Certificate Life, Community and Work is a new senior-cycle subject that prepares students for life beyond school through two modules and four strands focused on personal development, community engagement, work readiness, and reflective practice. Students undertake four Applied Learning Tasks, maintain a digital portfolio over two years, participate in structured work placement or shadowing, and engage with the experiential learning cycle of participating, reflecting and applying. The course equips schools to deliver a rigorous, experiential Leaving Certificate subject assessed through a 60% portfolio and 40% written paper on a four-point grading scale.
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Enrol now — course content opens on 1 Jul 2026. We'll email you that morning with access details.
€39
Enrolment per teacher
What's included
  • Self paced
  • Online course
  • Step-by-step lessons
  • Certificate from Coding Ireland

Explore the Course

Three lessons that establish a working map of the LCW specification (two modules, four strands, four ALTs, the experiential cycle, the 60/40 assessment split and the 4-point grading scale), the Lead Learner mindset adapted for a brand-new subject, and an honest baseline of confidence across the five capability areas this course builds. Participants walk away with their baseline self-efficacy survey, a mindset reflection and a positioning script.

The LCW Landscape: Spec, Strands, Four Alts at a Glance
The Lead Learner Mindset for a Brand-new Subject
Positioning LCW and Your Baseline

Five lessons covering the practical work of delivering LCW day-to-day. The experiential cycle is unpacked as named classroom moves; the Digital Portfolio is set up as a two-year artefact the student owns; the four ALTs are walked through as supervision tasks with named common pitfalls; the work-experience placement is treated as a coordination challenge; and the module closes with a dedicated lesson on holding sensitive topics with visible support paths. Participants walk away with an experiential-cycle moves audit, a Digital Portfolio plan, an ALT supervision sketch, their school's placement plan and a sensitive-topics support map.

The Experiential Cycle as Classroom Moves
The Digital Portfolio: Setup, Maintenance, the Two-year Arc
The Four Alts: Supervising Each, Common Pitfalls
Facilitating the Work-experience or Work-shadowing Placement
Handling Sensitive Topics

Two lessons that close the course. The first walks the assessment shape end-to-end (the 60% Portfolio in Action annual brief, the 40% written examination at common level, the 4-point grading scale) and applies it to sample student artefacts so participants leave with calibrated judgement. The second is the synthesis: a two-year year-arc planning artefact mapping ALT timing, placement timing and Portfolio in Action brief timing onto the school's calendar, plus the post-course self-efficacy re-survey and the final reflection.

Assessment in Practice: Portfolio in Action, Written Paper, the 4-point Scale
The Two-year LCW Arc and Final Reflection

Three lessons that establish a working map of the LCW specification (two modules, four strands, four ALTs, the experiential cycle, the 60/40 assessment split and the 4-point grading scale), the Lead Learner mindset adapted for a brand-new subject, and an honest baseline of confidence across the five capability areas this course builds. Participants walk away with their baseline self-efficacy survey, a mindset reflection and a positioning script.

The LCW Landscape: Spec, Strands, Four Alts at a Glance
The Lead Learner Mindset for a Brand-new Subject
Positioning LCW and Your Baseline

Five lessons covering the practical work of delivering LCW day-to-day. The experiential cycle is unpacked as named classroom moves; the Digital Portfolio is set up as a two-year artefact the student owns; the four ALTs are walked through as supervision tasks with named common pitfalls; the work-experience placement is treated as a coordination challenge; and the module closes with a dedicated lesson on holding sensitive topics with visible support paths. Participants walk away with an experiential-cycle moves audit, a Digital Portfolio plan, an ALT supervision sketch, their school's placement plan and a sensitive-topics support map.

The Experiential Cycle as Classroom Moves
The Digital Portfolio: Setup, Maintenance, the Two-year Arc
The Four Alts: Supervising Each, Common Pitfalls
Facilitating the Work-experience or Work-shadowing Placement
Handling Sensitive Topics

Two lessons that close the course. The first walks the assessment shape end-to-end (the 60% Portfolio in Action annual brief, the 40% written examination at common level, the 4-point grading scale) and applies it to sample student artefacts so participants leave with calibrated judgement. The second is the synthesis: a two-year year-arc planning artefact mapping ALT timing, placement timing and Portfolio in Action brief timing onto the school's calendar, plus the post-course self-efficacy re-survey and the final reflection.

Assessment in Practice: Portfolio in Action, Written Paper, the 4-point Scale
The Two-year LCW Arc and Final Reflection

What You'll Learn

Learning Goals

  1. Map the full LCW specification including its two modules, four strands, four Applied Learning Tasks and experiential learning requirements
  2. Adopt the Lead Learner mindset required to teach a new, experiential Leaving Certificate subject with confidence
  3. Deliver the experiential learning cycle through real-time classroom decisions that support participating, reflecting and applying
  4. Supervise the digital portfolio and four Applied Learning Tasks across two years, from initial scaffolding to independent student work
  5. Coordinate work placements, manage sensitive topics professionally, and apply the LCW assessment model of portfolio, written paper and four-point scale

Learning Outcomes

  1. Build a working map of the LCW specification showing its two modules, four strands, four Applied Learning Tasks, and experiential learning cycle
  2. Apply the Lead Learner mindset to position LCW as a rigorous Leaving Certificate subject using its assessment model
  3. Use the experiential learning cycle (Participating, Reflecting, Applying) to make real-time classroom decisions
  4. Set up and maintain a Digital Portfolio across two years, progressing from heavy scaffolding to independent student use
  5. Supervise the four Applied Learning Tasks by identifying each artefact’s purpose and avoiding common pitfalls
  6. Coordinate work-experience and work-shadowing placements for Strand 2.2, including employer contact and structured debriefs
  7. Respond calmly and professionally to sensitive topics that arise in LCW lessons
  8. Apply the LCW assessment structure by grading sample Portfolios in Action and written papers using the 4-point scale
  9. Create a term-by-term two-year teaching calendar for LCW that integrates all course elements

Ready to start this course?

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