History deals with the experience of human life in the past. It brings students into contact with human experiences, which are often different to their own. The study of human experience in the past is indispensable to a student’s understanding of the human condition and human motivation.
Time and change are the essence of History. History is primarily engaged with measuring how aspects of human life, human institutions and cultural traditions have undergone the experience of change. New evidence and new insights can lead to revision and this gives students a unique potential to develop critical thinking.
At Junior Certificate Level, History should introduce students to the job of a Historian, with a wide tapestry of past events, issues, people and ways of life through which they can come to perceive patterns such as cause, consequence, change and continuity. At Senior Level the student of History will learn that her own judgements concerning the nature of historical events should be subjected to the most searching analysis and criticism.
The syllabus is developmental in nature –it moves from the simple to the complex and from the concrete to the more abstract.
Content
Areas of Junior Cycle Study
- The Work of the Historian / Working with Sources
- The Work of the Archaeologist
- Ancient Civilisation
- The Mesolithic Period
- The Neolithic Period
- The Bronze Age
- The Iron Age and the Celts
- Early Christian Ireland
- Medieval Society
- Castle, Church and City
- The Renaissance
Areas of Transition Year Study
- The Persecution of Witches and the 16C Salem Witch Trials
- Archaeology
- The History of the GAA
- The Holocaust
1st year History Trip to Bunratty Castle and Folk park October 2025
