 |
| The four strands of the new course. |
- LCEconomics_0219_EN.pdf (current specification, introduced 2019)
- draft-leaving-certificate-economics-specification.pdf (consultation draft for 2027 and beyond)
Executive Summary
My overall conclusion is that the draft 2027 specification is significantly broader in content but somewhat less mathematically and theoretically demanding in places. It appears designed to create a more contemporary, applied, and policy-focused economics course that better reflects modern economic issues, behavioural economics, sustainability, geopolitics, technology and financial literacy.
The current course is structured around traditional microeconomics, macroeconomics and international economics with a strong emphasis on economic models, graphical analysis and evaluation.
The draft retains most of the existing core but adds a substantial amount of new material while organising content around four broader strands: Discovering Economics, The Market Economy, The Domestic Economy and The Global Economy.
A podcast summarising the contents of the draft specification is available here.
1. Overall Breadth of Content
| Area | Current Spec | Draft 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Core microeconomics | Strong | Stronger |
| Core macroeconomics | Strong | Stronger |
| International economics | Strong | Much broader |
| Behavioural economics | Limited | Extensive |
| Financial literacy | Moderate | Significant expansion |
| Sustainability | Present | Central theme throughout |
| EU institutions | Limited | Dedicated section |
| Technology economics | Limited | Expanded significantly |
| Geopolitics | Virtually absent | Explicitly included |
| Contemporary economic events | Mentioned | Major recurring feature |
| Economic inquiry skills | Moderate | Much stronger emphasis |
Sources: LCEconomics_0219_EN.pdf, draft-leaving-certificate-economics-specification.pdf
Broad Judgement
If measured purely by the number of concepts, examples and modern economic issues covered, the draft specification is considerably wider.
2. Major Areas Added in the Draft
A. Behavioural Economics
This is probably the most striking addition.
Current specification
Students merely:
- critique rational consumer behaviour
- consider incentives
- discuss consumer decision-making.
Draft specification adds:
- utility
- diminishing marginal utility
- equi-marginal utility
- risk preferences
- time preferences
- impulse buying
- panic buying
- gambling
- brand loyalty
- emotional spending
- nudges
- loss aversion
- groupthink
- herd behaviour.
This represents a substantial shift toward modern behavioural economics.
B. Financial Literacy
The draft introduces considerably more practical financial content.
New topics include:
- saving decisions
- investing decisions
- borrowing decisions
- attitudes toward risk
- attitudes toward time
- pensions
- mortgages
- Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)
- stablecoins
- crypto-assets.
None of these receive significant treatment in the current specification.
For students, these topics are likely to feel immediately relevant.
C. Geopolitics
Completely new emphasis.
Draft topics include:
- global conflicts
- international relationships
- resource distribution
- soft power
- geopolitics and trade
- geopolitical impacts on stability and growth.
The current specification discusses globalisation but not geopolitics in any meaningful way.
D. EU Studies
A major expansion.
Current specification:
- ECB
- Eurozone
- influence on fiscal and monetary policy.
Draft specification adds:
- European Parliament
- European Commission
- Council of the EU
- ECB
- CAP
- Single Market
- EU funding
- Irish membership benefits and drawbacks
- financial market regulation.
This is effectively a mini-European economics unit.
E. Sustainability
Current specification:
- sustainability appears largely in Strand 1 as an overarching theme.
Draft specification embeds sustainability throughout:
- Sustainable Development Goals
- environmental trade-offs
- circular economy
- resource depletion
- ethical decision-making
- sustainable borrowing
- sustainable public spending
- environmental development comparisons.
The draft treats sustainability as a core economic concept rather than an accompanying theme.
 |
| The project will be worth 40% of the marks in the new course. |
3. Expansion of Existing Topics
Labour Market
The labour market section is considerably broader.
New material includes:
- migration
- emigration
- gender pay gaps
- geopolitics
- living wage
- technology-driven labour market change
- government employment agencies.
Current specification is more traditional and focuses principally on supply, demand, MPP, MRP and equilibrium.
Competition and Oligopoly
Draft adds:
- strategic behaviour
- decision trees
- payoff matrices
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- dynamic pricing
- price discrimination.
These are not explicitly included in the current course.
This introduces elements of game theory.
Market Failure
Current course covers:
- externalities
- monopoly power
- imperfect information.
Draft expands to:
- public goods
- merit goods
- demerit goods
- behavioural biases
- cartels
- information asymmetry.
This is much closer to first-year university economics.
Inflation
The draft specification dramatically expands inflation.
Current:
- inflation
- deflation
- CPI
- causes and consequences.
Draft adds:
- demand-pull inflation
- cost-push inflation
- wage-price spiral
- imported inflation
- monetary inflation
- sector-specific inflation
- stagflation
- hyperinflation
- HICP.
4. New Analytical Skills
The draft puts far greater emphasis on how economists think.
New concepts include:
- inductive reasoning
- deductive reasoning
- economic inquiry
- counterfactual reasoning
- evidence-based conclusions
- policy evaluation frameworks
- media analysis.
The current specification certainly values inquiry, but these concepts are not formally taught to the same extent.
5. Topics Reduced or Removed
Interestingly, very little appears to have been removed.
Instead, the draft mainly:
- reorganises existing material
- updates terminology
- broadens applications
- introduces contemporary examples.
However, some areas appear somewhat less theory-heavy:
Current specification emphasises
- Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) calculations
- detailed competition analysis
- some stronger evaluative language around models.
Draft specification
- still covers competition
- but seems more interested in real-world applications and examples than specialised tools like HHI.
6. Biggest Assessment Change
This is arguably the most important change for teachers.
Current
- Written exam: 80%
- Research study: 20%
Draft
- Written examination: 60%
- "Thinking Like an Economist" component: 40%
This is a substantial shift.
The new component requires:
- investigation of a contemporary issue
- development of a line of inquiry
- use of multiple sources
- recommendations
- evaluation of evidence
- economic reasoning.
This moves Economics much closer to subjects such as Politics and Society in methodology.
7. Implications for Teachers
As a teacher, I think the practical consequences are significant:
Greater workload in preparation
Teachers will need familiarity with:
- behavioural economics
- digital currencies
- geopolitics
- EU institutions
- sustainability frameworks
- game theory concepts
- contemporary economic events.
More current affairs integration
The draft repeatedly stresses:
- current economic developments
- media engagement
- inquiry
- investigation.
Economics teaching could become much more dynamic but also more resource-intensive.
More interdisciplinary
The course now overlaps more strongly with:
- Business
- Politics and Society
- Geography
- Mathematics
- Environmental Studies
- European Studies.
 |
| Ordinary Vs Higher Level in the new course. |
If I were summarising this in one sentence:
The draft 2027 specification retains almost all of the existing Economics course while significantly broadening it through behavioural economics, financial literacy, geopolitics, sustainability, EU studies, technology, and economic inquiry, creating a more contemporary and applied course but one that is substantially wider in scope and more demanding from a teaching perspective.
The largest additions are:
- Behavioural economics.
- Financial literacy and digital money.
- Geopolitics and global risk.
- EU institutions and policy.
- Sustainability and circular economy.
- Strategic behaviour/game theory.
- A doubling of the importance of coursework through the 40% "Thinking Like an Economist" project.
My overall judgement would be that the draft is approximately 20-30% broader in content coverage than the current specification, with a noticeable shift from "learning economics" towards "thinking like an economist."
