The objectives of Leaving Certificate Art are to enable learners to:

• develop aesthetic awareness and understanding
• develop critical, practical, conceptual, manual and problem-solving skills as well as an understanding of the iterative  approach that may be involved
• develop research, communication and reflective skills
• engage with current practitioners and connect with current practice, galleries, museums and contemporary art spaces, real-life encounters and the wider art community
• appreciate and respond critically to their own work, that of their peers as well as society and their environment
• gain an understanding of Visual Studies and the critical and visual language that supports it
• appreciate and enjoy the processes involved in researching, creating and responding to Art as a lifelong skill.

* Iterative is the application of a cyclical process for arriving at a solution, decision or desired result, which may include analysing previous work, testing further ideas and refining these ideas and work.