There are three main content areas within Visual Studies:

1. Europe and the wider world: This broadly covers the canon of Western art from the Romanesque and Gothic periods to the present.
2. Ireland and its place in the wider world: This broadly covers a selection of significant periods of art as experienced in Ireland across the centuries. However, it is important that connections to Europe and the wider world are made where relevant.
3. Today’s world: This broadly covers critical literacy and contextual inquiry to decode, decipher and make meaning from a range of art-led experiences that students can study locally, nationally, internationally or virtually. Students are encouraged to explore, experience and reflect on art and culture in their everyday lives through four sections of focus; Artists: Theory and Thinking, Artists: Processes and Media, Art as Social Commentary or Commentator and Art and the Environment.

These content areas each contain a number of sections of focus. For the written component, the student must choose one section of focus within content areas 1 and 2. Students should address all elements as outlined in the Visual Studies Framework above for these content areas.

Students will study all sections of focus in content area 3. Students should also refer to the Visual Studies Framework when studying content area 3.

The content areas and related sections of focus are:

While the sections of focus above in content areas 1 and 2 mainly reference the canon of art history, other areas of practice such as design, craftwork, architecture, urban/rural design, photography, film and more, where relevant, should also form part of the learning. Students must experience some of their Visual Studies work in person as they would any primary source. For example, visiting a gallery, museum or heritage site, reviewing elements of urban/rural design, working with an artist (this list is not exhaustive). This creates an opportunity for students to experience learning across all three content areas.

* The term artwork, or work, as with the term Art, should be taken to include examples of fine art, design and craft in a range of traditional, contemporary, new and/or digital media.