The new Leaving Cert history syllabus will include:

Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, John Lennon and Gay Byrne among the `key personalities' of the last century

one-fifth of the grade to be based on a `research study' submitted several months before the exam

an exam question based on students' `documents-based study' using historical source material

significant attention to feminism, religion, mass media, science, globalisation and cultural diversity

the Irish diaspora as a separate topic in the modern-Ireland section