PLC courses are aimed primarily at students who would like to develop vocational or technological skills in order to enter an occupation, or progress to higher education.
The majority of courses take place in Colleges/Institutes of Further Education, however they are increasingly being taught in private colleges, particularly in the Dublin area.
Providers may also offer awards certified by other qualification authorities such as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), City & Guilds, Institute of Commercial Management, BTEC/Edexcel, the Irish Exporters Association and ITEC.
Learners may accumulate credit over more than one sitting, i.e. they may study for awards at their own pace, completing modules one-by-one if they so wish.
Modules (and in turn major awards as a whole) are graded as follows: Depending on the grade they receive in each module, learners can receive up to 390 CAO points, which may be used competitively for entry purposes into universities, Institutes of Technology and higher education institutions in Ireland.