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The School Leavers' Survey has been in existence since it first surveyed young people who left the second-level education system in the academic year 1978/1979. Since its inception, 24 surveys in all have been carried out either on a yearly or bi-yearly basis, until the most recent survey which surveyed young people who left the second-level education system in the academic year 2004/2005. The information contained in the School Leavers' Survey serves as a nationally representative data source lending itself well as an instrument for educational policy making. This report draws on the 24th School Leavers' Survey to provide a descriptive account of the experiences of young people as they leave second-level education including Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses. Importantly, the survey also documents the post-school experiences of school leavers, in particular focusing on the educational and employment activities of young people after they leave school. In addition, background characteristics are collected such as gender, educational attainment and parents' level of education and socioeconomic background, which allow the documentation of trends according to these factors. For those engaged in education and labour market policy, the survey highlights emerging and continuing patterns of how young people fare academically within second-level schooling, their levels of progression to further study and training as well as labour market integration processes. Key findings include: a larger proportion of males continue to exit the education system at an earlier stage relative to females; socioeconomic differences in second-level education completion are particularly evident; socioeconomic differences are also particularly evident in terms of the curricular pathways that young people pursue at senior cycle education; rates of part-time job holding continue to be high, particularly in fifth year; participation in PLC courses is higher among females than males, while participation in state-sponsored training is dominated by males; females continue to have higher rates of progression to higher education; entry to post-school education and training destinations continues to be highly differentiated according to socioeconomic background; the majority of the school leaving cohort enter into student or employment activities one year after leaving school; the economic status position of school leavers one year after leaving school is differentiated according to the educational level attained at second-level education, gender and socioeconomic background; and long-term trends in the economic position of school leavers indicate that persistent labour market disadvantage is associated with leaving school without any qualifications.