Ms Arlene Forster:

One of the other requests the Minister included in her response to the NCCA is that once we have that learning from our work with the network schools, we should put a programme of work in place that would see subjects being reviewed, updated and made ready for schools to work with on an annual basis. That will help in terms of shortening the timeline.

The other thing I would say in this regard is that from our perspective, it is really important to highlight that we are not waiting until the 2030s for many of these changes to be implemented and to have a real impact on the experiences of young people. We were speaking earlier about some of the immediate pieces of work that we already are starting to progress. One of those is around supporting young people who are currently in the level 1 and level 2 learning programmes in junior cycle. That work is already beginning within the NCCA and that is a really important one. Mr. Slattery and Ms O’Connor and colleagues in the SEC touched earlier on removing the ring fencing that currently exists around the programmes that we already have as part of senior cycle provision. In her response, the Minister indicated that she wants some of that in place for schools from this September. We have a transition year programme being updated and it will be available for September 2024 that Mr. Slattery has spoken to. There are many changes already afoot and changes that will be experienced very quickly by young people in the system, including those who are already in junior cycle, as part of senior cycle provision. While I accept the overall timeline is into the 2030s, there are important changes afoot in the more immediate to short term.