Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth
Curriculum Reform at Senior Cycle: Discussion (Resumed)
2:00 am
Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
It is interesting to get Mr. Ó Caoimh's point of view because I have an idea there. Mr. Gillespie and Mr. Christie both spoke about their belief that a lot of this has been rushed or forced through. Am I right in saying senior cycle reform was suggested in March 2022? That is when this process started. We had witnesses discussing junior cycle reform in recently and they started in 2016 and it had effectively taken nine years to get to where they are at present. We hope, in future, that the curriculum and the reforms will be able to adapt more quickly so we are able to engage with new technologies and demands as they come along. It looks like this reform has moved exceptionally quickly. From listening to some of the questions and the witnesses' opening comments, they predominantly do not feel they have been resourced properly across the board to facilitate some of these changes. Have any of the organisations present done a body of work or report on what they feel is needed, in physical numbers, to achieve this? They have all more or less asked for more resources, a tried and tested and resilient IT system and significant investment in physical and digital infrastructure. Have any of the organisations present put any reports together on what they actually need in terms of costing?
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