Mr. Eamonn Moran:

I thank the chairman and members for the opportunity to make this opening statement to the committee. The Department of Education and Skills, together with colleagues from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, and the State Examinations Commission, SEC, have provided a joint written submission to the committee. We felt it appropriate to make a single opening statement, but my colleagues from SEC and the NCCA will be happy to speak separately, answering any questions that are raised.

I thank the contributors who have spoken for expressing their views, as this has provided some very useful information to inform our thinking in this matter. Our submission sets out developments in reforms at senior cycle level, otherwise known as the leaving certificate, including developments in the area of assessment, as well as providing views on a number of particular issues that the committee asked us to consider. I therefore will make only a short opening statement.

Reform activity in the leaving certificate can be seen as having three strands, covering the short term and moving to the longer-term spectrum. There has been the process of reviewing the existing subject specifications to take account, for example, of the need to update various elements of these specifications to reflect developments since they were first introduced.

Alternatively, revisions may take place to introduce new assessment components for subjects. Our written submission provides details of these revisions. Specifications for some new subjects are also being prioritised for development. This helps to ensure that curriculum development continues to respond to the changing needs of learners, society and the economy and also increases subject choice for students. Such examples include the new politics and society subject which has been in the process of being implemented in schools on a phased basis from September 2016. A contributor mentioned the new computer science subject, which is being progressed for phased implementation from September 2018, while a new examinable syllabus for leaving certificate physical education will also be rolled out to schools. In parallel, a non-examinable physical education framework will also be rolled out.

In the longer term, the NCCA has recently commenced an overall review of senior cycle programmes. This review includes the leaving certificate, the leaving certificate vocational programme, LCVP, the leaving certificate applied as well as vocational pathways in the senior cycle. The review will seek to build on the strengths of the current system towards a senior cycle where greater emphasis is placed on the balance between the acquisition of skills and knowledge, on learners taking more responsibility for their own learning, and on enhancing the learning culture and environment in schools. A public discussion and consultation process will take place as part of this review during 2018.

Implementing these various elements of reform activity must take account of the needs of schools to continue to deliver a senior cycle programme to the existing student cohorts and of the overall capacity of schools and the wider education system to manage the impact of change. There is a significant change agenda ongoing in the education system.

The process of senior cycle reform has identified a number of challenges and opportunities for the Department, the NCCA, the SEC and other education partners, including those present today. That needs to be addressed as the journey of reform continues. There are many stakeholders in the education system and this is one of the reasons that reform comes dropping more slowly than what people ideally want. Some of the challenges and opportunities that arose are included in the issues that have been set out by members of the committee today, which we sought to address in our written submission. We are happy to discuss these further today. I thank the Chairman.