Ms Esther Doyle:

Sure, I am delighted to share that. It is a wonderful opportunity to be here today to speak. The Deputy may be aware that we are very close to the completion stages of the development of the new subject specification, which is going to the NCCA board and council next week. That is the stage it is at. It is still at draft stage but I can discuss a little bit about what is in the draft at this stage, until it becomes approved. There are going to be four strands which we understand to be sections of the course. The first is called "earth systems, life and the environment", and looks at issues like biodiversity, ecosystems, climate and climate action. The second strand is called "people, power and place", and looks at a variety of issues including climate injustice, what is a just world, technological solutions and the intersectional nature of climate injustice and policies. The third strand is called "global connections", and looks at the type of policies that are made locally and internationally, and how they may have an impact across the world. This strand seeks to show young people the connection between our own local environment and the policies that are made in Ireland, in Europe and across the world, and the impact those policies can have on people's environment and on the future of our climate and our environment. The fourth strand under the draft specifications involves an applied learning task which is subdivided into four parts. In the first part, students will engage in dialogue about climate action. The second part of the task involves researching actions. They then design a nature-based experience where they look at moving out into the open world. In the fourth part of the task, they will organise some form of action to support climate sustainability or climate action. There will be a variety of opportunities for students to go with this in the sense of where their interests are.

This will be one of the new senior cycle subjects, and all new senior cycle subjects are expected to have a 40% assessment component which will be different from a terminal written exam at the end of the two years of senior cycle. At the moment, it is planned that the assessment will be an action project. We will be waiting for the final brief from the State Examinations Commission to come to schools to describe exactly what is involved in that. This is where students will be able to demonstrate their learning through action as well.

That is a very broad overview. For those in this room or in the public who are interested, the draft specifications as they are now are on the NCCA website. When eventually we publish the final specifications, they will be up there too. Anybody interested in what the students are going to learn can see it there.

I can tell the Deputy about the number of schools we have selected as well, if he is interested in that sort of detail.