Written answers

Tuesday, 23 November 2004

Department of Education and Science

State Examinations

10:00 pm

Photo of Seán CroweSeán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 445: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the revision of the leaving certificate requirements and curricula being considered by her. [29834/04]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, or NCCA, was established as a statutory body in July 2001. Its brief, as stated in the Education Act 1998, is to advise the Minister for Education and Science in matters relating to the curriculum for early childhood education, primary and post-primary schools, and the assessment procedures employed in schools and examinations on subjects that are part of the curriculum.

The NCCA has carried out a comprehensive public consultation process on the future direction of senior cycle education in Ireland. That concluded with the publication by the NCCA of Directions for Development — Developing Senior Cycle Education, which was presented at a national forum in Dublin Castle on 23 September 2003. That forum was attended by representatives of all the partners in education.

The NCCA proposals set out a vision for the type of school system which might exist by 2010. The proposals envisage a restructured senior cycle curriculum consisting of transition units, short courses and subjects. Innovatory features of the leaving certificate vocational programme and the transition year programme would be incorporated into transition units that would focus on areas such as work-related learning, special studies, community participation, arts education, ICT literacy and study skills. The option of a two or three-year cycle would be retained, and the leaving certificate applied programme would continue as a discrete programme. All pupils, including LCA pupils, would follow at least one transition unit, and many pupils would take a greater number. The proposals provide also for an increased emphasis on a wider range of modes of assessment such as practical, portfolio or project work and continuous assessment, with assessment events spread out during courses of study and available at several points during the two or three-year cycle.

Publication of Directions for Development has been followed by further analyses and consultation by the NCCA in the lead-up to the council's presentation of advice and recommendations to me on the future of senior cycle. I understand that the next stage of that advice will include an elaboration of the possible configuration of subjects, short courses and transition units, details of how assessment might be managed, an analysis of the implications for staff development and infrastructure, and a detailed action plan for implementing the proposal. That advice is due early in 2005 and will enable decisions to be made on implementation.

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