Written answers

Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Department of Defence

School Curriculum

Photo of Danny Healy-RaeDanny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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502. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration will be given to a proposal (details supplied) by the NCCA; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1452/21]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Context for curriculum review and redevelopment

The Primary School Curriculum (1999) is twenty-two years old this year. These years have seen considerable research on children’s learning and development and much societal change. Through reviews and evaluations, we have learned a lot about the successes of the curriculum as well as the challenges with the latter including curriculum overload. There have also been calls for curriculum change, including increased time for existing areas such as Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) and Physical Education (PE). New aspects of learning such as Coding and Computational Thinking, Education about Religions and Beliefs (ERB) and Ethics, Modern Foreign Languages, as well as a greater emphasis on Well-being, have been suggested.

Reviewing and redeveloping the primary curriculum

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) published the Draft Primary Curriculum Framework in February 2020. The draft framework responds to the context above and sets out a clear vision and principles — what’s important in primary education and why — and a description, in broad terms, of what should be prioritised in children’s learning during their primary school years.

Central to developing these proposals have been the processes of:

- generating and engaging with an extensive body of research  from national and international sources

- working closely with schools through the Schools Forum

- deliberation  with education partners through NCCA representative structures

- previous and ongoing public consultations .

Consultation on the draft framework

In response to the pandemic, the NCCA re-designed the consultation on the Draft Primary Curriculum Framework which now sees it comprising two phases. Phase 1 took place from late February to December 2020 and included bilateral meetings with more than fifty organisations, a number of which were Irish-medium organisations. Phase 2 will commence in September 2021 and will prioritise engagement with teachers, school leaders, parents and, importantly, children, including school communities in the Irish-medium sector. Feedback from across the two phases of consultation will inform the finalisation of the framework which, in turn, will then guide the redevelopment of the curriculum in the years ahead.

Proposals on time allocation

The proposals on time allocation presented in the Draft Primary Curriculum Framework for consultation are intended to support teachers’ and schools’ work with the redeveloped curriculum. The proposed time allocations are made up of two categories:

- Minimum Curriculum Time provides a weekly time allocation for Language; Mathematics; and Well-being, and a monthly time allocation for Science and Technology Education; Social and Environmental Education; and Arts Education.

- Flexible Time is responsive to schools’ own present and future educational priorities.

Three options for ‘Minimum Curriculum Time’ and ‘Flexible Time’ are presented in the draft framework. The options are intended to support discussion during the consultation on how time might be allocated in a redeveloped primary curriculum. A key consideration in the development of the options was that, with the exception of Well-being (PE and SPHE) and breaks and recreation, time was taken from all areas and aspects of the curriculum in order to arrive at a set of options for consideration and discussion as we think about the type of primary curriculum needed for children over the next fifteen years. Final decisions about time allocations will be made following the consultation.

Primary Language Curriculum/Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile

Time allocations are provided in the 1999 primary curriculum and in the Draft Primary Curriculum Framework as a practical support for teachers as they work with the different subjects in the curriculum. Like all areas of the curriculum, children’s learning of Irish is not confined to the specific blocks of time allocated to it. For example, in the case of English-medium schools, the new Primary Language Curriculum (2019) supports the use of Irish throughout the school day by using Irish regularly as an informal means of communication in the classroom or across the school community and by teaching other subjects or aspects of other subjects through Irish using Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). CLIL, an initiative supported by the Department of Education, affords children the opportunity to learn concepts, dispositions and skills in a particular curriculum area through Irish, and to develop their confidence by using their new language skills in real contexts outside of the discrete language lesson. In fact many of the approaches supported by the curriculum support the use of Irish outside of the discrete Irish lesson, including – Second Language Learning, the Communicative Approach, Transfer of Skill, Immersion, Play, and Cross Curriculum and Disciplinary Literacy. In this way, the children will hear and speak Irish throughout the school day, beyond the Irish lesson. 

Children in Irish-medium schools access the full curriculum through Irish. While Irish is the working language of the school, it is recognised that it is not the language of the home for the vast majority. Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile (2019) supports Irish-medium schools to enable children to achieve advanced skills in Irish which they use throughout the school day.

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