Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

109. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is taking measures to fast-track the reform of the Leaving Certificate. [58418/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, I announced an ambitious programme of work for a reimagined Senior Cycle of education where the student is at the centre of their Senior Cycle experience.

Introducing significant change at Senior Cycle needs to be thought through carefully and it is essential to ensure that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), State Examinations Commission (SEC), the Department and schools, in particular, as well as the teacher support and other services can work through the changes with all stakeholders over a sustained period of time.

I know that there is an appetite for change in respect of different aspects of the Senior Cycle and specifically the Leaving Cert experience and that this desire has been massively accelerated and strengthened since the arrival of the pandemic.

Considerable work has been ongoing regarding Senior Cycle redevelopment in my Department, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and the State Examinations Commission (SEC) in particular since the March announcement, and two million euro has been allocated in Budget 2023 to advance this programme in 2023.

Some of the changes I announced on 29 March will be felt very quickly with Irish and English Paper One being sat at the end of fifth year starting with students entering fifth year next September. I have asked the SEC to undertake an evaluation of the 2022 experience of holding Oral and Music Practical examinations at Easter so as to inform our approach for this year and subsequent years.

Changes have also started to be seen by students pursuing the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme and Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP). From the start of the current school year, LCA students have been able to access Maths from the Leaving Certificate Established programme, while LCVP students are no longer required to satisfy subject specific criteria in order to be eligible for the programme.

Other changes will be introduced on a phased basis including through using network schools to trial the revised assessment arrangements and new subjects.

Nine new and revised subject specifications will be introduced in September 2024 into Network Schools, and a revised Transition Year Programme Statement will be developed and available for schools from early 2024. A new Senior Cycle Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) programme will also be introduced in the same timeframe.

Subject background papers for the two new subjects of Drama, Film and Theatre Studies and Climate Action and Sustainable Development; as well as for Business have already been the subject of public consultation which was completed in recent weeks. The Subject Development Groups within the NCCA for those subjects and other strands of work, through which the new and revised curricula will be developed, have been convened and their first meetings have been held.

In addition, the NCCA will publish by September 2023 a schedule of dates by which individual subject specifications will be completed with new and revised specifications to be delivered in annual blocks following the first tranche described above.

It is also necessary to ensure that there is extensive consultation throughout the process, with all stakeholders, to ensure confidence in these changes. My officials have engaged with key stakeholders on Senior Cycle redevelopment including providing a number of online information sessions to parents.

Significant curricular change takes time but it also takes commitment and it works best where all of those affected can work together. That is our tradition for how we introduce curricular change in this country.

Ireland has a very successful model of curriculum development which incorporates involvement with practitioners and extensive consultation, and timelines for the curriculum development process in Ireland are in line with best international practice.