Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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It is my vision that Irish education continues to innovate, improve, and inspire. To this end, last spring 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.

In recent weeks, I announced a significant acceleration of the Senior Cycle redevelopment programme enabling over 120,000 additional Leaving Certificate students to experience the benefits of Senior Cycle Redevelopment sooner than otherwise would have been the case.

As a result of this acceleration, beginning in 2025, students will now be able to benefit from the fast-tracked rollout of new subject curricula including Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Business— two years earlier than had been previously planned. This means significant numbers of students in third year today will see the benefits of these reforms.

These revised subjects will incorporate externally-assessed components outside of traditional written exams, to be worth at least 40% of the available marks.

Through these changes, I am:

• broadening how our students are assessed;
• maximising their opportunity to demonstrate their skills and learning;
• ensuring that their experience reflects the challenges they will face in their life beyond school and in the 21st century world; and
• bringing these changes forward by two years so that the maximum number of students will experience the benefits of these reforms as early as possible.

Two new Leaving Certificate subjects, Drama, Film and Theatre Studies; and Climate Action and Sustainable Development, will also be introduced as part of the first tranche in 2025 on a phased basis through a network of schools in line with how other new subjects have been introduced in recent years.

The NCCA will very shortly publish a schedule of annual subject revisions which will prioritise the subjects that do not currently have second assessment component beyond the written examinations.

I am committed to the introduction of comprehensive revised assessment methods and approaches in Senior Cycle Redevelopment.

These changes represent the latest developments under this programme. Other aspects of Senior Cycle Redevelopment have been continuing since the announcement in March 2022, such as:

• I have established the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Programme Delivery Board and Senior Cycle Redevelopment Partners’ Forum;
• Research was commissioned by the NCCA and SEC in relation to the weighting, composition, and moderation of teacher-based assessment components, with this research now complete and having been submitted to me in July 2023;
• A detailed paper on the Technical Form of Curriculum Specifications(which will provide a template for how the curriculum/specification in each revised subject is presented) has been drafted and approved by the NCCA Council;
• Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) students have had improved access to Leaving Certificate Established (LCE) Mathematics and Modern Foreign Languages since September 2022, broadening the options for LCA;
• Students in schools that offer the LCVP are now able to access LVCP link modules without meeting subject specific criteria or the modern European language requirements;
• A Post-Primary Special Education Development Group has been established within the NCCA’s structures to develop follow-on Senior Cycle modules for students progressing from Level 1 and Level 2 Learning Programmes at Junior Cycle level;
• A new and revised Transition Year Programme Statement has been drafted and is available for public consultation until this Friday, 20 October 2023. The draft Statement, and details on the consultation are available on the NCCA website.