Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
167. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the level of CPD completion by teachers on the recent changes at junior cycle; and when he plans to formally dissolve the junior cycle for teachers. [8432/20]
View answerThe new Junior Cycle has been developed over several years and is now in the process of being implemented in schools, with the final phase of new subject specifications introduced to schools from September 2019 with the first cohort of students taking final examinations in these subjects in June 2022.
During the 2019/2020 school year, the Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT) support service continues to deliver a comprehensive professional development programme to support teachers of Junior Cycle. Engagements included seminars for school leaders, whole-staff workshops in schools, subject specific workshops via school clustering and education centre hosted events and school visits.
JCT have also responded to the challenges posed by Covid 19 by moving resources online and expanding their live interactive webinar programme. All webinars are recorded and subsequently made available on their website. JCT has continued to provide on-going sustained support to schools via phone and email.
My Department set up Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT) as the dedicated support service to support schools in implementing all elements of the Framework for Junior Cycle. The level and scale of required continued professional development supports for teachers and schools to ensure successful implementation and embedding of the Framework will be considered by my Department in conjunction with the relevant stakeholders.
