In April 2018, the then Minister for Education and Skills Mr. Richard Bruton asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to undertake a major review of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools across all stages of education to ensure that it is fit for purpose and meets the needs of young people today in modern Ireland.
The Report on the Review of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in primary and post-primary schools was published by the NCCA in December, 2019. The report is based on commissioned research and extensive public consultation.
The NCCA report makes a number of recommendations, including the development of a single integrated curriculum for RSE and Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) in schools. This development work will be commenced by the NCCA early in the new school year, will include engagement with all the key education stakeholders, as well as a further process of public consultation, and is expected to take between 18 and 24 months to complete. Issues in relation to funding and teacher continuing professional development to support implementation of the new curriculum will also be addressed during that time.
The NCCA in the meantime has commenced work on a number of other recommendations made in the report. These include
- Development and publication of interim guidelines to support the teaching of SPHE/RSE in the shorter term. These Interim Guidelines will provide guidance on how the current curriculum can be approached in a more holistic way, provide clarity on how topics can be taught to incorporate various themes identified by the NCCA’s review and suggestions for how the topics can be taught in a fully inclusive manner. It is anticipated that publication of a first batch of guidance materials will be made available through an online toolkit early in 2021;
- Work on a single online access point for RSE resources;
- Development of an overall framework to inform the development of future SPHE/RSE resources;
- Examination of opportunities for SPHE/RSE within the new Junior Cycle Wellbeing area of learning.
