Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 April 2022
475. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education the way that schools will be chosen to act as network schools for the purposes of senior cycle reform; and if schools will be invited on a mandatory or voluntary basis. [17827/22]
View answer476. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education the assurances that will be given to network schools that their students who are taking part in the initial trial of the senior cycle reforms will not be negatively impacted in terms of their grades and access to third-level in comparison to their peers in non-network schools. [17828/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 475 and 476 together.
As the deputy is aware, on March 29th 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. The three tenets of Senior Cycle reform are to:
- Empower students to meet the challenges of the 21st century
- Enrich the student experience and build on what’s strong in our current system
- Embed wellbeing and reduce student stress levels
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 can work through the changes with all stakeholders over a sustained period of time.
I have requested the NCCA to invite a selection of schools, representative of the different types and sizes of schools across Ireland, to become “network schools”. In order to successfully deliver on the vision I have set out, we need to partner with schools to trial, evaluate, learn, adjust and succeed.
Network schools will be given the opportunity to participate at an early stage in revised curriculum and assessment arrangements. These schools will receive support through a variety of forms to enable their participation. The network school approach will allow the curriculum and assessment arrangements to be co-constructed with students and their teachers allowing specific aspects of these proposals to be progressed and evaluated.
It will be important to carefully manage this work so that students in these schools, or in other schools, would not be disadvantaged in any way and this will be an important consideration during the delivery phase of the reforms I have announced.
