Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 May 2022
158. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Education the measures that are being taken to ensure that adequate teaching staff will be available to accommodate the new leaving certificate programme subjects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23721/22]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, on 29 March 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 my announcement I set out a clear vision for Senior Cycle, building upon the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment’s (NCCA’s) Advisory Report. The NCCA’s review of senior cycle involved an extensive range of research, consultations and communications with a wide range of stakeholders.
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 well-being and reduce student stress levels
As part of these reforms, two new subjects; Drama, Film and Theatre Studies and Climate Action and Sustainable Development, will be introduced for Leaving Certificate students, starting in September 2024 in network schools. I have requested the NCCA to develop these new subject areas as a matter of priority.
Introducing significant change at Senior Cycle needs to be thought through carefully and it is essential to ensure that 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 the new subjects. 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.
My Department will be engaging with the Teaching Council during this period in relation to the registration and eligibility requirements for teachers of the new subjects as well as with the initial teacher education (ITE) providers and teacher professional support services (as regards continuous professional development for teachers) as appropriate in regard to the training of relevant teachers for the subjects. There has also been some preliminary engagement with those providers in regard to Senior Cycle redevelopment. The focus over time will be on ensuring an alignment between ITE provision and the redeveloped Senior Cycle across a range of areas.
