Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 July 2022
228. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education if she will implement appropriate education surrounding the LGBT+ community, particularly in relation to comprehensive and inclusive sexual education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36839/22]
View answerAccess to Relationships and Sexuality Education, or RSE, is an important right for students. This is reflected in the Programme for Government, which states that this Government will develop inclusive and age appropriate curricula for RSE and Social, Personal and Health Education across all schools.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (the NCCA) was requested to conduct a review of RSE provision in Irish schools, focusing on a range of topics including healthy, positive sexual expression and relationships and LGBTQ+ matters. The NCCA published “The Report on the Review of Relationships and Sexuality Education in primary and post-primary schools” in December, 2019.
This report resulted in the NCCA establishing two development groups, one for primary and one for post-primary, to oversee the work of developing an updated curriculum in this area and supporting the development of guidance material for schools.
The immediate focus of the work of the NCCA has been on creating support materials for teachers for publication online as part of an Interim Guidance Toolkit. The toolkit's purpose is to support effective teaching and learning of SPHE and RSE linked to the current curriculum and to provide guidance on how SPHE and RSE may be approached in a comprehensive way that meets the needs of young people today. This work is progressing well and already teachers will find much support there, including a portal repository of teaching and learning resources linked to the Primary SPHE Curriculum, the SPHE Junior Cycle Short Course and the Senior Cycle SPHE Framework.
In tandem with this work, preparation for the broader redeveloping and updating of the SPHE curriculum is underway. Updated curricula will be developed for Primary, Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle.
A draft revised Junior Cycle specification has recently been approved by NCCA Council, with a public consultation to follow, running from July to October. It is expected that the finalised specification will be presented to Council for approval by the end of this year, and will be implemented in schools in September 2023.
Work in preparing a background paper that will inform the updating of senior cycle SPHE/RSE is underway. It is intended that the curriculum redevelopment work will commence in September 2022 and a draft updated specification for senior cycle SPHE will be ready for public consultation by summer 2023 and finalised in early 2024 for implementation in schools in September 2024.
Following publication of the Primary Curriculum Framework, expected in early 2023, the NCCA will establish a development group which is due to commence development on updated primary specifications in Quarter 4 2022, with a draft estimated to be available for public consultation in Quarter 1 2024.
