Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
480. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Education where the evidence is from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) for its assertion that there is widespread support for its proposed change in the SPHE curriculum. [36584/23]
View answerAs set out in the Programme for Government, this Government is committed to developing inclusive and age appropriate curricula for Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) and Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) across primary and post-primary schools. In giving effect to this commitment, my Department’s first focus has been on the development of inclusive and age-appropriate curricula and it continues to work closely with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in that regard.
The Report on the Review on Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in Primary and Post-Primary Schools, published in 2019 by the NCCA, is the basis for updating the curricula for SPHE and RSE. The review involved students, parents, teachers, school leaders, researchers and organisations, with a view to gaining a full appreciation of the nature of young peoples’ needs and experience of RSE. That review said there was unanimous agreement among students about the importance of RSE. Students said that they wanted a safe and inclusive environment where they can discuss, ask questions and talk about all aspects of relationships and sexuality. The NCCA recognises the important role of parents in this area of education and their engagement and interest in the ongoing review process. It has worked alongside parent representative groups to create opportunities for dialogue and consultation.
Following the report, the NCCA began its work on redeveloping the SPHE/RSE specification across primary and post primary.
The NCCA published the draft revised Junior Cycle specification for consultation in July 2022, with the consultation process running from 18 July 2022 to 18 October 2022. Consultation is a key aspect of NCCA’s work whereby advice is shaped by feedback from schools, education settings, education partners, wider stakeholders and the general public.
The consultation on the draft Junior Cycle SPHE curriculum included multiple modes of engagement during the three-month consultation process:
• Online surveys – one each for parents/guardians, teachers and students
• Written submissions
• Teacher focus groups
• Student focus groups
• Round-table consultation event
• Online consultation meeting.
Opportunities to participate in the consultation were promoted in several ways. Notices were placed on ncca.ie, in the NCCA newsletter and on social media platforms as well as being sent to education partners for dissemination to their members. In addition, two information webinars were hosted by the National Parents Council Post Primary to provide an update on SPHE/RSE developments and invite parental participation in the consultation.
In the case of the school-based focus group work, the NCCA posted an open call inviting schools to participate on their website and further disseminated the call through education partners’ organisational communications. Fifteen schools responded expressing interest in participating in the student and teacher voice aspect of the consultation, and five schools were chosen from this list of applicants to reflect a diversity of school types and locations.
Within each school, separate meetings were held with a focus group of 10-12 Transition Year students and with three to five SPHE teachers. In total, 56 students and 22 teachers participated in 10 focus group sessions across the five schools.
Online survey responses were received from 4,343 parents, 142 students and 102 teachers. In addition, written submissions were received from 40 organisations and 55 individuals. 317 emails and letters were also received.
NCCA hosted a round-table consultation event in Collins Barracks on October 6th, which was attended by representatives from over 40 agencies and organisations who work directly in the area of SPHE as well as representatives of groups/agencies who have specific expertise in a particular aspect of SPHE.
In addition, a meeting was held with nine HSE experts working in the areas of youth mental health, physical health, alcohol and substance use, and sexual health, to gather feedback on how these topics are addressed through the learning outcomes within the draft updated course.
The use of a broad range of consultation modes ensured that anyone who wished to contribute to the consultation could do so and led to breadth and depth of feedback on the draft SPHE curriculum. The survey and written submissions facilitated the collection of data from a wide cross-section of respondents, while the face-to-face events supported deeper discussion and exploration of the issues for consideration.
The NCCA published a report on the Junior Cycle consultation which can be found on their website at ncca.ie. In this report, the NCCA stated that the consultation generated huge interest and engagement and that in general, the draft specification was very well received.
Another finding in the report is that with respect to feedback from teachers, students, school leadership, support services and NGOs/agencies, there was unanimous agreement amongst these stakeholders that the proposed course is an important step forward in addressing the needs of adolescents growing up in Ireland today.
It says that while there was undoubtedly criticism of some aspects of the draft specification, a clear consensus emerged through the consultation that the work of developing an updated curriculum that is holistic, student-centred, inclusive and age and developmentally appropriate has largely been achieved in the draft specification.
Written submissions to the consultation are also publicly available on the NCCA’s website from all those bodies who consented for their submissions to be published.
All of the views expressed were considered by the NCCA in the completion of its work finalising the Junior Cycle SPHE Curriculum.
Following the public consultation process, the final updated Junior Cycle SPHE specification was published by the NCCA in May 2023 and will be rolled out in schools from September 2023.
Senior Cycle is next to be redeveloped. A background paper was already published for consultation in October last year, the results of which were published in February 2023. Subsequently, the NCCA opened a consultation on the draft Senior Cycle SPHE curriculum on July 12th 2023. It will run until October 18th 2023. This three month consultation will take feedback from teachers and students as well as other interested groups and individuals and I would encourage anyone with an interest in this area to engage with the consultation and share their views. More information on the consultation process, including how to contribute to it, is available on the NCCA’s website. All feedback and suggestions gathered through the consultation will be considered carefully by the NCCA and will inform the finalisation of the Senior Cycle SPHE course. A report of the process will be published alongside the final specification.
