asked the Minister for Education if she has issued any guidelines to primary schools as to the proportion of time to be devoted to different subject areas during the school day; if so, if she will publish same.
Written Answers. - Guidelines to Primary Schools.
91.
The present curriculum which is child centred rather than subject centred was introduced in 1971 and replaced the more formal programme of instruction for national schools. It allows a wide measure of freedom for the individual school and the individual teacher.
In keeping with the principles of flexibility and integration inherent in the structure of the curriculum the Department do not lay down specific periods for various curriculum activities but advise that there should be time allocated to each aspect of the curriculum each day. At the time of the new curriculum, inspectors were given broad guidelines on time allocation dealing with different aspects of the curriculum. They in turn discuss these with school principals.
The primary school curriculum is the subject of an overall review at present.