Consultation: Structure and Time in the Primary Curriculum

The primary curriculum has provided a strong foundation for teaching and learning since it was published in 1999. Since then, research, reviews and evaluations have highlighted many strengths of the curriculum as well as challenges. It was a curriculum of its time. These are changing and different times. Recently we have been thinking about five to seven years from now. How should our primary curriculum be structured? Should we still use subjects from junior infants to sixth class? Is there a better way to think about how we use time across the curriculum?

These are some of the questions that many of you considered and responded to during a consultation, including a major consultative conference, which took place from January to April 2017.

People were encouraged to have their say by:

attending a focus group for teachers in one of the selected Education Centres
completing our online questionnaire
completing a written submission
attending our Consultative Event in Dublin Castle on March 28th

The findings from this initial consultation will now be analysed and used to map the direction for future work on the redevelopment of the primary school curriculum. There will be updates on this work, so don’t forget to check back in!