Rebalanced syllabuses
As part of its ongoing review of junior cycle, NCCA has been involved in a process of rebalancing Junior Certificate syllabuses. The aims of rebalancing are to:
- reduce overload within and overlap between subjects, and
- provide more space and time to have the quality of learning engagement with students that teachers would like.
Rebalancing has involved
- rewriting each syllabus to a common template
- writing learning outcomes for each syllabus
- updating each syllabus and removing unnecessary overlap
- lining each syllabus up with changes in the Primary School Curriculum and with any changes at Leaving Certificate
- making minor changes to assessment.
Five subjects have gone through the rebalancing process and, in 2008, were the subject of consultation. Download Consultations on rebalanced syllabuses leaflet (pdf 76k).
These subjects were
There is a web page for each rebalanced syllabus. Click the subject name to go to the page of your choice. A consultation report for each rebalanced subject is also available at each link. A more detailed report on the consultation is also available to download: Report on the rebalanced syllabuses' consultation.
Please note: these rebalanced syllabuses are in draft format, intended for consultation purposes. The existing syllabuses remain unchanged and can be found at www.education.ie or alternatively on the curriculumonline section of our website. To keep up-to-date on this topic and all other areas of NCCA activity, subscribe to info@ncca.
We have begun the rebalancing of seven more junior cycle subjects: Business Studies, Classics, ESS, Gaeilge, Geography, Religous Education and Technical Graphics. We will be consulting with you on these subjects shortly. Keep an eye on this page for further updates!
Publications
Rebalancing the Junior Certificate; Article from info@ncca (January 2009)
Opening Minds; Article from info@ncca (January 2009)
Ringing the changes; Article from info@ncca (April 2008)