Latest news with #NationalCouncilforCurriculumandAssessment
RTÉ News
16-05-2025
- General
- RTÉ News
New Leaving Cert course aims to encourage climate activism
A new Leaving Certificate subject aims to encourage students to become activists on issues related to climate change, developing "a realistic and hopeful perspective on the nature of action", according to the course designers. Fifth year students across an initial 43 schools will become the first to study Climate Change and Sustainable Development when it is introduced in their schools in September. A national rollout of the subject will begin in 2027. The subject aims to develop students' capacity for "informed and meaningful action for a just and sustainable world" as they engage with key sustainability challenges, including the climate crisis, according to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). The subject will be multi-disciplinary, encompassing areas of science, geography and other disciplines. It will be grounded, the NCCA said, in scientific evidence and in human rights principles. A key attraction for many students will be the fact that 40% of marks will be awarded for an "action project" based on a brief that will be set out annually by the State Examinations Commission. According to the NCCA, the action project provides students with an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts and principles they have learned throughout the course, while also employing the practical strategies and thinking they have developed to learn to take action in the area of climate action and sustainable development. Kinsale Community School is among the 43 schools that will pilot the new subject from September. Education around sustainability has been a key extracurricular activity at the school for a number of years, prompted by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. "When we came out of Covid we found that the students were really quiet, they were really withdrawn. They weren't inclined to talk in class and that really concerned us," Deputy Principal Kathleen O'Brien said. Having watched students prior to the pandemic become involved in the international student protest movement led by Greta Thunberg, Kinsale Community School decided to capitalise on this. "We had these amazing students protesting outside City Hall [in Cork city] about climate issues and I felt that our students should have the opportunity within our school to learn about this stuff, to become more informed and empowered," Ms O'Brien said. "I felt we should develop activists within our walls, so we decided to focus on sustainability, and it's been huge for students' self-efficacy and personal development. They have come out of themselves." Ms O'Brien has been centrally involved with the NCCA in designing the new course. The most unusual feature of the new subject is its focus on activism. For a formal school subject this is a new departure, and it is one that Ms O'Brien welcomes. "The fact that students can now study this subject is absolutely amazing and it's going to change lives. We need students who will become activists. "Through doing this course they are going to become really informed and learn that by taking small actions they can make a difference," she said. Ms O'Brien refers too to what she calls a "huge amount of eco-anxiety" among students. This is evident when speaking to students at the school. We met Transition Year and other students who were working in the school's greenhouse, potting up tomato and basil seedlings. In the sunlit central courtyard by the greenhouse, the mood was relaxed and it didn't feel remotely like school. However, when it came to climate change these students were serious. "I'm really pretty worried about climate change," student Skye Sheedy said. "I get a lot of eco-anxiety when I hear stuff all over the media about our environment and the future." "It's the factories, the fossil fuels, I'm scared for our future and the future for our grandchildren, that the world will be destroyed for them," TY student Caoimhe Finnegan said. Caoimhe intends to take up the new subject when she goes into fifth year in September, so do Lia Darcy and Matthew Colohan. "I'm really excited about the activism side, about making my voice heard, making people listen, making politicians listen to the young people about our future," Lia Darcy said. She added: "It's our duty to change. If we don't change in this generation, it's going to start deteriorating." Matthew agreed, saying: "The project work really attracts me, but also making a difference." To Skye's regret the new subject has come too late for her as she already in fifth year. "I really wish I could do this subject," she said. "I love the projects and reaching out to people. I feel like when I'm doing practical things it helps me de-stress." Ms O'Brien feels this is one aim of the course, channelling student anxiety into positive action will empower them and give them hope. The NCCA specification for the subject talks about enabling students "to recognise their own agency, grow in confidence to influence change and increase their capacity to act". But what about academic standards? Is the subject going to be academically rigorous? Both the action project, worth 40%, and the written exam, worth the remaining 60%, will - like all other Leaving Certificate subjects - be assessed by the State Examinations Commission.
Irish Examiner
13-05-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
Experiences of Traveller children in school more negative as they progress through system
Traveller children become less likely to have a positive attitude towards school and are substantially more likely to be placed in the lowest ability groups for both reading and maths. In the early years of primary school, Traveller children generally showed similar, or even higher, levels of positive attitudes towards school, the curriculum, and wellbeing when compared to their peers. However, a 'concerning pattern of decline emerges' as they progress to the senior end of primary school, as they become much less likely than their classmates to report doing well. They are also more likely to believe they are "no good" when it comes to classwork. Irish Traveller children also report experiencing bullying, both being bullied and bullying others, at higher rates than any other ethnic group. However, despite these challenges, Traveller children are also less likely to report feeling worried or anxious, and have slightly more positive views on friendships in some cases. The findings are included in the latest round of data published by the 'Children's School Lives' study, a landmark report following 4,000 students through almost 200 primary schools around the country. Funded by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the latest report from the project examines the impact of migration and ethnicity on children's school lives. While children in Irish primary schools generally feel happy, cared for, and safe, that equality of experience is not yet universal. More than 21% of children in the study had an immigrant background; 6% were first-generation immigrants, meaning they were born outside of Ireland to parents also born outside of Ireland, while 15% were second-generation, meaning they were born in Ireland to parents born outside of Ireland. The number of Irish Traveller children who took part in the study is comparable to representation of Irish Travellers in the general population, the report notes. Feelings of belonging in school were significantly associated with migrant and ethnic profile, the report found. Children with an immigrant background, especially those who were first-generation, were less likely than their non-immigrant peers to report that they made friends easily, feel that they belonged in school or were liked by other children at school. In the earlier years of primary school, Traveller children generally showed similar or even higher levels of positive attitudes towards school, engagement with the curriculum, and wellbeing compared to their white Irish peers. However, as they progressed more negative experiences "predominate". The report recommends a policy focus on the transition of Traveller children into the senior end of primary school and on "the systems of support that are required to build on the positive momentum evident in the earlier years". Read More Poorer girls more likely to be placed in lowest maths ability groups, research shows
Irish Times
01-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Leaving Cert textbook author resigns from curriculum reform group amid ‘dumbing down' concerns
A university lecturer and author of Leaving Cert textbooks on construction studies has resigned from a group tasked with redeveloping the subject over claims that the new syllabus is being 'dumbed down'. Trevor Hickey, associate professor and course director of the teacher education programme for construction studies at University of Limerick , was a member of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment 's (NCCA) subject development group. Construction studies, studied by more than 10,000 Leaving Certificate students each year, has not been updated since it was introduced in 1983. A new curriculum is being developed and scheduled to roll out for fifth-year students from September 2026. Mr Hickey told the NCCA that he was 'very concerned' that while the current syllabus had a significant amount of applied science content, the latest draft was 'hardly recognisable to me as a Stem [science, technology, maths and engineering] subject. READ MORE 'If the current draft proceeds as is, in future some third-level courses may not accept construction studies for matriculation on to third-level Stem programmes,' he said. The original construction studies syllabus, he said, included references to 'fundamental scientific concepts and knowledge that underpin the design of buildings', such as heat and thermal effects. This original vision of construction studies as a Stem subject has been 'all but abandoned in the proposed draft', he said. A significant majority of the subject development group, Mr Hickey said, wished the subject to become a 'Leaving Cert version of Junior Cycle wood technology'. Yet, trainee teachers were coming through the University of Limerick on 'very high points' and 'more than capable of delivering a scientific and technological version of construction studies that reflects the latest advances in the industry,' he said. 'If action is not taken now the future of version of this subject will be a missed opportunity; one we have been waiting for since 1983,' Mr Hickey said. 'Let us not forget that Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis.' The industry had been rocked 'in recent memory by boom and bust cycles', he said, and by 'building scandals' such as defective apartments. 'We have here a unique opportunity to educate the next generation of young people on how to design and build homes' In response to his concerns, the NCCA's chief executive Arlene Forster told Mr Hickey by letter last December that the council worked closely with 'teachers, students and school leaders to gather their experiences of working with [construction studies], and their hopes and aspirations for a redeveloped specification.' She said further consultation and engagement with schools and the wider public was planned during 2025 to allow others to share their perspectives and contribute to updating the subject. [ Leaving Cert reforms to press ahead this year despite union opposition Opens in new window ] Ms Forster's letter also states that while many students use their Leaving Cert results for matriculation purposes, subject specifications are not designed specifically for matriculation. 'They are designed for broader educational purposes and the decision to allow a specific subject or not to be used for matriculation purposes for Stem programmes rests with higher education institutions,' she wrote. Each post-primary subject development group working on senior cycle education includes nominees from the teachers' unions, school management bodies, the Department of Education, the State Examinations Commission, and further and higher education interests.
