Redeveloping the primary school curriculum in Ireland
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Loading... - Luna Alfaro
- 31 Jan 2023
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This case study focuses on the journey and progress to date within the Irish education system to redevelop the national primary school curriculum.[1] While the redevelopment process focuses on all aspects of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, a particular focus is placed on elements relating to whole-child development. Central to this is an exploration of provisions for enhanced child and teacher agency regarding curriculum and pedagogy in classrooms and schools. The key tensions in the shift from a detailed and prescriptive curriculum to a curriculum framework—and the interface with policy and discourses prioritizing literacy and numeracy while maintaining an emphasis on whole child development—are explored.
Three key themes have emerged from the case study analysis. First, system-wide involvement by stakeholders has underpinned, informed, and enrichened the redevelopment process from the outset. Second, the redevelopment process has positioned the entire education system as a “learning system,” conceptualizing all stakeholders as both contributors and learners in the reform journey. Third, a shift in understanding what a curriculum is and what it “does” has been prompted by the move away from a traditional detailed objective-based format to a learning outcomes-based curriculum framework. Collectively, the redevelopment process proposes the decentralization of many elements of curriculum-making and enactment, highlighting the paramountcy of teacher and child agency. Read More…
