NCCA Redevelopment of the Primary Curriculum Seminar
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) held Seminar One, in the process of their redevelopment of the Primary Curriculum (2018), on Wednesday March 21st in the Aisling Hotel Dublin.
Dr Jones Irwin, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Education, gave a keynote presentation entitled ‘Towards a Values-Led Redevelopment of the Primary Curriculum’. The presentation was based on an extended research paper in which Dr Irwin addressed the following questions:
- What is our vision for primary education?
- Is there a philosophy of Irish education and curriculum?
- Child-centred or teacher-centred or both?
- What does a values-led curriculum mean and how does it relate to the values of the respective patron’s programme?
- What are the implications of this research and values-informed analysis for curriculum design, curriculum development and curriculum implementation in the 2018- process?
The day also included an input from NCCA on their Structure and Time curriculum consultation (2017-18) and another keynote, from Dr Thomas Walsh of Maynooth University, which explored the strengths and weaknesses of the 1999 Revised Curriculum. The discussions concluded with a lively panel discussion chaired by Declan Kelleher, entitled ‘reflecting on the learning’, with inputs from teachers and principals from different school contexts in Ireland.
Click here for the programme »
The next Seminar in the Irish curriculum series will take place in Dublin Castle in May. An Expert Group meeting of CIDREE (Consortium of Institutions for Development and Research in Education in Europe) is scheduled for June on the topic of the ‘philosophy of curriculum’, in Dublin, which will also involve delegations from Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.