The Primary School Curriculum has been redeveloped. This month, teachers in primary and special schools will be working with the redeveloped curriculum to support children's learning and development.
To help this process the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) worked with children to create a guide that explains what these changes will mean for them - the Children's Guide to the Redeveloped Primary School Curriculum: What we Learn and How we Learn in School.
Children played an important role in helping to shape these changes by sharing their ideas, and it is important that they continue to have their voices heard as schools and classrooms change in the years ahead.
The child guide contains 11 authentic questions posed by children, as well as answers to these questions in age-appropriate child-friendly language.
The full child guide and more information can be found on the Parents and Children section of the NCCA's website Parents and Children here - Curriculum Online.
Alongside a short video available in both English and Irish, there is also a written guide which can be shared with children.
The child guide was developed to gather and respond to children’s authentic questions about what is going to change for them in the years ahead. NCCA created the Child Guide by speaking to children across Ireland and by working closely with a Children’s Advisory Panel.
This panel was set up to help figure out the best way to gather children’s questions, to choose the final questions used and to help answer them clearly in the guide.
The children were asked about what matters to them and what questions they had about the redeveloped curriculum. They raised many important questions, such as whether their timetable would change, if there would be more learning outdoors, if they would have more time to play and whether they would have more choice in their learning.
The children shared a strong message - they want to learn in ways that are more varied, more enjoyable and that help them succeed.
