Senior Cycle Curriculum and Assessment Anne Looney CEO National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

Current Provision? ProgrammeStructureAssessmentQualification Transition Year FlexibleNone LCAUnitisedUnitised/ terminal Major 4-5 LCVPLinear plusTerminal plus Major 4-5 LCELinearTerminalMajor 4-5

TY and LCA/LCE/LCVP The Y model as traditionally understood A version of Option Four already exists in some schools! Provision of TY and LCA is relatively rare; students offered one but not both Degree of student choice can be limited by schools

LCE Linear Based on the traditional academic curriculum – Based on division of school knowledge and everyday knowledge – An assumption that school knowledge is superior – Associated with communities of specialists

LCA Pre-vocational Unitised in curriculum provision, with some requirement Ring-fenced programme, ring-fenced students Most unitised is the least flexible Challenging for schools

The skills issue At home in the LCE? – LCVP as an add on that does include a skills emphasis At home in the LCA? – Underlying principles mention only literacy and numeracy skills – Assessment of tasks that cause the greatest problems for schools Skills….. In a knowledge society

The ‘connected’ curriculum New kinds of skills and knowledge that connect to ‘real life’ A responsive system that can connect to the demands of change ‘bite-size’ chunks that connect to the progress of the learner Connected to students otherwise excluded A powerful rhetoric……..

‘Disconnected curriculum’ Disconnected from the power of the explanatory and the theoretical Disconnected from the unthinkable! Disconnected from diversity Disconnected from the big picture…..

Development at Junior Cycle Work began on overload and overlap Looking across subjects was problematic Comparisons were not feasible Syllabus Template Project – Five subjects – A common framework – A common language – A common value AFL A project of unitisation?

Challenges Curriculum, Assessment and Qualification – Our reforms generally begin with curriculum. – What happens if we work from the other direction The demands on learners – Further advantages to the advantaged The grammar of schooling