Project Description
In November 2023, Marino Institute of Education successfully tendered for a research project, commissioned by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), to consult with children on their views about their experience of curriculum. This Consultation with children as part of the redevelopment of the Primary School Curriculum, progresses from a previous study, a consultation with children at the time of the Draft Primary Curriculum Framework, published in June 2022. Like the previous study, this project involved engaging with children around their experience of curriculum in school. Fifteen schools comprise the sample for the consultation with children around the six key messages of the redeveloped Primary curriculum. The research study was conducted in two phases. In phase one, group interviews with children were carried out by the research team, two classes in each of the fifteen schools. The second phase of the research study involved a series of seven case studies, conducted in seven schools chosen from the same original sample of fifteen schools. These were carried out to gain in-depth knowledge of children’s experience of the five curriculum areas: Language, Science, Technology, and Engineering Education (STE); Wellbeing; Social and Environmental Education (SEE); and Arts Education. Two of the seven case studies focused on the views of children with additional needs and children from the Travelling Community.
The context for the consultation is the development of the Draft Primary Curriculum Specifications, content for the redeveloped primary curriculum. The Primary Curriculum Framework was published in March 2023. The curriculum specifications for each curriculum area are currently being devised through consultation with various stakeholders. It is hoped that the findings from this research study will inform the final curriculum specifications. As per the previous study, (Kiely et al, 2022), the six key messages underpinning the new Primary Curriculum Framework formed the basis for the questions put to the children. They include as follows: 1. Building on the strengths of the 1999 curriculum and responding to challenges arising from it. 2. Supporting agency and flexibility in schools 3. Building connections between pre-school, primary and post-primary schools 4. Emerging priorities for children’s learning 5. Changing how the curriculum is structured and presented 6. Supporting a variety of pedagogical approaches and strategies with assessment central to teaching and learning The research team collected both sets of data (phase one: Fifteen schools; phase two: seven schools) in schools. This differed from the previous consultation with children in 2022, whereby classroom teachers collected the data. Because the previous study took place as schools emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to limit the numbers of external personnel entering schools and so teachers were upskilled to collect the data through online training workshops and support from the research team.
Funder
National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA)
Research team
Outputs
https://ncca.ie/media/2dyboryp/consultation_with_children_report.pdf