Senior Cycle Redevelopment Partners’ Forum met to discuss implementation progress

Yesterday, 20 February 2024, the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Partners’ Forum held its sixth meeting to discuss the implementation of Senior Cycle Redevelopment. The Minister for Education, Norma Foley, established the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Partners’ Forum in April 2023.

At the meeting of the Forum members welcomed the inaugural Senior Cycle Redevelopment Conference taking place on Tuesday 27 February in Croke Park. The Conference will be a timely opportunity to inform and prepare school leaders in planning for the implementation of Senior Cycle curriculum changes. Officials provided updates to the Forum on progress in the development of Senior Cycle specifications, assessment materials and teacher professional development. The members welcomed the continued progress on the redevelopment programme.

Members were encouraged to engage with the consultation on new and revised Leaving Certificate subjects to be introduced in schools in 2025. Consultations on draft specifications for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Arabic, Ancient Greek, and Latin will close on 23 February 2024. The consultations for draft specifications for Drama, Film and Theatre Studies, Climate Action and Sustainable Development, and Business will close on 5 April 2024. Submissions on the consultations can be made on the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment website.

Members of the Forum welcomed the progress made on draft modules for Level1 and Level 2 Learning Programmes for students with additional educational needs and noted that these are available for consultation until 10 April 2024.

Schools will be supported in implementing Senior Cycle Redevelopment with dedicated Teacher Professional Learning being designed by Oide, the new support service for teachers and school leaders. The Forum members reviewed proposals from Oide on the design of this new programme of support and provided initial feedback to Oide officials on its contents. The Forum welcomed the commitment by Oide to engage with partners in the ongoing design and review of the professional learning programme.

The Forum will meet again on 24 April 2024.

The purpose of the Partners’ Forum is to facilitate information exchange and to provide informed insights on the implementation of Senior Cycle Redevelopment. Membership consists of various education stakeholders including representative bodies for students, parents, and teachers.

The Senior Cycle Redevelopment Partners’ Forum is a representative stakeholder engagement group to underpin the collaboration necessary to support implementation and, address and discuss issues pertaining to the implementation of the redevelopment of Senior Cycle as they evolve.

The core functions of the Partners’ Forum are to:

• facilitate information exchange on progress, implementation challenges and work streams in relation to the implementation of Senior Cycle Redevelopment
• provide informed insights into the implementation of the Senior Cycle Redevelopment programme

The Forum’s membership includes representatives of a wide range of stakeholders including students, parents, teachers, and school management, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and other relevant organisations.

The Forum provides reports at least twice yearly to the Minister for Education on the work of the Forum which shall include setting out the views of its membership in regard to the implementation of the Senior Cycle Redevelopment programme of work.

Oide is the new support service for teachers and school leaders, funded by the Department of Education. It was established in September 2023, following the integration of the Centre for School Leadership, Junior Cycle for Teachers, the National Induction Programme for Teachers and the Professional Development Service for Teachers services. Further information and contact details for Oide are available on the Oide website.