Ireland Is Rethinking Its Curriculum For Immature Children. Here’S What It Tin Acquire From Other Countries

By Derek Grant, Claire Reidy as well as Arlene Forster
National Council for Curriculum as well as Assessment (NCCA), Ireland

Photo credit: Aaron Burden/Unsplash
Changes are on the horizon for students inward Ireland, where for the origin fourth dimension inward twenty years, stakeholders are reconsidering what (and how) children should larn inward province principal schools.

Much has changed inward Irish Gaelic society, classrooms as well as educational policy over the final 2 decades, as well as the skills that today’s children necessitate to educate stimulate got transformed, every bit well. Ireland’s review as well as redevelopment of the principal curriculum, marks an of import chance for the terra firma to visit how the curriculum for this stage of teaching tin best fix children for an uncertain futurity – and, importantly, ready on what they learned inward preschool. 

Continuity inward curricula betwixt early on childhood teaching as well as tending (ECEC) as well as principal schoolhouse is critical to edifice on what children larn inward preschool – but it is non e'er slow to achieve. Whereas ECEC curricula tend to promote a residual betwixt teaching as well as care, principal schoolhouse curricula tend to stimulate got a stronger focus on academic content, with specific goals or standards for each age. To ensure greater continuity inward curriculum, as well as to ameliorate sympathise its implications, policy makers inward Republic of Ireland volition necessitate to pull on enterprise inquiry evidence, every bit good every bit practise testify from diverse schools as well as settings.

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 novel working paper published past times the OECD, as well as funded past times the National Council for Curriculum as well as Assessment (NCCA), makes an of import contribution to this testify base. In 7 instance studies, the newspaper details how curriculum policies inward other jurisdictions back upward continuity betwixt ECEC as well as early on principal education, thereby offering a hit of dissimilar approaches for Republic of Ireland to visit every bit it reforms its curriculum.
Curriculum tin play an of import component subdivision inward promoting continuity inward children’s educational experiences. 
In Nippon as well as New Jersey, for example, ECEC as well as principal schoolhouse adhere to dissever curricula. Yet both teaching systems brand efforts to promote continuity betwixt ECEC as well as principal schoolhouse inward dissimilar ways, including through cooperation with dissimilar authorities agencies. On the other terminate of the spectrum are countries similar Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as well as Scotland, where ECEC as well as principal schoolhouse curricula are closely integrated. As the newspaper notes, however, it is non slow to pull conclusions nearly the affect as well as effectiveness of these dissimilar policy approaches. 

As nosotros visit how to best back upward continuity for immature children inward Ireland, approaches that autumn inward closer to the middle of this continuum may hold out most informative. For instance, the ECEC curriculum inward New Zealand, known every bit Te Whāriki, is dissever from the curriculum used inward principal school; but strands of Te Whāriki, stand upward for to fundamental competences inward the principal curriculum, thereby providing learners as well as teachers with a clear feel of continuity as well as direction. Both curricula likewise contribute to continuity through a shared focus on ongoing as well as lifelong learning. 

Republic of Ireland could likewise pull insights from Norway, where the principal curriculum is currently undergoing adjustments to to a greater extent than closely align with the ECEC curriculum. The 2 curricula portion mutual purposes as well as values, as well as learning areas identified inward the ECEC curriculum reverberate the subjects inward the principal curriculum. Norway’s approach demonstrates that alignment inward learning tin occur without using traditional academic disciplines inward ECEC curricula. 

As the newspaper makes clear, curriculum tin play an of import component subdivision inward promoting continuity inward children’s educational experiences as well as supporting their transition from ECEC to principal school. As teaching systems proceed to flora stronger links across ECEC as well as principal schoolhouse curricula, they volition likewise stimulate got to monitor the implementation process, which is an ongoing challenge for many. 

It is of import to note, however, that all curricula are the products of broader teaching systems, as well as are so shaped past times political as well as socio-cultural contexts. Approaches that travel inward 1 terra firma or jurisdiction may examine less effective inward Ireland. But Republic of Ireland tin nevertheless larn from the experiences described inward our paper, as well as perchance suit only about strategies to its ain political as well as social environment. By successfully incorporating continuity inward curriculum, the benefits for Ireland’s youngest children could hold out tremendous.     


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