New Junior Cycle
The framework for a new Junior Cycle was announced in 2012, and the new Junior Cycle began with English for all first year students in September 2014, and this was examined for the first time in 2017.
Science and Business Studies were introduced in 2016 and the new curriculum will be examined in 2019.
Irish,Art and Modern Languages were introduced in 2017, and will be examined in 2020.
Subjects will be introduced on the following schedule:
Subject Introduced to first years First recorded on JCPA
Maths, History, Geography, Music and
Home Economics Sept 2018 Autumn 2021
Technology, Classics,
Religious Education Sept 2019 Autumn 2022
The Minister for Education and Skills outlined five principles for the new Junior Cycle:
- The need to recognise a wide range of learning
- A requirement to considerably reduce the focus on one terminal exam as a means of assessing our students
- The necessity to give prominence and importance to classroom based assessment
- Greater professional collaboration between teachers to be a feature of our schools
- Both parents and students to get a broader picture of each student's learning throughout the whole of junior cycle
Students will receive a Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA) which will be a more comprehensive report on all the student's learning and achievements over the three year junior cycle. There will be classroom based assessments and there will be final examinations. The final examinations (at the end of Third Year) will be marked externally by the State Examinations Commission (as are the current Junior Certificate examinations.) Subjects will be introduced on the following schedule:
Further information on each subject can be found by clicking on the link below:
http://curriculumonline.ie
www.ncca.ie
www.jct.ie