Press Release
Date: Friday 31 May 2002 (NR/18/02)
“PUT EDUCATION FIRST – NOT THE INSTITUTIONS” SAYS CURRICULUM BODY
The body responsible for advising government here on what should be taught and assessed in our schools has made its response to the Report of the Post-primary Review Body (Burns Report).
The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) proposals stress that the real driver for educational change should be an agreed vision for what is taught in our schools. Once that is agreed then school structures can follow. The CCEA response also examines each of the main proposals made by the Review Body for Post-primary Education.
Commenting on CCEA’s response, Chairman of the Council, Dr Alan Lennon said:
We believe that a number of very important factors will lead to significant change in post-primary education. They include: a radically new curriculum; a substantial decline in pupil numbers; rapid technological development; and the requirement for major investment in infrastructure.
Both the Grammar and Secondary sectors in Northern Ireland have produced excellent results over many years. However, we believe that the historical approach to the curriculum and the traditional model of Grammar and Secondary schools is not appropriate for the 21st Century.
At present CCEA is involved in a major review of the Northern Ireland curriculum. If implemented these radical proposals will lead to very significant changes in what is taught in our schools and how it is taught.
Amongst our proposals is an innovative early years programme specially designed to stimulate the desire to learn, offset the impact of social deprivation and close the present gender performance gap.
The changes proposed will also increase the range of choice available to young people at post-primary level, and will encourage greater flexibility between various educational pathways.
We believe that post-primary structural models should emerge from local communities deciding what meets their needs and the broadest educational needs of their children. We anticipate that different models may emerge in rural and urban communities reflecting issues of geography and population density and we suggest that the only underpinning constraint be the ability to deliver the curriculum model proposed. It is for this reason that we advocate flexibility in selection criteria.
Turning to the specific proposals of the Review Body, Dr Lennon continued:
CCEA recognises the important role the Review Body has played in promoting this crucial debate. In particular we note the extent to which our own thinking on the impact of new ideas for curriculum and assessment is reflected in their report.
Collegiates
Our curriculum proposals will have significant implications for the size and scope of schools. School rationalisation will be inevitable. While the collegiate concept proposed by the Post-primary Review Body has merit, we believe that the full range of curriculum choice would best be offered to all pupils within the same institution, or within a small cluster of institutions under the same management control.
Selection
We envisage curriculum change as the key driver towards the elimination of the need for selection. The transformation of the post-primary sector envisaged in our response will take a number of years, determined by delivery of the new curriculum, technological change and reorganisation of schools, taking into account demographic and other issues.
Pupil Profiles
We welcome the ideas on the Pupil Profile developed by the
Review Body. We anticipate that the pupil profile built on 7/8 years of top
quality information and professional judgment in primary school will inform
parents of children’s strengths and aptitudes. However we do not believe
that the profile will be sufficiently transparent or offer a sufficiently
high level of accountability to be used as a selection instrument in a high
stakes context.
Interim Measures
We speculate that over-subscribed schools will continue to exist at least
until the changes proposed by CCEA are largely in place. In this transition
period we believe that matching of schools and children should be based on
educational criteria, although not necessarily by means of a centrally organised
and administered selection system.
CCEA’s full response to “Education for the 21st Century” and their proposals for the new Northern Ireland curriculum, can be viewed on their web site: - www.ccea.org.uk
Media enquiries to Ruth Maguire on (028) 9026 1216, Mobile 07796947993. E mail rhmaguire@ccea.org.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors
CCEA is the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.
CCEA places learners and those who have a concern for their educational and personal development at the forefront of its thinking. CCEA's mission is:
"To enable the full potential of all learners to be achieved and recognised"
What we do
CCEA is a unique educational body in the UK , bringing together the three areas of curriculum, examinations and assessment.
Advising Government – on what should be taught in Northern Ireland ’s schools and colleges.
Monitoring Standards – ensuring that the qualifications and examinations offered by awarding bodies in Northern Ireland are of an appropriate quality and standard.
Awarding Qualifications
– as Northern Ireland’s leading awarding body we offer a diverse range of qualifications, such as GCSEs, including the new GCSE Double Award specifications in vocational subjects, GCE A and AS levels, Entry Level Qualifications, and Graded Objectives in Modern Languages.
- CCEA also offers a range of Awards and Certificates in Education, Training and Skills (ACETS) targeted at learners who want to get
the knowledge, understanding and skills needed
to hit the ground running in the world of work.
