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Press Releases

View our most recent press releases here.

11 December 2020

The first two reports from the Children’s School Lives study are published today on the website www.cslstudy.ie. The Year One Report introduces us to the children and schools behind Children’s School Lives while a second report ‘Experiences of Remote Teaching and Learning in Ireland During the COVID-19 Pandemic (March – May 2020) provides insights into the impact of the extended school closure earlier this year on children, parents, teachers and school leaders.

16 October 2019

On Wednesday 16th October, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) hosts a national consultation forum in Croke Park, Dublin. Participants will engage with and respond to ideas emerging from its senior cycle review to date. The forum is part of an ongoing public consultation on the vision for senior cycle education emerging from NCCA’s review of senior cycle education which commenced in late 2016.

 30 May 2018

Report looks at ways to help children who face greater challenges
The ERSI today published a new study commissioned by NCCA. The vast majority of five year olds are positive about school, look forward to going to school and say good things about school. The study uses Growing Up in Ireland data to examine how 9,000 children adjusted to primary school. It did this by examining their vocabulary skills; their early literacy and numeracy skills; their attitudes to school, their relationships with teachers, and their socio-emotional skills, which include being able to concentrate in class, communicate their needs and to take turns/share with other children. The report also suggests a number of ways to help all children settle in well to primary school. The report is available now on NCCA.ie and ESRI.ie

March 28th 2017

On Tuesday 28th March 2017, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) welcomes 250 teachers, principals and other education partners to a consultative conference in Dublin Castle. Part of the ongoing consultation on the shape and direction of a redeveloped primary school curriculum, the event is designed to engage delegates in discussion and debate on the curriculum for this critical phase in children’s education. This consultation is the first time, in almost twenty years, that those working in primary education have had an opportunity to consider the structure of the curriculum, what it is comprised of and how time is organised across it.

 

February 14th 2017

A Consultation Report on the proposals for a primary curriculum in Education about Religions and Beliefs (ERB) and Ethics was published today by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). The consultation received the highest response rate recorded by the NCCA and the report shows significant support for the types of teaching and learning outlined by the proposals. The report along with supporting documentation is available.

 

October 24th 2016

Professor Andy Hargreaves, a world renowned expert in educational change and leadership, visits Ireland this week to meet with teachers, stakeholder organisations, curriculum designers and policy makers. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is delighted to host Professor Andy Hargreaves, Thomas More Brennan Chair at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College. In partnership with the Department of Education and Skills (DES), the Teaching Council of Ireland and other education partners, NCCA will facilitate a series of events under the theme Leadership for Learning. Teachers, education organisations, curriculum designers and policy makers attending these events will get the chance to meet and engage with Professor Hargreaves.

 

May 11th 2013

Research Alive - Teachers and Educational Research

Research Alive, a collaboration between the Centre for Effective Services (CES), the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and the Teaching Council, holds a one-day conference for teachers, researchers and policymakers on teachers and educational research in Coláiste Bríde, Clondalkin. In a survey earlier this year, more than 4,000 teachers showed a real appetite to engage with the issue of how to use findings from research to help shape their practice.

 

November 29th 2012

Member of Advisory Board to Barack Obama Advises Irish Educators on Teaching Mathematics.

Professor Deborah Ball, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan, visits Ireland this week to meet with curriculum designers, teacher educators, policymakers and teachers about improving teacher education and mathematics education in this country. The visit comes just two weeks after President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint Professor Ball to the National Science Board in the United States.

 

Project Maths Research and Evaluation

Prof. Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan will launch three research reports about Project Maths in the Marino Institute of Education in Dublin at the end of a conference on teaching, learning and mathematics to be held at the Institute tomorrow. This is the first set of research reports published about Project Maths, the ambitious reform of curriculum, assessment and teaching and learning in post-primary mathematics currently underway.


November 3rd 2011

Minister Quinn backs National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) proposals for junior cycle reform

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today officially launched proposals which will see radical changes in the way Junior Cycle students are taught and assessed in second level schools. The NCCA proposals will address the problems of rote learning and curriculum overload while providing for greater creativity and innovation.