Report on the Consultation with Children on the Draft Primary Curriculum.

Abstract

In March 2020 Marino Institute of Education successfully tendered for a research project, commissioned by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), to consult with children on their views of the Draft Primary Curriculum Framework. This reflects an educational policy focus on the voice of the child as observed by The Chief Inspector’s Report 2016-2020. It noted “the active inclusion of student voice in policy-making has been a notable change in educational policy development.” (Dept of Education, 2022, p.3). The context for the consultation is primary curriculum review and redevelopment leading to the development of a new primary school curriculum. The Draft Primary Curriculum Framework was published in February 2020. Children from pre-school settings, primary school and the first year of secondary school were consulted on what they liked, disliked, and would change about learning in school. Amongst other questions, children were asked about how they like to learn, whether they felt they had autonomy or were given choices in school and about their priorities for learning in the 21st century. Teachers in the schools collected the data and returned audio recordings, drawings and worksheets to the research team. Online questionnaires were returned online by each individual research participant. Teachers were provided with online training and ongoing support to engage with the research project.