[EDLING:419] Irish as Full or Half Course for Senior-Cycle Students

[Francis M Hult]

http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/LPRU/newsarchive/Art4743.txt

Curriculum Council May Offer Irish As Full or Half Course
to Senior-Cycle Students

John Downes
The Irish Times
Oct. 29, 2004
Ireland; Other Stories
10


Senior-cycle students may be able to choose whether they
want to study Irish as a full or half course under radical
new proposals currently being discussed by the National
Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

Under the proposed plans, which are still in draft form,
students of the new senior cycle will study a mix of 45-
hour-long transition units, short courses equivalent to
half a subject, and core subjects.

However in a controversial move, Irish language appears as
a short course and not a full subject in a sample two-year
programme of study distributed at a meeting of the council
yesterday. This means it is placed in the same group as
European literature in translation, Italian language and
media and communication.

The programme, which is tailored to a student who is
particularly interested in languages, lists Spanish,
mathematics, history, art and English as core subjects.

It was unclear last night whether students would be obliged
to take certain subjects such as Irish, English and
mathematics under the new plans, which are still at an
early stage.

It is also possible that students could combine a number of
short courses, such as Irish language or Irish literature,
which together could equal a full subject.

Irish appears as a full course in the sample three-year
programme also distributed at the meeting. The sample two-
year programme however indicates that the curriculum
council is considering changing Irish to a half course.

Under the proposed plans, both short courses and core
subjects will count for CAO points and will be examined
externally.

Assessment of transition units will be built into the
teaching of the unit, but will not count for CAO points. It
is understood that students of a two-year cycle will be
required to complete at least one transition unit, while
those studying three-year cycles will be expected to
complete more.

However, it is also unclear whether three-year courses will
be equivalent to two-year courses and if core subjects will
entail as many hours teaching as has been the case to date.

Typical transition units include art appreciation, learning
management, school magazines, peace studies, mini-companies
and work shadowing. These are broadly similar to many of
the topics currently studied by transition year students
here.

Students at senior cycle will be expected to have
encountered at least six "key skills". These are learning
to learn, information processing, personal effectiveness,
communication, critical thinking and working with others.

The aim of the new senior cycle will be to take account of
how such skills are embedded within a student's particular
choice of subjects.

The proposed "skillometer", whose name may be subject to
change, will then display the extent to which a student has
encountered each of the key skills during his or her
senior-cycle programme of study.

Short courses, equivalent to 90 hours of teaching, will
include modules on personal health and education, science
and society, urban studies, European literature in
translation and sport studies. However, it has not yet been
decided how many short and/or long courses will count
towards a student's final mark.