My Department and I understand the importance of ensuring students and young people gain the life skills needed for them to thrive in their lives and chosen pathways after school. To that end, opportunities for students to acquire the practical adult competencies the Deputy has outlined exist across the school curriculum, at Primary, Junior Cycle, and Senior Cycle levels.
At Primary level, the Primary Curriculum Framework includes seven key competencies designed to empower children ‘to act and make decisions in relation to specific learning experiences, events, and situations’.
"Being an Active Citizen" is one such key competency, and aims to empower children to understand their rights and responsibilities and to engage with local and global issues. Citizenship is embedded within the Wellbeing Curriculum. It seeks to cultivate belonging and active citizenship where children are supported to develop a strong sense of connection and purpose within schools, families, communities and society.
‘Being mathematical’ supports children in applying mathematical thinking and logic in the wider world, while ‘Being a digital learner’ aims to foster curiosity, creativity and responsible technology use and this underpins all aspects of the primary curriculum.
At post-primary level, an updated Junior Cycle Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) specification was published by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in May 2023 and was rolled out for first years in all schools from September 2023.
SPHE aims to equip students with the skills and knowledge to navigate the world around them. It includes learning about social media and the online world, including the benefits and difficulties.
Also at Junior Cycle, the Civil, Social and Political Education (CSPE) short course contributes to building the skills students need to contribute positively to a democratic society and to promote sustainable living. It gives them an understanding of social, economic and political structures at local, national, and global levels and the opportunity to imagine and create ways in which they can make a difference to the lives of individuals and communities.
CSPE is mandatory for all Junior Cycle students and builds on related learning experiences in primary education. It helps students to question, critique, and evaluate what is happening in the world; provides students with an understanding of their human rights and social responsibilities; prompts students to consider how to create a more sustainable future for all; fosters an awareness of what it means to live responsibly in a democracy; and most importantly, it places active reflective citizenship at the centre of the learning process by providing students with the opportunity to take action and influence change around local, national and global issues.
Within the Framework for Junior Cycle, there is an explicit focus on financial wellbeing in Statement of Learning 14 which refers to the student making ‘informed financial decisions and developing good consumer skills”. The eight key skills of Junior Cycle including being numerate, being literate, setting and achieving personal goals and making considered decisions all of which can support financial literacy. In addition, a number of Junior Cycle programmes and subjects provide for the development of specific financial literacy knowledge, understanding and skills. These include Mathematics, Business Studies and Home Economics, and Level 1 and Level 2 Learning Programmes, which target a very specific group of students with general learning disabilities.
Online safety and the safe and ethical use of digital technologies is a key component of the Department’s Digital Strategy for Schools. Under the strategy, Webwise, the Irish Internet Safety Awareness Centre, promotes the autonomous, effective and safe use of the internet through a sustained information and awareness strategy targeting school leaders, teachers, parents and children themselves.
As the Deputy will be aware, my Department is implementing an ambitious programme of reform at Senior Cycle Redevelopment that will empower students to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
The redeveloped senior cycle includes a focus on the development of key student competencies, to support students in becoming more engaged, enriched and competent, as they further develop their knowledge, skills, values and dispositions in an integrated way. This redevelopment is being implemented in five annual tranches from 2025 to 2029, with new and revised specifications introduced for fifth years in each year across that period.
For example, one such competency is Communicating, which aims to help students to communicate meaningfully and effectively. This includes recognising and trying to counteract misinformation and disinformation in various forms
An updated Senior Cycle SPHE specification was approved and published in September 2024. This was introduced in September 2025 for those entering Leaving Certificate Applied, replacing older modules within the LCA Social Education. Schools have until this September to introduce the specification for students entering fifth year of the Leaving Certificate Established programme.
The specification addresses issues that relate to both in person and online relationships including respecting boundaries, and preventing and managing conflict. At Senior Cycle students will also examine how harmful attitudes around gender may be perpetuated in the media, online and in society. They’ll also learn about their rights and responsibilities before the law including in relation to online communication.
The Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme aims to prepare Senior Cycle students for transition from the world of the school to that of adult and working life. To this end, modules are intended to prepare students for apprenticeships, further education, or entry to the world of work. Since September 2022, LCA students have had improved access to LCE Mathematics and Modern Foreign Languages, broadening the options for LCA and facilitating more pathways into further education and training, including apprenticeships.
The Senior Cycle Level 1 and Level 2 Learning Programmes, introduced for the first time in 2024, are tailored to the individual needs of the students and prepare them for life beyond school. For example, the curriculum area of Numeracy enables students to explore and progress their understanding of money as they experience and attend to real-world situations where the use and the concept of money is applied.
A specification for Life, Community and Work (formerly known as LCVP) has also been published, and will be introduced into the curriculum for those starting fifth year in 2026. This specification is composed of two integrated modules: Me and my Future; and Community and Work. As students engage with Life, Community and Work they learn how to make informed decisions as they prepare for their future post-school lives which includes a focus on building workplace and career foundations in addition to active citizenship.
