Education minister Paul Givan has announced a review of the Northern Ireland curriculum, as part of his department’s response to the Independent Review of Education, published in December.
The review will be led by Lucy Crehan, a Wales-based international education consultant and author of the 2016 book Cleverlands: The Secrets Behind the Success of the World’s Education Superpowers.
Mr Givan said: “The independent review is very clear - we have not invested sufficiently in curriculum review, advice or resources. I am giving my assurance that this will change.”
He added that, following Ms Crehan’s review, he wanted “every child to be taught a broad, ambitious and knowledge-rich curriculum”.
In a piece for Tes in May, Ms Crehan looked at the curricula in Scotland, New Zealand and Wales and how they had “moved away from specifying disciplinary knowledge and skills”.
She wrote: “Removing the knowledge from the curriculum framework removes the scaffolding that supports teachers in planning coherent curricula, which, in turn, could support students in achieving...lofty but worthy ideals.”
The curriculum review in Northern Ireland will be accompanied by a new literacy and numeracy strategy, and in the coming weeks Mr Givan intends to publish “a clear and cohesive strategy for education, that sets out in detail my plans for education transformation”.
The education minister said: “Skills derive from the application of knowledge and understanding. By ensuring all children have access to high-quality content, we can bridge gaps in knowledge that often arise from socioeconomic disparities.
“The message is clear: without sufficient and relevant knowledge, children will not become the kind of contributors our society needs.”
Mr Givan set out his response to the Independent Review of Education in a statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday, when he also announced his intention to legislate so that all children remain in education or training until they are 18.
The review of education in Northern Ireland identified an annual gap of £155 million to address the per-pupil funding gap with England and Wales.
Mr Givan said: “Real-term cuts over recent years have had a lasting and detrimental impact on our young learners. I am determined to reverse the legacy of historic underfunding.”
