Curriculum Change within Policy and Practice

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Perspectives on Junior Cycle Reform

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Reforming Curriculum: Policy Optimism Meets Practice

      • Damian Murchan, Keith Johnston

      Pages 3-19

   3. Teachers’ and Parents’ Perspectives on Curriculum Reform

      • Melanie Ní Dhuinn, Chris Byrne, Mark Prendergast

      Pages 21-41

   4. Student Voice in Curriculum Reform: Whose Voices, Who’s Listening?

      • Paula Flynn, Nóirín Hayes

      Pages 43-59

   5. Media/ting Educational Reform: Junior Cycle Reform in the Media

      • Ann Devitt

      Pages 61-81

3. Reforming Curriculum and Pedagogy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-83

      PDF

   2. Key Skills in the Context of Twenty-First-Century Teaching and Learning

      • Keith Johnston

      Pages 85-104

   3. Opportunities and Challenges in the Reform of Junior Cycle Language Curricula

      • Ann Devitt, Noel Ó Murchadha

      Pages 105-124

   4. Reforming Junior Cycle: Lessons from Project Maths

      • Chris Byrne, Mark Prendergast, Elizabeth Oldham

      Pages 125-142

   5. Putting the A in STEAM: Arts Education in Junior Cycle

      • Susan McCormick, Marita Kerin

      Pages 143-159

   6. Bearding the Lion: Reforming Assessment in Junior Cycle

      • Damian Murchan

      Pages 161-187

4. Planning and Implementing Change

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 189-189

      PDF

   2. The Politics of Educational Reform

      • Clive Byrne

      Pages 191-208

   3. The Junior Cycle Reform from a Comparative Perspective: Assessment as Curriculum Practice According to Irish, Finnish and Swedish Teachers

      • Maija Salokangas, Wieland Wermke, Gerry Harvey

      Pages 209-227

   4. Leading Organisational Change to Support Junior Cycle Reform

      • Eileen O’Connor, Damian Murchan

      Pages 229-254

   5. Junior Cycle Reform: Looking Forward

      • Keith Johnston, Damian Murchan

      Pages 255-267

5. Back Matter

   Pages 269-277

   PDF

This book explores how curriculum reform is interconnected with policy, practice and society. Curriculum reform is increasingly associated with efforts to better the lives of citizens and provide a competitive edge to national prosperity. Educational policy and practice have been the subject of unprecedented convergence worldwide in the quest for so-called 21st century skills. This book offers a case study of curriculum reform within the Republic of Ireland, focusing on antecedents, processes and outcomes of government efforts to evoke fundamental curriculum realignment at lower secondary level. Set against a backdrop of fluctuating economic fortunes and concerns about academic standards and educational equity, this volume has wider relevance beyond Ireland for any system undertaking education reform at scale. 

• Curriculum Reform
• School curriculum
• Education policy reform
• School reform in Ireland
• STEAM in the curriculum

• School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

  Damian Murchan, Keith Johnston

Damian Murchan is Associate Professor and Head of the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His research interests include educational reform, assessment policy and practice, technology-enhanced learning and assessment, 21st century skills and teacher professional development.


Keith Johnston is Assistant Professor in the area of ICTs in education at the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His main research interests are the development and implementation of ICT policy in primary and post-primary education, and in the use of ICTs to support teaching and learning at these levels.

Policies and ethics