08 Nov 2024

Minister Foley announces €9 million funding for school resources and materials to support the new primary curriculum

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD today announced a significant investment of €9 million to provide school resources and materials for the new primary curriculum.

This initial funding will ensure that schools have essential resources and materials to deliver a modern, dynamic curriculum that meets the needs of today’s learners.

This is in addition to over €2m additional investment has been provided in this school year for programme costs and to increase team numbers in Oide in order to support schools in implementing the redeveloped primary curriculum.

Minister Foley said:

““I am delighted to announce this €9 million investment in school resources and materials to help implement the new primary curriculum. This will enable hands-on, interactive learning, allowing teachers and pupils to engage deeply with the curriculum.

The new primary curriculum emphasises a child-centred approach, where children actively build their knowledge, skills, and attitudes alongside their peers. It also highlights the crucial role of teachers, both in shaping the curriculum and delivering it effectively in the classroom.”

This funding for 2024 builds on the foundation of previous investments made by the Department of Education to ensure the successful delivery of the primary curriculum. These include:

Sustained professional learning opportunities.
Curricular support materials, including toolkits.
Curriculum documents provided to every teacher.
Free textbooks scheme.
€20 million in 2022 for literacy resources.
Ongoing Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) grants for schools, with €50 million distributed this year.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) grants for schools.
STEM grants for schools.
Creative Clusters grants.

The redeveloped Primary Curriculum introduces a range of new learning areas and subjects, giving greater flexibility to schools and teachers to adapt learning to suit their pupils. The current funding is specifically aimed at supporting the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Arts curriculum areas.

The investment for these areas will enable schools to purchase essential resources such as learning resources and materials to support active, hands-on learning. It will also help create more inclusive and engaging learning environments for all pupils, particularly those with special educational needs.

Minister Foley stressed that this investment is part of a longer-term strategy to ensure sustained support for schools:

“Over the coming years, we will continue to allocate resources to support our schools in implementing the curriculum. This will be a multi-annual funding initiative, with future allocations depending on budgetary considerations and emerging needs as we roll out the curriculum nationwide."

“We are committed to ensuring that every school, has the tools and resources necessary to deliver high-quality education for all their pupils. By planning for the long term, we can adapt to the evolving needs of schools and ensure continuous improvements in learning and teaching across the country”.

Guidance outlining the criteria for the grant scheme will be issued to schools in the coming weeks.

Contact Information

Department of Education Press Office
press@education.gov.ie

Notes to editors

Primary Curriculum Framework

The primary curriculum is undergoing reform and redevelopment which is being led by NCCA with the support of the Department of Education, the education support services, and other national stakeholders.

The Primary Curriculum Framework, published in March 2023 sets out proposals for the redevelopment of the primary curriculum. It sets out the vision; principles; key competencies; structure; approaches to learning, teaching, and assessment; and suggested time allocations of the Primary School Curriculum.

The framework-

builds on the successes and strengths of previous curricula while recognising and responding to challenges, changing needs and priorities
provides agency and flexibility in schools
makes connections with what and how children learn in preschool, primary, special, and post-primary schools
identifies and responds to emerging priorities for children’s learning
changes how the curriculum is structured and presented
supports a variety of pedagogical approaches and strategies with assessment central to learning and teaching.

Development of the five new curriculum specifications is underway by the NCCA. The five curriculum areas, as set out below, and their associated subjects are as follows:

Language (updated to included Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) in stages 3 and 4 (third class to sixth class).
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education
Wellbeing
Arts Education
Social and Environmental Education (History and Geography)

The new specifications will be introduced from September 2025 with implementation on a phased basis.

Primary Mathematics Curriculum

The new Primary Mathematics Curriculum was published in September 2023. Mathematics is situated within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education curriculum area. The over-arching aim of the Primary Mathematics Curriculum is the development of mathematical proficiency.

While much of ‘what’ children will learn remains unchanged, greater emphasis is placed on enhancing ‘how’ children learn mathematics best. The new Curriculum sets out a fresh vision for children’s learning that is characterised by playfulness, creativity, challenge, risk-taking, and opportunities for reasoning and solving real-life problems.

A suite of high-quality professional development supports is being provided by the Department, together with Oide and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to support the engagement, collaboration and professional learning of school leaders and teachers to become familiar with, and implement, the Primary Mathematics Curriculum.

Primary Language Curriculum/Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile

The Primary Language Curriculum/Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile was introduced for all stages in primary school in 2019. Under the Primary Curriculum Framework, the Primary Language Curriculum/Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile will be updated to reflect the introduction of modern foreign languages at primary level (3^rd to 6^th class) which will be introduced into schools in the 2025/2026 school year. In advance of this, the ‘Say Yes to Languages’ eight week sampler module is going into its 3^rd year with 1,200 primary schools participating in 2023/24.

Funding

These grants issued automatically to all recognised schools under the free schools before the end of 2024.

Further details will issue in the coming weeks to the schools in relation to the level of funding to be paid to schools, commensurate with school size.

Guidance will also issue to schools setting out the requirements around the expenditure under this grant. Schools are required under Circular 0074/2020 to have a digital learning platform in place.