Ireland

By Stephanie Kuchs The Republic of Ireland if located in North Western Europe on 5/6 of the island of Ireland, with the remaining 1/6 belonging to Northern Ireland of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland has a population of about 4.5 million people, while Northern Ireland has approximately 1.5 million occupants. Over the past 200 years there have been many political disputes between Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. The Irish government is considered a republic with a parliamentary democracy. Ireland is currently a part of the EU.
 * __ The Teaching of Civics in Ireland __**
 * Country Overview **

Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) courses are taught in Irish schools in the Junior Certificate level. This three year program caters to students approximately ages 12 – 15. CSPE is a required subject, taught in all three years of the school. The course in CSPE is taught for 35 – 45 minutes and meets once weekly for the entire academic year, which is traditionally September through May. This should allow for 7 hours of CSPE in the Junior Certificate Programme.
 * Context **

The primary schools provide a CSPE curriculum called Myself, Myself and others, and Myself and the wider world, which lays the foundation for the Junior Certificate CSPE programme. Senior Cycle or Leaving Certificate Level curriculum has been developed and may be offered as an elective, but there is currently no requirement for schools to implement such programs.

National standardized assessment is used in the form of a test and a report on the ACTION project. Schools use the ACTION program, which as the name suggests requires students to engage in an active hands-on group or individual civic project. The teachers find this activity beneficial to the students, but also difficult to implement given the lack of time and resources. CSPE is not continued into the final years of school, known as the Leaving Certificate Level. CSPE pilot project was launched between 1993 and 1996. In 1997 CSPE became a required part of the Junior Certificate curriculum, and in 2000 students began taking the exit exam.
 * Subject Content Standards **

The CSPE and Exemplar programs were reported useful by about 80% of CSPE teachers who responded to the survey. However, many teachers commented in 2003 that a website containing this valuable information would be an important resource. That website has been developed since the printing of the survey. The Department of Education has produced curriculum guidelines with themes that must be taught at each level. However, it is up to the teacher to decide how to teach the guidelines. Many teachers find the textbook useful, and their main resource for teaching. Outside sources have also prepared lessons, many of which the teachers find useful, when they have access to them.
 * Materials **

Irish civic education is referred to as democratic civic education. The primary goal of this program is to encourage citizenship. The primary focus of the program would relate to liberal civic education, and developing civic literacy in the individual. The three year program covers issues including the individual and citizenship, the community, the State – Ireland, and Ireland and the wider world. As teachers move beyond the initial lesson of individual and citizenship, they will often use the other models of civic education to teach the lessons relating to social groups in the community, country, and world.
 * Nature of Curriculum **

Principals struggle to find staff willing, available, and qualified to teach CSPE courses. Another major challenge is timetabling, or working the course that meets only once a week into the schedule. Principals often have trouble finding substitutes when teachers attend in-service training on school days. The fourth and final difficulty principals found when implementing CSPE courses was finding time for planning meetings. Many teachers had to coordinate these meetings on their own time.
 * Main Issues and Challenges **

Teachers noted that some materials were not available to them in their schools, or were difficult to locate. Another major problem was the lack of time in the class and time for planning. Active learning methodologies, while effective, were also hard to use due to time constraints. Teachers also believe the CSPE curriculum is not clearly distinct from the new Social, Personal, and Health Education syllabus. The teachers also reported that the students would benefit from a different structure of the class, as well as continued learning in the Leaving Certificate Level. Due to the lack of time spent on CSPE and the lack of continuation in the next level, CSPE doesn’t earn the respect it deserves from students or their parents.

Ireland has also had a very political and violent history over the past two hundred years as they separated from Great Britain and through their involvement with Northern Ireland. The curriculum must remain sensitive to these issues and encourage peace with these neighboring countries. While the separation with Great Britain happened a few generations ago, the turmoil in Northern Ireland is still a current event, which needs to be taught carefully to the students.


 * Resources **

Bulter, Paul and Dave Redmond. //Civic, Social and Political Education: Report on Survey of Principals and Teachers.// (2003). National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. []

Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook. 5 July, 2011. []. Curriculum Online Website: http://www.curriculumonline.ie/

Harris, Clodagh. (2005). //Democratic Civic Education in Ireland//. The Adult Learner.

Ireland: Curricula (age 3-19). Third Phase. Lower Secondary, age 12 – 15. International Review of Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks Website: http://inca.org.uk/1849.html

Second Level Support Services Civic, Social, and Political Education website: http://cspe.slss.ie/