History of the Primary Curriculum

Primary Guidelines were introduced in 1984, co-ordinated by the Northern Ireland Council for Educational Development. These guidelines helped to broaden the curriculum and develop its delivery.

The Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order was introduced in 1989. It placed a duty on the Department of Education to establish statutory programmes of study and attainment targets for the primary curriculum’s contributory subjects.

The contributory subjects were introduced incrementally within each key stage from September 1990 onwards: English, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Environment and Society, Creative and Expressive Studies, and Language Studies in Irish-speaking schools.

The statutory assessment of attainment targets for each subject was a key aspect of the 1989 Order. The Northern Ireland Schools Examination and Assessment Council was responsible for conducting and moderating these assessments.

The Order placed a duty on schools to provide a broad and balanced curriculum that would promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural, intellectual and physical development and prepare them for adult life. At this time, the primary years were structured in key stages, with Key Stage 1 covering Years 1 to 4, and Key Stage 2 covering Years 5 to 7.

The 1989 Order also made provision for a core syllabus for Religious Education and required the Northern Ireland Curriculum Council to keep the contributory subjects under review.

The educational themes of Information Technology, Education for Mutual Understanding, Cultural Heritage, and Health Education were also required to be part of the curriculum.

Following continuous review of these curricular arrangements, a revised statutory curriculum was introduced from September 1996. This revision reduced the curriculum’s content. Environment and Society changed to History and Geography, and Creative and Expressive Studies separated out into Physical Education, Art and Design, and Music.

In 1998 and 1999, CCEA held a major series of conferences. In early 1999, the Minister of Education received a recommendation that the curriculum and assessment arrangements should be reviewed once more. This review resulted in the curriculum we have now. It is balanced between Areas of Learning and the application of certain skills across those Areas of Learning, which are:

• Language and Literacy (including Talking and Listening, Reading, and Writing);
• Mathematics and Numeracy;
• The Arts (including Art and Design, Drama, and Music);
• The World Around Us (including Geography, History, and Science and Technology);
• Personal Development and Mutual Understanding; and
• Physical Education.

This review, and the changes subsequently implemented in the revised Northern Ireland Curriculum of 2007, also aimed to give teachers increased flexibility with curriculum content. It was hoped that this would help pupils make links across the six Areas of Learning and appreciate that the same skills can be used in more than one subject. This has resulted in an increased emphasis on Thinking Skills.

Alongside the Cross-Curricular Skills of Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT, the Thinking Skills and their related Personal Capabilities emphasise the importance of developing skills while acquiring knowledge. Technology has changed how we learn. Instead of memorising lots of facts, young people now need to know what to do with the information that is so easily available to them.

The revised curriculum of 2007 also restructured the key stages by adding the Foundation Stage to the primary curriculum. The Foundation Stage covers Years 1 and 2. Key Stage 1 now covers Years 3 and 4, and Key Stage 2 covers Years 5, 6 and 7.

The current curriculum still requires pupil learning to be assessed, but now with an increased emphasis on Assessment for Learning. This promotes: 

• actively involving pupils in their own learning;
• providing them with effective feedback;
• developing pupils’ ability for peer and self-assessment; and
• using assessment outcomes to inform future learning and teaching.