This document sets out the requirements of the revised Northern Ireland Curriculum (hereafter referred to as the Northern Ireland Curriculum) and is the starting point for planning a school curriculum that meets the needs of individual children.

The revisions to the curriculum aim to retain the best of current practice while seeking to give greater emphasis to important elements, such as children’s Personal Development and Mutual Understanding and the explicit development of Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities. The Northern Ireland Curriculum sets out the minimum requirement that should be taught at each key stage. Within these requirements, schools have a responsibility to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all children and schools should aim to give every child the opportunity to experience success in learning and to achieve as high a standard as possible.

Teachers, however, have considerable flexibility to make decisions about how best to interpret and combine the requirements so as to prepare young people for a rapidly changing world.