The framework for a new Junior Cycle was announced in 2012, and the new Junior Cycle began with English for all first year students in September 2014. Other subjects will follow in the next few years.
The Minister for Education and Skills outlined five principles for the new Junior Cycle:
1. The need to recognise a wide range of learning
2. A requirement to considerably reduce the focus on one terminal exam as a means of assessing our students
3. The necessity to give prominence and importance to classroom based assessment
4. Greater professional collaboration between teachers to be a feature of our schools
5. Both parents and students to get a broader picture of each student's learning throughout the whole of junior cycle
Dáltaí will receive a Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA) which will be a more comprehensive report on all the student's learning and achievements over the three year junior cycle. There will be classroom based assessments and there will be final examinations. The final examinations (at the end of Third Year) will be marked externally by the State Examinations Commission (as are the current Junior Certificate examinations.) Subjects will be introduced on the following schedule:
Subject Introduced to first years First recorded on JCPA
English Sept 2014 Autumn 2017
Science and
Business Studies Sept 2016 Autumn 2019
Irish, Art and
Modern Language Sept 2017 Autumn 2020
Maths, History
Geography, Music and
Home Economics Sept 2018 Autumn 2021
Technology, Classics,
Religious Education Sept 2019 Autumn 2022
Further information on each subject can be found by clicking on the link below:
