WIDE RANGING changes in the curriculum for half a million primary school children were signalled last week with the leaking of National Council for Curriculum and Assessment reports on a range of subjects. The reports, completed last month, are near final drafts which need only to be fine tuned before publication later this spring.
The report on English emphasises the importance of primary school children achieving "effective expression" in writing, and controlling their grammar, punctuation and spelling.
"It is important too that the school plans and develops a style of penmanship that will enable the children to write in an acceptable, legible style."
The report says "the importance of school and class libraries cannot be over emphasised". Every class of older pupils should have a class library with at least six books to each pupil.
It says improvisational drama "should be an essential feature of oral language activity" to help children explore ideas, feelings, characters and actions. Poetry should also have a special place in the classroom.
In common with the other subject reports, the English report stresses the importance of computers, word processors and CDROMs as classroom tools. Access to email and the Internet will also enhance pupils' "language awareness and give them an added incentive to develop language skills".
The report on history, as part of the Social, Environmental and Scientific Education programme, says the most surprising element in the new curriculum is "the inclusion of material for the infant and junior classes". Children's sense of time can be developed in infant and first and second classes by exploring aspects of their babyhood and then of their personal, family and local history
However, teaching history in a strictly chronological manner is not recommended. The report says that too often historical accounts presented to children have "reinforced a simplistic understanding" of the complex nature of the past.
For older pupils, it recommends good historical fiction as a way of allowing children to explore the reasons behind people's actions, noting the work of writers such as Morgan Llywelyn, Michael Mullen and Marita Conlon McKenna.
Teaching should not be dominated by political or military history, but the emphasis should be more on people's everyday experience. People from "non European contexts" should also be studied.
Children should learn to value "the contribution of people of different ethnic and cultural groups, social classes and religious traditions to the evolution of Ireland and the modern world". It says history has "a particularly valuable role to play" in heightening children's awareness of the contribution of women and minorities.
An understanding of the origins and aftermath of the 1916 Rising, the foundation of the State and the history of Northern Ireland since 1969 is "an essential element in the education of all Irish children". However, the report warns that "these periods have to be handled with great sensitivity".
The report on mathematics recommends that there should be less emphasis on complex computational exercises involving whole numbers and fractions, and more on problem solving and concept development.
It says calculators will be part of the maths programme in fourth, fifth and sixth class, and warns that schools will have to develop a common policy on the type of calculator used.
Calculators take "some of the drudgery out of complex calculations" and, by making tasks more manageable, help children gain the confidence to persevere with difficult problems. They can make "problem solving more accessible to low achieving children".
Computers too are "particularly useful" for less able children, "who may need stimulation or extra practice on a particular topic".
The report stresses the importance of communication between teachers and parents in relation to maths subjects, and in particular on suggestions for homework.
The report on physical education emphasises its integration with other subjects. It should complement the "Taking Care of My Body", environmental care and "Relating to Others" units of the social, personal, health education programme.
In an ambitious programme which may be criticised by some as unrealistic, given the limited physical education facilities in many schools, it lays out six strands: athletics, dance, gymnastics, games, outdoor and adventure activities and aquatics.
It stresses the promotion of "gender equity" by ensuring that a "balanced programme" of physical education should be offered to both girls and boys.
These draft reports are the first of two sets to be finalised. The second set - on Irish, social, personal and health education (including relationships and sexuality education) and the arts - should be ready by early summer.